Homeward Bound

Here we are on our last day in Japan. In a short while, we will jump on the Narita Express train out to Narita airport. We fly out at 7pm tonight.

We spent our last morning visiting the most iconic of Japanese sights: Shibuya Crossing. It seems bizarre to say that an intersection was a destination but this wasn't any intersection. It is an overwhelming blast of noise, lights and people. I wouldn't want to spend too much time there. It is an assault on the senses but, in many ways, it encapsulates what makes Japan so different from Australia and so unique.

As we are leaving, I naturally feel compelled to give my overall impressions of Japan. There has been so much that was fantastic and amazing and a little bit of challenge as well.

The pros: beautiful country, scenery unlike what we see in Australia (mountains rising up so close to the sea creates a very distinctive look to the towns and cities), incredibly welcoming, kind, generous, polite and helpful people (sometimes we had barely realized we had a problem before someone jumped in to fix it), heated toilet seats, no litter or graffiti, a great time spent with Frank and family (I really haven't seen a lot of him over the years), a culture and history unlike anything we have experienced before.

The cons: really tough to eat gluten free (increasingly so as we moved away from Tokyo), travelling with teens (last time I do it), hard beds (my soft Western body hasn't coped). 

My favourite thing about travel is that it makes the rest of the world seem a whole lot closer to Australia. We are so far from everywhere that it is easy to forget other countries exist. I love coming here and understanding what it is like to live here and what the issues are for Japanese people. It makes me feel just a little bit Japanese.

Ciaran and Ronan both plan to come back and live here for a while. Clare, Ian and I are probably a bit more Europe oriented. For the moment (read 3-5 years), we will be staying home and enjoying what Australia has to offer.

Tokyo Part 2

We are back in Tokyo for almost 48 hours. Our hotel in Shinagawa is ideally placed for getting around Tokyo. We have become experts on the rail system here. It is tricky at first because there are so many different systems but it is actually incredibly easy to find your way anywhere you want to go.

First stop today was a return visit to Akihabara. You could see Ciaran blossom as soon as we came out of the train station. Akihabara really is a unique place. Ciaran headed off for some more merchandise shopping while Ronan spent his time getting his smashed phone screen repaired and new headphones to replace his broken ones.

After Akihabara, it was my turn. We were off to Café Little Bird for lunch. It is not easy to find. It is hidden away in a tiny building in a tiny street in a residential part of Tokyo. Even after we found the building and went to the 3rd floor in the tiny elevator, we still weren't sure if we were there. We opened a door to what looked like a storage cupboard and there it was. Imagine a tiny room with concrete walls, seating for 12 people all up and a kitchen the size of a toilet. It didn't look like we had found a great gluten free restaurant but, take it from me, we had. The food was absolutely fabulous: burgers, pizzas, fried chicken, waffles, crepes, pasta, ramen, even GF beer. It was heaven. We ordered big so that we could take our left overs home for dinner. I couldn't thank them enough. It was such a relief to be in a place where someone understood our condition.

We had eaten so much, we had to do some walking so we headed to the Imperial Palace gardens. They are in the fancy part of town, surrounded by very flashy buildings, shops and restaurants. Ciaran ran out of puff so he waited at the gate. The rest of us had a lovely walk around the gardens.

We had planned to tackle the infamous Shibuya crossing but we were pretty exhausted so we headed home. We have just enough time tomorrow to go to Shibuya before we head out to the airport for our flight back to Australia.

Last post tomorrow!

Travel Day

Today was spent travelling from Hiroshima back to Tokyo. We'd hoped to get the direct Nozomi Shinkansen (the fastest model in the fleet), but instead took two Shinkansens, stopping briefly in Osaka on the way.

Last day in Hiroshima

Wednesday turned out to be the only wet day we have had in Japan in the entire three weeks. We had a quiet day which we needed after 2 and a half weeks on the go. Thankfully, the sun came out on Thursday and we spent our last day in Hiroshima in Miyajima. This is a beautiful little island just off the coast of Hiroshima. It has a lot to recommend it. First and foremost, the Itsukushima Shrine with its famous torii gate floating on water, is a World Heritage site. There is a lovely forest leading up into Mt Misen. Tame deers wander all over the island including in the shopping areas. Finally, Machiya Dori and the surrounding streets capture the feeling of an old Japanese town. We had a lovely day in Miyajima. Our only disappointment was that the cable car which travels up the top of Mt Misen was undergoing maintenance today so we didn't get to see the island from the sky. Nevertheless, it was a lovely last day in Hiroshima (just don't ask Ronan about his phone).

Tomorrow, we head back to Tokyo for 2 nights. On Sunday night, we fly back to Australia arriving on Monday morning. We have a few things still on our wish list in Tokyo. Top of mine is a visit to Café Littlebird, virtually the only gluten free café in Japan. Clare, Ciaran and I are planning a pig out after the food deprivations we have suffered in the last three weeks. I may just stay in the café for the whole 48 hours until we fly home :-)