The wonder of Japan

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Geo: 35.67, 139.77

We are sitting at Narita (Tokyo) airport with some time to kill. Our flight to London has been delayed by 40 minutes so we will now miss our connection to Paris and will arrive 5 hours later than expected. What a drag! So instead of a fine dinner on the Champs Elysee its going to be chips and peas at Heathrow airport. But enough of that. We have had a fantastic time in Japan. It was everything I expected/wanted it to be and more. Andrew wants to come back for an extended holiday and who am I to disagree!! Because everything is so different its a wonder and constant amazement at every turn. We didn't go to untold amounts of temples and gardens and do the super touristy thing but we didn't have to. Its amazing enough just soaking up the atmosphere and eating the fabulous food. It wasn't as expensive as we expected either because I researched fairly extensively on the internet for cheaper options transport wise. The food was very reasonable. A dollar a plate for sushi, yum!! We spent the first day looking around the different areas of Tokyo. Each area we went to was different eg electric town - Andrew's favourite - a computer geeks paradise. Then there was the modern bit and the old bit where we stayed with lanterns and markets everywhere. Looked thru one temple and a very nice garden with bridges and little temple type things within. We had a conversation with some Japanese school children visiting from Nagano who were assigned to speak to foreigners to practice their English. Then there was the Parisian bit with lots of galleries and boutiques etc. The second day we travelled south to Izu peninsula. It was fun watching the scenery change from city to urbans to semi rural. Stayed in a very traditional Japanese inn and dined on a plethora of dishes for both dinner and breakfast. The presentation was stunning (eg radishes carved into iris flowers) and the tastes ranged from magnificent to absolutely disgusting (eg the shell fish/snail type thing that Andrew decided to taste but I couldn't even look at!) At the traditional inn we had a private time in an indoor hot spring bath. It was very hard to know what to do and what not to do as everything has such a strict protocol. We enjoyed the bath even though we didn't really know what to do - very hot - about 42 degrees. We were never sure when to take our shoes off and put them on etc but nobody seemed to mind. The staff at the inn were all middle aged women and were very smiley and happy and keen to "service" us. We spent the next day looking around Ito. Took a chairlift up to the top of an extinct volacano but it was a very grey hazy day so couldn't see Mt Fujii. I inadvertantly ordered wasabe ice cream which I am in no hurry to experience again! We drove around the the hills, past a nice lake and on to the coast and saw lots of nice houses and pretty gardens. Walked to a suspension bridge, saw a squirrel and some nice coastal scenery. We seemed to spend an awful lot of time on trains but it was interesting to people watch and see how these people live. It was a pleasure to travel in such a friendly, helpful and courteous environment. Alot of residents were very keen to try our their English and assist us the moment we looked lost.

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