We had a VERY big day today, seeing about half of Tokyo in one day.
We had brekky at the same cafe as yesterday, then bought our super
express ticket to the airport.

Firstly, we took the train to Tokyo station, and had a look at the
Emperor's front gate. When we walked back in to the station, the main
Yamanote line was shut down, so we went on a different line and changed
to another, which to us to Akihabara. It was pretty amazing, but things
were a bit more expensive than Surabaya. We then walked to Ochanomizu
station, via guitar shops, and caught a train to Shinjuku. The
different line took us there in half the time of yesterday.

Shinjuku was pretty amazing. We walked down a narrow alley, crowded
with noodle shops. They were full of blokes in suits having a
"businessman's lunch" - a cigarette, a bottle of Asahi beer and a bowl
of noodles. We had lunch, and then split up for an hour. I walked into
a DVD store, and discovered that it was four floors of porn. The
Japanese have stuff which is simply not allowed in Oz - a lot of sick,
violent stuff.

From Shinjuku, we walked 2km to Harajuku. Again we split up, but ran
into each other at a souvenir store that Jane had told us about. We
separated yet again, and met to catch the train back to Shinjuku.

We decided to have a drink before dinner, and had our only negative
experience of the trip. We went into a very Japanese place for drinks.
The bloke brought us each a very basic appetiser, and we had two rounds
of drinks. When we went to pay, we were charged (exhorbitantly) for the
appetisers. I tried to explain that we hadn't asked for them, and would
not have eaten them if we had known, and, in the end, I just plonked
down the money for the drinks and we went. One of the blokes screamed
at us, but they didn't follow us.

From there, we wandered around and came across a "Kirin City", like
the one we had eaten in, in Ueno. it had reasonably-priced drinks, and
nice food. We were both pretty tired from a long day out, and caught
the train back to Ueno, to pack for our departure tomorrow. On the way
out of the station we noticed, for the first time, the Hard Rock Cafe!

It took us a while to get up and moving, and it was nearly 9.30am before we had breakfast. I went to the golden arches and then joined Helen in a nearby coffee shop.

We caught the train to Harajuku, and met Jane Thompson, Jul and Gemma at the Meiji shrine. Jane is expecting their second child in January. We had a look around the shrine, which is lovely. There was a wedding on, and lots of families had their young children in kimonos, and quite a few women wore them as well.

Back at the railway bridge, there were a few young girls posing in their way out clothing, but not as many as I would have expected.

Jane and Jul took us to a coffee shop for lunch, patronised by expats. The food was amazing. Two blokes beside us had plates piled with enough eggs, bacon, fried potato and panckes to feed Helen and I for a week. Being soon after breakfast, we decided on choclate waffles, and I couldn't eat them all.

We caught the train back toi Ueno, and had a wander around the park. I bought an umbrella, and it began raining during our walk, but not enough to deter us.

After a rest in our small hotel room, we headed out into the evening (and rain) for dinner. We walked to Asakusa, and eventually ended up in a traditional yakitori place, which had affordable drinks. We wlked back to Ueno a diffent way, and stopped at a coffee shop for dessert. I had a cup of coffee, and, as a result, tossed and turned all night.

Hanako drove us to the station and saw us off at the shinkansen gates. We got off at Nagoya and changed to one that stopped at Toyohashi. Yukiyo and her husband and daughter were there to greet us. They drove us, for about twenty minutes, to an Italian place called "Cannery Row". It was pizza/pasta, with a salad buffet. The food was really good - too much for us at lunchtime.

They accompanied us on to the platform and waited until we pulled out. Yukiyo had given us some tie-dyed handkerchiefs that she had made herself, plus some prints.

We changed again, at Shizuoka, and got off in Tokyo. We then walked straight on to a local train for Ueno. We had to ask twice to find the New Izu hotel, but there were no problems. The room is small, but adequate. We seem to keep falling on our feet with locations. The Lonely Planet writer for this section must have been a chain-smoking Pom on drugs - the entry says there is little here except for one cruddy Pommy bar filled with cigarette smoke. Ueno actually has plenty of nice cafes and bars, and we went to one, called Kirin City, with relatively cheap drinks, and nice food. The streets are alive with people at night.

Last night was a lot of fun. We caught a
taxi to a restaurant somewhere near Sogo. It was new, but traditional
Japanese. Hanako ordered a range of small dishes. Junko was delayed at
her shop.

The food was delicious, although the cigarette
smoke grew worse during the evening. One of the waiters even came and
apologised for it. Junko arrived, and had a bit to eat and drink.
Hanako was on the phone to Aiko, who was standing in for her at
Masanobu's club. Apparently it was full, so we got a taxi back to near
Tenmaya and went to Kento's, the "oldies disco" that Junko  took
me to ten years ago. It was hilarious. The band was '50's style, and
excellent. Helen observed that the patrons either came there all the
time or practised at home - they all knew all the moves. It was sort of
rock line dancing. When she came back from the toilets, Helen said she
had been in Japan too long - she had stood with her hands under the
tap, expecting it to turn on automatically, then realised she actually
had to do it herself.

Another phone call confirmed that we had a space
at the next show at Masanobu's club. We walked there, passing throngs
of working girls with big hair and party dresses - they looked like
they were off to a deb ball. Outside the club, we were greeted by
Junko's elder sister. Twenty years ago, the Filipina girls did a sort
of karaoke review, and ten years ago, the Taiwanese girls did a similar
"show". This time, girls from Eastern Europe and a couple from Brazil,
doing pole dancing, in G-strings. Most of them were tall, with long,
blond hair. At the end of each dance, customers would stick large
denomination notes in their G-strings

A very plain Japanese hostess squeezed in beside
me. The club catered for all "tastes". There was a middle-aged Korean
lady, an elderly Japanese lady in a kimono, and another about 40 years
old. Then, as well as the young dancers, there was also a young
Japanese girl and a Filipina. 

Eventually one of the young girls came and sat
with us. She only spoke Russian and Japanese. We had a conversation,
with a bit of help from Hanako. The customers started drifting out, so
we headed off as well.

We said goodbye to Junko at the end of the street, and she went back to Koyo in the taxi.

Another very enjoyable day. Hanako prepared a
feat for breakfast - toast, yogurt, miso soup, egg custard, fish cake,
egg roll, ....

From the dining table, there is an excellent view
of the house across the street, where the Vivians lived, 20 years ago.
It has not really changed at all.

We were out of the house by 9.30am. (It seems to take a long time to get going in the mornings here.) We
walked down the hill to the bus terminal. There was no bus, so we
started walking, all the way to the Shukkien gardens. It was really
nice towalk around, and the autumn leaves looked great.

From Shukkien, we walked west, to the castle. It
has a nice little history exhibit, and some old swords and armour. We
walked to Sogo, and then down the Hondori to Fukuya department store.
I'd spotted the cake shop in the basement yesterday. We both had a
cappucino and a piece of a berry-mousse cake. It was about Au$30 for
the two of us, but it was exquisite.

Helen wanted an hour in the Hondori arcade, and I
wandered around the bar district, before finding a great instrument
shop on the 9th floor of the Parco department store. I realised a very
big difference between Indonesia and Japan - I noticed my first
pregnant woman for the trip. (Later, Helen and I agreed that we had
hardly seen any small children out and about.)

We had two hours to get back to Hanako's house,
so we decided to keep walking. We went to the station, and, on the way,
discovered some lovely little cafes beside the river. From there, we
headed up the hill towards the Buddhist stupa above Hanako's house. The
last sixty or so steps were a bit tough.We then found the steps down
the other side, and Hanako's house. We had circumnavigated most of the
city on foot.

Yesterday was wonderful. We took a long time to
get going. Masa was ill from drinking with Hirayama-san until 2am. They
headed off at 9am.

Hanako drove the rest of us to Hiroshima - it was
a public holiday, but Junko was working at the shop, because it was
sale season.

I bought shinkansen tickets to Tokyo, with
Hanako's help at Yokogawa station. It was more difficult than expected,
but we got them. Hanako dropped us at Sogo. Helen was very impressed,
so I went for a walk while she spent an hour there. Out in the street,
I thought that it would be very difficult recognising the few people I
knew in the city, after 20 years. Less than 5 minutes later a woman
walked towards me, and I said "Miyumi!". Miyumi Yingling had worked at
Hiroshima International School with me, and had attempted to teach me
Japanese. She said that HIS, like Bali IS, had experienced an "ethnic
cleansing" by an American principal, and, despite winning the ensuing
legal battle, she had moved on.

Helen and I then walked down the Hondori, and on
to Peace Park. The museum was, again, an experience that made me angry
and frustrated - politicians have learned nothing from WW II and
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The senseless killing goes on, although they
know enough not to use nuclear weapons on each other.

We walked back up to the Shukkien gardens, but it
was nearly closing time. We caught a nuber 6 bus to Ushita. When we got
to the park, where HIS used to be, we discovered that it had returned,
as the Ushita annexe. The young Japanese woman we spoke to indicated
that they were struggling for numbers.

We walked up the hill to Hanako's house, but she
wasn't there. We walked back to the grog shop, and sat by the rice
paddy, drinking a "cruiser" each.

When Hanako arrived, we caught a taxi back to the
Hondori, and went to La Mission restaurant, where Masa works. The food
was wonderful. We had a seafood salad entree, duck in red wine sauce,
and a plate of little pieces of various sweets, washed down with a
bottle of red wine.  Masa was very excited and a bit too
conscientious. He is so Japanese.

From the restaurant, we went to another
bar/restaurant, owned by a friend of Hanako, and had a drink.We walked
a bit through Nagerekawa, and then caught a taxi home. We slept like
logs in the tatami room.

Helen was surprised that the view from the carriage window consisted almost entirely of concrete buildings. There was the occasional open space on the trip south.

I hardly recognised Hanako at the turnstiles. She has grown into a confident young woman and her English has actually improved in the twelve, or so, years since she lived in Melbourne. Her boyfriend, Masa, drove us to Junko`s shop, where she sells fashion clothing for her "fiance", Mr. Hirayama.

After an hour at the shop, we headed for Miyajima, which, for me, is one of the most beautiful places anywhere. We had a traditional Japanese lunch at one of the many restaurants there, and then walked around for a couple of hours. It got cold quite quickly, at about 4pm, so we began the journey back. It took a while, in the evening traffic.

We went to the shop first, and then took ages to go to Mr. Hirayama`s house, somewhere half-way to Kabe. The parking spot is about 50m from the house, as the crow flies, but we had to lug our cases 50m down some steps, and then 50m back up, to get to the house. Junko and Mr. Hirayama arrived as we were opening the front door, which meant that they had either had a better run home than us, or drove like maniacs.

Once we settled, we all gathered around the table for the traditional "stuff the guests stupid and get them drunk" hospitatlity for which the Japanese are famous. Junko had a never-ending array of dishes, and Mr. Hirayama kept reaching into the corner behind him to pull out yet another variety of alcohol.

We began with French champagne, followed by red wine. I declined the beer, but we also had bran whiskey, plum wine and sake. Helen and I paced ourselves, unlike Masa, the "human garbage disposal", who ate and drank everything put in front of him. (He wasn`t flash this morning.)

The conversation was a mix of bad Japanese and English, but we all seemed to communicate pretty well. We hit the sack at about 11.30pm, after a very amusing evening.

We found a place that served traditional Japanese food in a McDonald's-style atmosphere. After we found that only two dishes on the menu didn't contain pork, we had to get a ticket from the machine near the front door. The food was pretty good. I had my stock, standard dish - katsudon - which was "oishii".

From there, we walked over the river to "The Pig and Whistle", a (fairly obviously) English bar. The drinks were not too outrageous, and it actually had its own toilet. We played darts, and Helen won, two out of three.

This morning we board the shinkansen for Hiroshima. It`s only an hour and a half away. Hanako, who is meeting us, seems to have planned a very long day - a trip to Miyajima, followed by dinner at her in-laws. It should be good.

It was freezing last night. I went out with only a long-sleeved shirt, and got very cold, to the point where I had to go to the toilet about every 10 minutes (other old blokes will sympathise with this). We had dinner at a curry place. Helen hadn't eaten Japanese curry, but enjoyed it. We then went wandering around the bar district (which is HUGE). We were looking for two Indonesian bars, mentioned in Lonely Planet, which seem to have disappeared. However, we did find one called "Ing", which the guide gave a big rap. If sitting in a window-less place, paying exorbitant prices for drinks, with only unfriendly expats for company, is your thing, then this is for you. We tried a few other places, which were even more boring, and gave up.

This morning's breakfast was edible, but I didn't eat the "bacon sashimi" - ie: bacon which looked like it had been waved at the stove. We jumped on the bus to Ryoanji. Uptown somewhere it turned right, when I was expecting left. I had confused "Ginkakuji" with "Kinkakuji". We walked back a couple of hundred metres and got the correct bus.

Ryonanji was nice, although Helen didn't really seem to appreciate the rock garden. From there we walked to Kinkakuji, and the Golden pavilion. Both were really beautiful.

We caught a bus back to the main station and caught the escalotors up to the 11th floor of the Isetan department store. It was amazing. We had lunch in a French cafe, and then began our journey, `a pied, back to the hotel.

First,  we stopped off at Sanjusangendo, and looked at the 1000+ buddha statues, each with about 40 arms. We then walked (a fair way) to Kiyomizu, up the hill, through the souvenir stalls. We caught up with most of the school kids in Japan.

From Kiyomizu, we had a lovely walk down the hill through beautiful old-style shops and houses, and encountered a couple of geishas off to work. (They weren't that beautiful, although their clothes were stunning.) We ended up at Maruyama park, which was disappointing - it was clean, but most of the trees looked scraggy, and it needed weeding.

On the way back to the hotel, we bought a $4 bottle of Japanes white wine, which was drinkable. After a rest and a shower, we again headed out to face the Kyoto night life.

We got into Kyoto yesterday, but it feels like we have been here for weeks.

It was easier than I expected to get on the train from Kansai airport. I misjudged the scale on the map, and we hauled our bags about 2km through the city streets to the Hotel Alpha.

We went pretty much straight away to Nijo (the shogun's palace) by train. Helen was impressed by the nightingale floors, but she reckoned that they sounded more like chickens. "Chicken floors" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

In the evening we went for a walk through the narrow lanes of Gion, which was really neat. There were a few ladies in kimono, but they might have just been going out for Sunday dinner. We ate at some place upstairs on Kawaramachi dori, which a bloke in the lift told us was 100 for everything. It was more than that, but we had two drinks each and some food for about US$20, which was okay.

It was a bit hard to get moving this morning, after a long day and little sleep on the plane the night before. However, we walked to the station and bought shinkansen tickets to Hiroshima. We then caught a bus and got off at the start of the philosophers' walk. It was lovely, and took us to the Silver Pavilion. When I was in Kyoto, twenty years ago, it was closed (some sort of monks' strike, as I recall). The autumn leaves are just starting to turn.

From there, we walked to Heian jinga, took a few photos, and ended up at the handcraft centre. Twenty years ago (and still, in the guide books) it seemed a bargain place to go. Some things probably are, but Helen assured me that the pearls were about 100X more than in Indonesia or Bangkok, for similar quality. We did buy a yakata each.

We were fortified from our kissaten lunch next door, and walked back to the hotel. We then went our separate shopping ways, rendezvousing back at the hotel at 5pm.