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 cool it down) - so with the hope that we could avoid some of the crowds and not spend all day in queues, we went to Disney Sea. The disney monorail is super, this gets ... read more

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 a lengthy second security check, which included shoes (again) and a complete bag check and tamp down - I was worried, would they find the anti-american propoganda on my laptop (a copy of 'Team America- ... read more

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 longer required, and are still popular in the area. Unfortunately when we visited it was wet and windy hence the lack of pictures, but we did get to the nice beach for the kids to play ... read more

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 toilets and also a specific carriage for smoking. The cherry blossom is fantastic at the moment and is visually stunning but it does mean that there are tours of older japanese people who are hell ... read more

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. ... read more