Hello World!

This is it, our final adventure of the trip. We’ve ridden camels across the desert, boated up the Ganges, hiked along the Nepalese border, zip-lined across waterfalls, trodden through jungle with elephants, tandem-navigated vineyards, thrown ourselves out of a plane and off a cable-car, crashed a campervan, scuba-dived in the Great Barrier Reef, seen the Taj Mahal, the Petronas Towers, Angkor Wat & the Sydney Opera House. Now we’re off to climb 6km through the night to reach the summit of Mt Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, in time for sunrise.

After picking up our small backpacks from K’S House we made it to the bus station with just enough time to fuel up on carbs from Burger King before catching the 19:30 bus to Fuji 5th station.

It was dark when we neared Fuji so we couldn’t see what was outside but we knew we must have been travelling higher and higher as our ears started to pop. When we arrived at the 5th station at 22:15 it was actually a little chilly, a feeling we hadn’t had for a week or so.

We were expecting crowds of walkers but the bus was barely a quarter full and only a few people were loitering around the station. There was just one building with lights on which housed the loos, lockers, essential supplies and obligatory souvenirs.

Our flip-flops & shorts just weren’t going to cut it so we changed into our trusty hiking gear – trainers plus cotton trousers & thermals (me) / jeans (matt) – and  headed out into the night.

Well we walked out the door and had no idea where to go. There seemed to be no indication of where the trail began. Good start.

Our detective skills failed us, we gave in and asked someone where to go. Luckily one of the sparse hikers pointed us in the right direction and we finally found the start point. Look!

And the Yoshida Trail route looked simple on the map…

It was 22:27:57 and off we went in a light drizzle of rain into the darkness.

The trail was wide and level, if not descending slightly, for half a kilometre. This is easy we thought. Then it veered right and upwards and we realised it might not be all plain sailing. We were walking over rocks and mud with only a head torch for me and a hand torch for Matt to light the way.

Early on we passed through a concrete tunnel with speakers and an eerie voice repeating that you should not take this route lightly. Do not wear summer clothes or shoes. Be properly prepared. Were we entering the twilight zone? Should we continue?

Ah sod it, it can’t be that bad.

Half an hour of walking and we had 5.3km left. 8 mins later and only 5km left. So far so good.

23:08 – 5.0km /343 mins to go

23:30 – 4.3km / 320 mins to go

23:57 – 3.8km / 295 mins to go

At 3.8km to go, the sign’s estimated time was 295mins. For anyone who can’t divide that by 60 that’s pretty much 5 hours. 5 hours??? To go less than 4km. Surely not. But we were going at a pace similar to the estimates on the posts so it seemed plausible.

The path was wide again and zig-zagged quite steeply. We looked back over our shoulder and could see the twinkling lights of the nearest town far below in the distance. Above more twinkling lights of torches as other walkers ascended before us.

We were starting to tire a little now so stopped for water and nibbles. It surprised us how the altitude was getting to both of us so quickly. We were hoping there was a station coming up soon as we needed a sit-down.

There seemed to be light up ahead which was a good sign and then we saw the good sign of the 7th station at 00:10.

The station consisted of wooden huts which we couldn’t go into as you have to pay, a tuck shop and expensive toilets (200yen). Plus much needed long benches for resting on our laurels.

00:15 – 3.4km / 273min to go

00:23 – 3.2km / 262min to go

00:31 We came across a station that was neither 7th or 8th so possibly 7.5th  station.

It was a little soggy, or should I say we were a little soggy, by this point. But still chirpy 2 hours into the hike.

00:37 – 3.1km / 255 mins to go

01:01 We reach another station, possibly the 8th station, 3,020m or 3100m high we weren’t sure as two signs said two different things.

01:09 – leave to head onwards & upwards – 2.7km / 195mins to go

01:34 – 2.0km / 140mins to go

01:36 This is the 8th Station, we think. There are plenty of people hanging around here, trying to keep warm. We prop ourselves on a bench, lean back, cover and faces and have a snooze for a while.

01:50 Now at an altitude of 3,250m.

01:53 1.8km / 125 mins to go

02:07 1.4km / 83 mins to go

Perhaps we were at version 2 of the 8th station, who knows, but we decided to take a longer break as didn’t want to get to the summit too early Sunrise wasn’t due for another 2.5hours and we only had 1hour 23 mins according to the sign.

The wind had picked up, the temperature had dropped and the rain was pelting down now as we managed to find a semi-sheltered bench at the side of the station to wait for a while.

As we sat there we realised there were an awful lot of people passing us all of a sudden. Where were they coming from. We ought to get moving so we don’t get stuck behind too many of them.

02:50 1.3km / 80 mins to go

Unfortunately there were many many people on the mountain now and the pace was slowing.

03:07 3450m high – 900m / 60mins to go

At this point we were ascending at a snail’s pace. The guided groups had come out of their sleeping huts and started climbing all at the same time. It was gridlock. The track became slimmer and dodgier. In places we were scrambling in between large rocks with limp rope to hold onto. It was frustrating to have sat for 30mins at 8th station thinking it better to wait when we would have been better off getting to the top as soon as possible to avoid freezing to death in a queue on the side of the mountain.

With the crowds you could see how differently people had prepared for this, or not, in some cases. We saw one guy in three quarter length trousers and crocs. No socks, bare feet in those plastic shoes with holes in. Insane.

There was another man in front with his two young daughters, none dressed for wet weather or hiking in particular and no torches. The girls were crying and dad was promising they could stop at the 9th station.

Turns out 9th station had collapsed and was no more. We don’t know what happened to them. We overtook as often as possible, even if that meant going off piste a little and pissing some people off. I had come too far to let a traffic jam stop me from getting to the top for sunrise.

By 04:38 the weather was pretty harsh…

…but the end was in sight as we reached the Torii gate…

… and not long after the 10th and final station at the top of Mt Fuji! Hooray!

It was 04:46. It had taken 6 hours and 18 mins to climb and it was absolutely bloody freezing.

They say the coldest time of the day is just before sunrise and they, whoever they are, are not darn wrong.

Before doing anything else our survival instincts were to cram ourselves into a corner of a shelter to thaw a little.

Matt unfortunately for him had to pop out again so braved the cold air again to find the atrociously expensive basic loo (300yen) as I stood defrosting next to the stoves cooking canned drinks in large metal vats.

Being just about able to our fingers, Matt held up our souvenir banner smiling through gritted teeth with the “sunrise view” from the top of Fuji behind him.

At 05:03 we persuaded some other poor bugger to use our camera to take these spectacular pics. We wanted proof we’d been to the top. This is more proof of the terrible weather conditions but also that we were both still awake after over 6 hours of hiking.

The entire journey up in a snapshot.

Although we’d taken almost a working day in time to get up the mountain we were both keen to start descending as soon as possible.

We made our way through the hoards and found two tracks. One going down and one going… yes up.

We weren’t quite at the summit. That appeared to be a little further on around the volcanic crater. Matt was enthusiastic about finishing it. I wanted to too as we’d come all that way but the chill factor was getting to me.

Deciding to go for it we braced ourselves and fought against the icy head wind along a eerily quiet narrow track that wound its way in a foggy direction that no-one else seemed to be going in. After 5 mins we couldn’t see much of anything as we were blinded by the blustery rain and I had run out of steam. I didn’t fancy falling down the crater and no-one knowing we were there so regrettably we turned back and went downwards like the rest of the crazy people.

Off we all trundled down through the fog. At one point we reached a fork in the track and no-one seemed to know which direction to go in. Groups were waiting for other groups and some were going one way and others another way. There were no signposts that made any sense. So we took a chance on the downhill rather than the across the mountain direction and continued on our way overtaking the rainbow of hikers.

Then at 06:25 the cloud cover began to clear…

06:29 then it came back

06:40 Only 4.7km / 150 mins to go

06:44 and it cleared again

06:48 we took a rest and to take in the views as going downhill felt like harder work than up. The incline was steeper and the red clay soil was soft underfoot and was like walking through sand.

Others taking a well deserved rest too

 

07:21 A 20 minute queue for the loo halfway down a mountain. Can’t beat the views. Shame about the eco loos which were so disgusting I can’t write any more as want to erase it from my memory. Perhaps it was more shocking because we were in Japan one of the most advanced and cleanest countries on the planet. If you’re ever on Mt Fuji and can wait another hour the next loos are slightly better and you won’t have to cross your legs forever and a day.

07:45 Look how wide awake we look, how long Matt’s beard has grown and how white my hair has become all in 9hours!

07:59 The views are getting better and better

08:13 Breakfast stop of sushi balls

08:23 Good stuff

08:28 Almost back

08:50 and we made it! And do you know what? I forgot to take a darn photo! Curses!

Our bus back had been booked for 11:00 but we were able to queue at the bus ticket office and change them to 10:00 which meant only a short wait sat on the pavement at 5th station.

As we sat there bus loads of walkers arrived ready for their trip up the mountain (and as we had neared the bottom we’d passed other people on their way up), we thought how great it was to have done it and be on the way back rather than at the beginning not knowing what was in store.

Back in Tokyo by 12:30 it felt like another world and it had all been a dream.

 

So after a generally negative blog, what did we really think of Fuji-san? We have never been so cold in our lives. We thought Sandakphu was chilly. That was tropical compared to this. Our lungs compressed until we could hardly breathe, our hands were so numb we couldn’t put our gloves on properly without using our teeth, we were soaked to the bone, tired out, aching limbs, too many people and there was nothing to see at the top.

BUT it is one of the best experiences we’ve had of this entire trip. It it a massive achievement to have climbed the highest mountain in Japan and we feel bloody great about it. What an amazing high to go home on (excuse the pun). Love it.

This may say this blog post is for 27th July but I am trying to write it up on 7th November, 103 days after the occasion so please accept my apologies for the tediousness.

I have no idea why Japan has taken me so long to write about and how I made time whilst travelling to write up the rest of the travels is a weird one. Anyone who reads this may think why the hell am I bothering when it was so long ago. But it is something I know I must do and I want to do. A project I told myself at the beginning I would finish so I will.

But maybe my subconscious doesn’t want to come to the end of the blog as much as we didn’t want to come to the end of our travels and get back to normality.

Anyway here goes…

We had our lie-in and packed everything up with main bags to go into storage with our smaller backpacks ready filled with supplies for the adventure this evening.

Ventured out for a short afternoon in Tokyo. Food was priority, no change there. Came across another one of those vending machine places, this time it was outside. We stood for a while staring at the machine trying to work out which kanji matched which picture and hoped we’d chosen a different soup each to try & some gyoza dumplings to share before trying to confirm it with a bewildered looking businessman who was patiently waiting in line.

We entered the establishment through those strips of plastic you get on large refrigerated areas and found ourselves in a long narrow room with just 6 stools along a breakfast bar facing the cooks. We handed over our tickets with confidence – our smiles saying yes we’ve done this before – and pulled up a stool. One each, not both on the same stool, that would be silly.

One of the cooks started chatting to the businessman who had followed us in and a few seconds later he was presenting us with two glasses of water he’d poured for us from the water tank in the corner, before getting himself a glass and pulling up the stool next to me.

The dumplings came (phew, we had ordered correctly) and we proceeded to pour soya sauce into our bowls. Our slave of a businessman immediately gestured that was a mistake and passed us the correct bottle containing soya sauce. Our confidence faded but we were grateful for the advice as the former bottle held some sweet sickly sauce that would never have co-ordinated with gyozas.

Next up were our soups. Turns out our different soups weren’t as different as we’d imagined. They were exactly the same pork & noodle soup except Matt had super-sized his. Ah well it was super tasty so who cares.

We walked out in a more sheepish mood but tummies filled minus the Japan book we’d “borrowed” from the hostel. So Matt had to put in another appearance and I think they were glad to get rid of us.

Spent the remainder of the afternoon nosing around Asakusa, stopping a little longer at the famous and pretty impressive Sensō-ji temple around the corner that we’d pretty much ignored previously.

All temples have a water fountain from which to wash your hands and face, and sometimes drink.

Around another corner old meets new with the Asahi Beer Hall, part of Asahi breweries. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to pop by for a brewery tour.

Followed by shopping, in an area of Tokyo that is gone from my memory, on a mission to find a head torch for tonight’s climb.

Mission accomplished in a random bag shop with the sweetest guy who couldn’t do enough to help us.

Now we’re fully prepared for a night on a mountain… *cough*

Back to Tokyo again today. Our final trip on the Shinkansen and I think we have got our money’s worth.

Based on Google maps we did a total of 1104 miles which is about ¥25 per mile (approx 20p). That’s cheaper than our old RX-8  (when we were materialistic and had money to spend on silly cars).

In detail for anyone who likes this kind of stuff, like me, the distances were Tokyo –> Hiroshima (507 miles), Hiroshima –> Miyajima (16 miles), Miyajima –> Hiroshima (16 miles), Hiroshima –> Kyoto (224 miles), Kyoto –> Nara (26 miles), Nara –> Kyoto (26 miles), Kyoto –> Tokyo (289 miles).

Arriving back at K’s House Tokyo Oasis we dumped the bags and decided to head to the baseball. Neither of us know anything about baseball but it seems a popular sport over here so we thought why not?

Walking out of Korakuen tube station, a fairly central stop in Tokyo, you are met with a gigantic roller-coaster.

Then you spot the Tokyo Dome and that is a monster of a building. A 55,000 seater stadium specifically for baseball. Wow.

We had been correctly informed by K’s House that we could obtain tickets once we got there. There were a range of tickets and us being on a tight budget we opted for the cheapest – standing room only – the assumption being it would be like at a football match where you get a stepped terrace to loiter on.

That was an incorrect assumption. You know when you’re at a stadium and you can wander along at the top of the seated areas to buy food & drink, this is the standing area. You find a space along the edge and lean on the barriers.

It was fun though. We didn’t really mind as we didn’t have to move at all. They had plenty of beer girls running up and down the steps with the keenest eyesight. The moment you raised you hand an inch one would come skipping up between the seats and pour you a pint of Kirin or Asahi.

Matt suddenly loved baseball.

Our view from our spot by the pillar.

Matt wished he’d invested in some quality binoculars when the mid-innings entertainment came out on the pitch.

It’s difficult to tell from this photo but the crowd were mental. And not just crazy pockets of people like at football who start off a song and then others join in, this was mass organisation of chanting. And as soon as play started again they would all stop in unison. In their white and orange jerseys.

We think the home side lost. It was difficult to tell seeing as a) everything was in Japanese and b)  I don’t understand anything and Matt doesn’t understand enough about baseball to know exactly what was going on. I definitely know I learned that it’s a slower game than I realised. There is a lot of standing around and not as much running as I thought. But it was a fantastic atmosphere and it was good to experience a sport that is obviously loved in Japan. It must be to have that size of stadium in the middle of the capital city!

Hungry as ever we went on an epic tube journey trying to find somewhere to eat. First stop was Roppongi. We headed out of the tube station and found ourselves in a posh apartment/ office block next to a flyover. It didn’t look like the kind of place we would find some food that would suit the kind of people we were looking like in the same clothes we’d lived in for 10 months.

So we popped back on the tube and tried Shinjuku instead. This turned out to be a little seedy. Lots of post-work businessmen clogging up the restaurants with randomly dressed girls hanging around the streets. Plus flashing blue lights and sirens going off here there and everywhere.

I felt a little uncomfortable and grouchy as my rumbling stomach was getting the better of me. As we were about to give up and go back on the tube we spotted a busy fast food joint called Gindaco with guys stood at tables with beer and trays of interesting looking balls of something. It seemed more inviting than the other food places in this area.

Turns out they were octopus balls. Well balls made of octopus. Called Takoyaki. Smothered in some sauce and cheese eaten with chopsticks.

They were delicious. And not just because we were starving by this point.

Made it back to K’s and found we’d missed the free drinks evening they do every Tuesday by about 4 hours. On the plus side they’d left some of the free booze on the table so we sat and drank dodgy red wine and sake out of juice cartons whilst making paper cranes.

This is Matt’s example of his origami skills. Mine was shameful.

Looking forward to a lie-in tomorrow as next on the agenda is Mount Fuji…

We hadn’t planned on going to Osaka as we didn’t think we would have enough time but the guy at the hostel mentioned there would be a big festival there today starting at 3pm so we felt we should go and have a look.

The thing is we had also been recommended some other temples in Kyoto and tomorrow we’re off back to Tokyo so we had to get up early to get it all in.

We can get up early when we want to and other times we can completely miss the alarm. Today was the latter.

Still determined to do everything we planned we set off to catch a bus to the temples in north-western Kyoto. Little did we know that a) there were no bus stops for half a mile & b) we’d have to wait in the searing sun for 20mins for a bus & c) we’d get on the wrong bus & d) it would take 40mins to get to the nearest point to the temples. However we managed to get a day ticket, jump off at the right place to get another bus to the temple.

It took a little longer again as we stood in what we thought was a queue for the second bus only for it to turn up, everyone get on and it to leave without us. How could that possibly happen you may ponder? Turns out the elderly guy in front of us was just waiting and waiting and as he didn’t get on the bus neither did we. Oh how we laughed!

Finally a bus came that took us in the right direction and 10 mins later we were at the university, the nearest stop. Turns out it’s at least another 10 min walk to the temple. I am so glad that it was a Zen temple. We needed the power of Zen to relax and calm us after that epic journey.

And was it worth the trip? Well this one, the Ryoan-ji temple was not as impressive as we had hoped. The gardens were pretty and the wildlife were cool – orange spotted coy carp and herons. The Zen garden inside the temple was bizarre. A peaceful garden of 15 rocks surrounded by white gravel. The belief is that whatever direction you look at it from you can never see all 15 without reaching “enlightenment”. We thought we could see all 15 so perhaps we became enlightened quickly.

Didn’t feel so enlightened when we got told off for going through the wrong door into the temple. We’d walked the wrong way around the grounds without realising which meant we encountered the groups door first. So when we returned to pick up our shoes they were no longer where we’d left them. Instead they were on full display in the naughty corner. How disgraceful were we not giving in our ticket we’d paid a ridiculous amount for at the gate. The stroppy lady on the counter put a bit of a dampener on the experience of visiting a Zen temple and made us feel like it was purely there for the tourist income rather than the spiritual purpose it undoubtedly had been built for 6 centuries ago. Such a shame as 99% of the people we’ve met so far have been lovely.

Next stop was Kinkaku-ji temple, a much more impressive structure, completely covered in gold leaf which reflected & glimmered in the surrounding lake. This photo does not do it justice.

 

The gardens were lovely to walk around too and we wish we’d had more time to wander.

By some miracle we managed to get the right bus which took us directly to Kyoto station. This meant we could get on the next train to Osaka and we arrived before 15:00 when the parade was due to start.

We were starving but all we could find was a Starbucks so our lame budget afforded us a large coffee to share. We looked like freaks. The whole place was packed with people drinking iced coffee and there we were with our steaming latte, in the middle of Japanese summer.

We headed through the streets of Osaka to find the festival parade route. One thing that fascinated us about Japanese cities was the amount of businesses that could be squeezed into one building. You would often see a sign outside a 6 storey building with 15 different logos. This one had to be a record though surely.

This wasn’t part of the parade. It was just a white van that passed us and I liked it.

We found a shaded spot on a bridge under a flyover that seemed a good place to pitch ourselves to watch the procession.

It was 15:30 by now and there were teeny hints of a parade with a couple of police here and there.

As we stood sweltering in the humidity we eyed up the fans that many passers-by were holding wishing I’d brought my Miyajima fan with us. It seemed odd that so many people had similar looking fans I thought I’d go off and investigate.

I finally found her and Matt was gutted he’d not offered to go himself when he saw the photo she was happy for me to take of her.

Finally at 16:15 there were signs the Osaka Tenjin Matsuri festival had begun.

And I’m not denying we didn’t think why did we come all this way when the only guys to walk by for 15 mins were looking bored, sweaty & having a smoke…

We moved position to a kerb by the river and things looked up… Funny guy on horseback, check. Traditional shopping trolley, check.

Then more & more interesting characters filled the street.

And that was the parade over and done with. Next were the boats, but that couldn’t be done on an empty stomach. We pushed the boat out (ahem) with a pot of edamame, a hot dog & two beers from a riverside bar before settling on a great grassy spot at the end of the island in the middle of Yodo river to watch the boat procession. Every person that had been in the parade had piled into the barges ready for a trip down the river. Hundreds and hundreds of people covered at least 20 boats, some sitting quietly, others eating, drinking and partying.

The finale of the festival is a big fireworks display which we had a cat’s chance in hell getting anywhere near. The main bridges were either closed or heaving with people. We wandered aimlessly along roads trying to get closer and the best view we could find was from behind the train tracks. Matt got some great shots of whizzing trains & overhead planes.

All in all a very pleasant day and we even managed to get back to Kyoto the same evening.

Not content with staying in one place for very long off we popped to Nara, the old capital of Japan from 710 to 784AD, 45 mins on the train from Kyoto.

They are revamping the train station so it took us 30 mins to find the bicycle hire place which turned out to be right out of the station instead of left.

We intended to hire normal bikes but of course they had electric ones so who could resist? A lot of nodding of heads and pointing followed by not giving any deposit whatsover and agreeing to something written in kanji and we were off for max 2hour hire. Plenty of time to see everything.

Turns out Nara is bigger and more spread out than we expected. They also have a LOT of deer. Nara Park has as many deer grazing as the Forest of Dean has sheep (and wild boar now apparently) roaming the roads.

Spotted a guy selling deer biscuits (food for deer not made from deer) in the park and thought that might be a nice idea to feed some sweet gentle deer. Little did I know that they KNOW when you have deer food and they turn into hungry zombie-eyed vicious creatures with head-butting antlers and sharp teeth. As I tried to pull individual biscuits from the pile and feed them to a few nearby deer more and more descended like crazed demons nudging and nipping and biting my backside. Matt stood there laughing and taking photos as I threw the pile on the floor and ran away from them. He didn’t get a chance to feed any himself.

I now have new found respect for wild animals. Especially wild hungry animals. And it doesn’t matter whether they look as sweet as bambi they are not to be sniffed at.

This one was a cutie though

Enough of deer, we had temples to visit. Toda-ji was first on the list. The world’s largest wooden structure.

 

Containing the world’s largest bronze Buddha. On a par with the world’s largest spatula I’d say.

They’re trying to raise money to re-tile the roof so we paid a few Yen to have a tile added with our own personal message.

They may need to patch up some holes in the supporting pillars too…

Temple-viewing is hungry work so we stopped for green tea ice-cream near the coy carp pond where hungry deer were loitering. This time they didn’t spot us with food and it was nice being able to laugh at other people being chased for a change.

We rode the bikes around the park to several other temples most of which were up and down hills so we were glad of the electric power.

We had to whizz round the last few temples, through some pretty woodland with concrete pillars which centuries ago would have been built to hold candles and light the way. They looked like they are still used today.

Had a time for a super-quick late lunch stop at McDonalds of all places, in the old capital of Japan. Had to be the Teriyaki burger for me. And in optimal time delivered the leccy bikes back with seconds to spare and hopped onto the next train back to Kyoto.

Back at the hostel it was time for sake & dressing up.

For some reason we headed out to Gion again for dinner, forgetting it was really expensive, and somehow thought we could walk it in 20mins but completely misjudged how far it was. Took 50 mins to find anywhere we remotely recognised and so I was a little grumpy from the hunger by then.

We struggled to find anywhere cheap enough or open enough until we ended up on the same street as last night’s sushi bar. It was a welcoming little noodle bar and we asked for the menu. The guy smiled at us and directed us towards what looked like a ticket machine with lots of buttons and Japanese writing. You had to put money in, select what you wanted and get token out. This was exciting, it was pot luck!

What came was a bowl of steaming hot noodles with pork cooked to order in a flash. Japanese fast food. Delicious.

 

A Geisha in Gion.

It is very very hot today. brought back memories of India & SE Asia, carrying our backpacks through searing sunshine.

After our 3rd visit in as many days to Bakery Roti around the corner from J Hoppers, our favourite supplier of random bakery items, we struggled onto a packed tram with all the shoppers. Stares were a plenty as we blocked the narrow alleyways with our ugly luggage. It was a relief to get onto the cool air-conditioned Shinkansen to Kyoto.

Kyoto feels different to Hiroshima. More old, understandably, and more new. The main train station is a monster. Huge glass building stuffed to the brim with platforms and eateries and escalators and shopping centres.

It took us a while to find our next abode and we were hot and sticky in just 15 mins of walking in the humidity.

Headed to Gion, the old quarter of Kyoto where there are a lot of temples. Somehow we managed to miss the opening times of most of them but came across the Yasaka-jinja Shrine where we could potter about.

I insisted we go to a traditional tea making ceremony and we tried En just around the corner from the temples. It is tucked into a tiny side street in Gion and you feel like Harry Potter walking through the wall onto platform 9¾ as the hustle & bustle of the busy modern streets disappear behind and you knock on the door of a small modest wooden building.

Once inside the traditional house you’re definitely another world away. We joined two other tourists kneeling on the tatami floor and watched a lady in traditional dress spend 35 minutes explaining the process in such a precise manner she seemed almost robotic. Every utensil and every movement has a meaning. Even the direction in which the tea bowl is held in the hand so that the pattern faces the recipient and then it is turned 3 times. The tea drinker should also hold the cup with the pattern facing outwards so that other people at the ceremony can admire and discuss the cup.  We even got to make our own tea using powdered green tea and were given a neat turquoise jelly sweet to complement the tea. It was fascinating. Even Matt enjoyed it.

Leaving the place you felt like you had been dreaming and had just woken up coming back to reality.

We explored more of Gion looking for a tasty restaurant but couldn’t find one to suit our budget in the quirky lantern-lit streets.

Instead we headed to a more commercial area and the had-to-be-done conveyor belt sushi bar. With queues out the door we had time to be nosey at what the protocol was. Pretty much the usual. Take what you want. Pile up the plates. Get charged per plate. Easy. Plus drink as much green tea as you like and watch the chefs in the centre prepare plate after plate of unusual sushi, hoping your favourite would come around next.

These were our favourite – tuna and quail eggs I believe.

The couple next to us were hungrier than we were. These plate piles are for 2 people. We only had one pile that high for both of us.

After sushi, we went down a teeny staircase to a corridor of an underground bar and had a civilised Irish coffee served in teacups with sugar cubes and dainty silver teaspoons. Late night coffee seems to be a popular past-time in Japan. Would a late night coffee bar work in the UK without being full of lairy folk? Me thinks not.

After such a sobering morning we needed a lighter afternoon.

A tram, train & ferry trip later and we were on Miyajima island, home of the Itsukushima Shrine, its famous floating torii gate and countless tame wild deer always looking for food.

It’s a pretty little place with a coastal promenade and one street of cute little shops that even the deer fancied popping into for some retail therapy.

At the end of the promenade you get a full view of the torii gate. Well as full as can be if you imagine no-one and no-deer there.

It was a very cool structure. We had heard you needed to go for high tide to get the reflection and for low tide to be able to walk out to it. We thought we’d missed both. Fortune cookies were again on our side and as we spent the whole afternoon there we were able to see both, more or less.

So hold onto your hats this is going to be a Sydney opera house/harbour bridge type blog with hundreds of photos of the same structure but from a squillion different angles / with different features.

Funny photo, haha.

The pagoda on the hill before entering the shrine.

The shrine is also pretty funky and is built over the water.

Views of the torii gate from the shrine.

No torii gate on this one but he is a cool dude.

Once we’d exhausted looking at the shrine and the torii gate in daylight we manoeuvred ourselves into the blind-covered Omotesando street to seek out sustenance in the form of bar-b-q oysters and a rice burger – rice instead of bread for the burger bun. That was fun trying to eat without falling apart.

And no shopping street in Japan is worth its salt without a Hello Kitty store where I took pleasure browsing through the Hello Kitty watches, Hello Kitty mobile phone charms, Hello Kitty socks, Hello Kitty notebooks, Hello Kitty flasks, Hello Kitty table covers, Hello Kitty in Sesame Street costumes, Hello Kitty with Miyajima deer, Hello Kitty & the torii gate etc, etc whilst Matt squirmed to get out of there.

This was my penalty for making him spend so long in there.

And this is my revenge for making me kiss a giant plastic Hello Kitty. Matt with the World’s largest spatula (Miyajima is famous for its wooden rice scoops).

Another revenge, haha! Unbeknownst to Mr. Burns I caught this rather camp photo with my recent purchase as he day-dreamed about beer.

A deer later took a fancy to that same fan and almost ate it whilst we sat watching the sunset over the torii gate. The deer have a keen taste for paper so you are warned by large signs as you exit the ferry terminal to keep all paper articles concealed, especially tickets and passports, as the residents have a knack of pickpocketing important documents when your back is turned.

We stayed long enough to watch the sun disappear over the hills of mainland Japan and very pretty and relaxing it was too.

By the time the sun was gone and we had to start walking back to the ferry to catch one of the last ones to the mainland the water had more or less disappeared from under the torii gate leaving it a little sad seeped in seaweedy mud.

Back in Hiroshima we hunted down more Okonomiyaki and had an early night in preparation for our journey up to Kyoto tomorrow.