Japan

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I have finished my 10 days in Japan and had an amazing experience. The first highlight of my trip was the day I spent exploring Tokyo city. I went to the tjsuki fish market which is the worlds largest fish market. It was rediculous, like a crazy asda but only sellinng fish. If you could think of a type of fish you would be almost garaunteed to find it there and if you made a fish up you would probably find it there as well. Next I made a stop at the Tokyo pokemon centre which was a massive let down. I was expecting another asda sized builiding full of pokemon but it was the size of a corner shop and only had new pokemon I didn't recognise. I went to Shibuya which is a famous inceribly busy road crossing in the main shopping district of Tokyo. I didn't do any shopping but it was still cool walking around. It is sterio typical tokyo with the giant signs, lights and tall buildings. In the afternoon I went to the senso ji temple which was probably the best part of the day. It was an awesome temple in the middle of tokyo. There was a street full of stalls selling all sorts of things from samouri swords to key rings to walk up before reaching the temple. It didn't feel like ancient Japan but was still cool.

The next place I visited was Kyoto. There I rented a bike for the day and cycled round to see some of the temples (and there are so many). To strat with I tried to pick a few from my guide to find and visit but i kept getting lost so I just gave up and cycled randomly as there was basically a temple round every corner so I saw loads no problem. Just outside Kyoto I got to walk through a Bamboo forrest which is really cool. They are over 3 meters high on either side and it really feels mystical. I also found an excellent cheap sushi restraunt where I had my dinner. It was bizzare all the chefs and the staff just seemed to shout randiomly as they cooked and worked. I tried a bunch of really nice sushi dishes.

I think my favourite place in the whole of Japan was a place called Nara. On arrival it just looks like any other city but if you walk 500m and then walk another 500m as I was helpfully instructed at tourist info you arrive in what is basically a massive park where deer just roam around randomly. You can literally walk around with a deer at an arms lenght away just cruising alongside you. There ar some more really impressive temple. The most impressive thing though was the a temple that is the worlds largest wooden building containing what I am preety sure is the worlds largest buddha at 16m high. Sometimes things are not as big as you imagine they will be but this was not one of those times. It is massive.

Next i a place called Nagano I stayed in the collest little hostel I think I have been to. It only slept about 15 but it has a really amazing atmosphere. On my first night there everybody went to the supermarket together and bought a bunch of food which we all prepared and shared back at the hostel. Everybody ate together and got involved which was fun. I also went up to visit the monkeys that bath in a hot spring up in the mountain. I got driven up there by a japonese guy in our hostel with two other guys which was handy. The monkeys were ace. They were chilling on rocks, lying around and bathing in the hot spring right beside you so you could get really close up photos.

This is not every detail from my time there but definitely the highlights

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