Keeping the kids happy in Tokyo - part 2 There is lots and lots to do with the kids in Tokyo, many of them free or if not very cheap - the entrance fees for most of the museums is around the 600 to 700 Yen mark for adults (£3.50) and half that for kids. We have made use of the Grutt pass which you can get for 2000Yen and will get you in most(over 60) of the museums, art galleries and zoos in Tokyo for free or if not at a discount- (good value if you have time to do [View Full Entry]

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So now we are settled in Tokyo for the next couple of months - and the kids are at school nearby our rented apartment. So we promised the kids some fun days as a reward for trying hard to cope with school. Tokyo Disney. So we tried to avoid it for as long as possible, but the kids had a day off school during the week because of having their school sports day on saturday (great fun and very well organised, unfortunately for the kids it was a hot day so the teachers had to keep the playground wet to [View Full Entry]

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North Shore - we decided to do a guided tour of the north shore as we did not know the best beaches etc, so booked a japanese guy doing tours of around 8 people. We went from Waikiki through Honolulu and past Pearl Harbour (where all the americans were headed for), and up through the middle of the island to our first stop - the Dole plantation Pineapple farm, lots of pineapples of all shapes and sizes, and a shop to cater for all manner of pineapple paraphernalia, a quick stop is enough unless you go into the huge maze [View Full Entry]

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The long awaited (+ much talked about)trip to Hawaii. Part 1. I have to say the plane flight of 8 hrs from Tokyo was a surprise - you forget how far away from everywhere these islands are ! But the descent over Oahu was awesome, big volcanoes and beautiful coast with sandy beaches and clear water - what else can I say ! The trip through airport security was 'tight' and obviously a British guy with 2 young kids - an obvious and huge terrorist threat (Yuki was fine with her Japanese passport - how unfair), so we were subjected to [View Full Entry]

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After having the lovely food and onsen spa at Tsuwano we moved along the coast to Matsue, a large city - the prefectural capital which is sat between 2 large lakes. We stayed in a large hotel (still japanese style room) which was very business like but suited the city we were in, the hotel was very close to the castle at Matsue which is the largest of the 12 remaining original castle towers in Japan originally built in 1611, great fun to go inside - but be careful, as walking up old and narrow stairs in small slippers not [View Full Entry]

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After departing the beautiful island of Miyajima we headed to the north coast of Western Honshu, to the seaside town of Hagi. Hagi is a well known pottery producer and also paid an important part in the restoration of the Emperor to power (Meiji restoration) in 1867. There are many old samurai residences still intact and the Horiuchi area which retains its original samurai days layout of houses, and gardens containing many orange trees (natsu mikan) bordered by distinctive plaster walls.The oranges were grown to support the samurai in the days after the restoration when the samurai were no [View Full Entry]

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Hi All, sorry for the interruption to blog entries, have been busy ! would you believe, anyway all settled down now and I'll do an update every few days or so, so sit back and enjoy the trip. We did ! After visiting Kurashiki and wandering around the Bikan area of old preserved houses alongside the central canal area( very nice - but very geared for the tourist), and the Ohara Art museum (well worth the visit - especially for the exhibition of samurai 'Katana' swords - extremely old and sharp) we set off again. This time heading for the famous [View Full Entry]

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Tour of Southern Japan by Train (using the Foreign rail pass of course!). starting from Tokyo taking the bullet (shinkansen) train to Kyoto, overnight stay visiting relatives then onto Kurashiki (2 nights) via Himeji and Okayama. As usual the shinkansen are amazingly punctual and fast and include a buffet service in the style of jumbo jets via a trolley service selling everything from o-bento boxes (but best bought from the station for the best variety) to beer and soft drinks - hot and cold and all manner of sweets and crackers. There are now a variety of western and japanese style [View Full Entry]

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I'll add the photos for the previous text (I'ts my first posting so bear with me guys) [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, after getting used to being back in Tokyo and catching up with the family and re-adjusting to the food, drink, seating, language, (toilets !!), we have got settled. So we made our way to the Izu peninsular just 3 hrs drive to the south west of Tokyo, an area very popular with Tokyo-ites with many many holiday flats here, including a lot of company owned holiday apartments. This area is very popular for the early Hanami or cherry blosson (Sakura) viewing. [View Full Entry]

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