Today we say goodbye to Kyoto. It is raining. We say goodbye to the owner of the ryokan.
Luckily the walk to the station is not too long. The ticket office accepts credit cards, they even have a big red sign telling us. Rita and I have train passes (14 days) so we don't pay for the tickets, but Elizabeth must pay. The pass is only available to visitors who stay less than 3 months and she has already been here a year. The chap on the counter was very helpful, and luckily for us spoke good English, and understood our poor Japanese. We got tickets right through to Utsunomiya, via Tokyo, after which we transfered to the local line for Nikko (which means sunbeam). The trip from Kyoto to Tokyo was as smooth and comfortable as the previous journey.
We got to the platform for the Tokyo to Utsunomiya part of the journey and was confronted by a very unusual site - a double-decker train. The top half was the Green Car, First Class, and the lower deck, with the windows level with the platform, was standard class. As far as I am concerned anywhere on a Japanese train is First Class. We had to wait a few minutes while the army of cleaners valeted the carriages. We made our way down the stairs to the lower cabin and stowed away our cases. Being lower has its disadvantages, the scenery is more concrete and less landscape. There are advantages, as we pulled into stations a pair of beautiful legs would pass by at eye level.
A quick change at Utsunomiya onto the local line and we were pulling into Nikko station just before 2pm, after setting out from Kyoto at 9:15.
It was pouring. So we took a cab. As always there seems to be a problem with the location of the place. From what I have read street names are rarely used and the house numbering can be in the order of building so houses next to each other can be non-consecutive. After a while the driver appeared to have worked out where the hotel was and drove off. After turning into what appeared to be back alleys he dropped us off at the Turtle Inn. We paid the driver and went in only to be told we were in the annex (Hotori-an) about 300 metres further on. Getting our priorities in order we asked if we could leave our bags and find somewhere to eat. We were given directions to a local place and got there just as they were closing. Luckily for us they took pity on us and let us in. A hot bowl of ramin and rice was a great way to get the chill of the rain out of our bones.
A stroll, in the rain, back to the Turtle Inn and then, with luggage, onto the Annex saw us very wet. We all crashed out in our rooms for an hour or so. It will depend on you priorities which you prefer: the Turtle Inn has the Internet link (where I am typing this) and the Annex has a great Panorama Bath. After sorting out a few things I spent 20 minutes sitting in the hot bath looking out onto the river gorge below. Well worth the long walk in the rain.
What will tomorow bring? Will I be called on to use some new phrases I have learned - It is still raining, I am drenched, Can I borrow an umberella?
It would be a pity because we have to leave on Monday and from the brief glimpse Nikko has some beautiful scenery.
I got another enquiry from my Newspaper research website today. At least I am covering my set up costs.

 
Friday. The forcast is scattered showers. It is on the cool side.
Some of Liz's friends had recently been to Kyoto and had suggested a visit to the Fushimi ji at Inari. the temple is dedicated to the fox and is famous for the avenues of tori. We found the right train and thanks to our rail passes got there free. It is only two stops from Kyoto. The shrine is only a one minute walk from the station. This is to lull you into a false sense of ease and the real test is yet to come.
We got there quite early so there were few people around and those that we saw were shop employees setting up for the visitors. It is very difficult to miss the involvement of the fox, all around are statues, in pairs, one with a scroll in its mouth and the other with a ball. Two large statues stand at the entrance and this one has what looks like a fur tail in its mouth. Around the back I discovered a small building where a number of females in traditional dress were tuning their instruments, a Koto and a couple of Shamisen ready for a performance. A number of people were arriving and being shown to their places. It appeared to be an all ticket affair.
We now started the climb. Over a long time benefactors have put up the gates, tori, over 1,000 of them. The climb sometimes gentle and often severe, is amde even harder by the irregularity of the steps.The tori have two uprights painted in vivid orange and two cross-beams, one of orange and the top one black, with the very distinctive shape. As you walk through the avenue with the gates set close together something strange happens, the view goes out into infinity. It begins to look like the multiple reflections you see in two facing mirrors when you stand in the middle of them.
We all made it up to the first level, but Liz suffers from Asthma and the prospect of the next section, having been warned by her friends was too much, so Rita and I ventured forth together. And the climb was steeper. At last we came to a intersection which displayed a map showing the rest of the path. Still along way to go. We had no idea how far we had already walked but we were struggling. About 100 metres further on we saw the next challenge. The path had moved into a new gear and was steeper than the average flight of stairs. We decided that it would take too long to climb them and we should return to Liz. Well that was our reason for turning around.
Along the route are shops and restuarants, and I assume that stock and supplies must be brought in to them. I pity thse who deliver the goods and have to carry them up, or down the winding paths. As we got back to the bottom of the paths it began to rain so we headed for the station and Kyoto. The afternoon was spent shopping. It is very difficult to find shoes that will fit my daughter. She takes a shoe size of 25.5 and most shops only stock upto 23.5! She managed to buy two pairs she like at UNI CLO, and I got a hat to stop my head getting burnt.

 
Another bright and sunny day. We forgot to order our breakfast with the hotel so we had some toast and toasted sandwiches in the train station. On a whim we all agreed to hire bikes. The charge was £5 per bike per day so we didn't have much to loose. The hardest thing about riding the bike was ridinbg it on the pavement. This is where all cyclist ride. Having spent days in Tokyo jumping out of the way of cyclists, we were the ones ringing our bells to clear a path. We set off to find the Kiyomizu Temple (Temple of clear water). The first part of the journey was not bad until we reached the Gojozaka junction and was presented with a long steep incline. It was time to get off the bikes and walk. Not fun in the warm weather. We made it to the top and found nowhere to park our bikes so we carried on to the temple, which was heavily populated with tourist which included parties of Japanese following flags, school children on trips and foreigners. We met a very nice couple from Vancover who wanted to know where we had got the bikes so we gave them one of our maps. At the top we were told parking our bikes was not allowed. We cheated a bit Elizabeth bought a print at a shop a little way down from the temple and we managed to persued the owner to let us park in the entrance way.
The Kiyomizu temple itself is awesome and I managed to get some good pictures. As luck would have it I also got a photograph of a monk with his begging bowl - I did give a donation as payment for the photo, and a couple of girls made up as geisha were also being having photos taken so I took a couple. I went back to the bikes while Rita and Liz did some shopping for presents. I passed the time playing with my belated birthday present from Liz, an electronic Japanese-English and Kanji dictionary by Canon. Sometimes our kids can be very rewarding. There are plenty of kanji out there I don't know and this device helps we with most of them.
The next challenge was to avoid the Sannenzaka (three year slope), a long section of steps, which took us into interesting parts of the district, but failed to avoid the Ninenzaka (Two year slope). Undetered we struggled down with the bikes. Our hard work was well rewarded at the Ryozen Kannon. A statue some 25 meters tall and beautifully carved. This was a very peaceful place, a place to contemplate and certainly a place that washed away some of the stress from the earlier journey. We moved on past the Kodaiji to Maruyama Park, a popular place for cherry blossom viewing and very crowed. I think we all had felt the same after the Ryozen Kannon and decided to cut short the rest of the recommended trail and return the bikes.
After a meal, Tempura, in the station we caught a bus to Kinkakuji temple (number 205). This is where Elizabeth's experience is priceless. Japanese buses fall into two categories - those which you enter and take a ticket and those which you pay on the way out. To us it was a bit worrying to get on a bus without a ticket and no indication as to where you got on. But Liz was right. At our stop we paid our 220 yen each and got off. Kinkaku ji - the Golden Temple. We arrived quite late when the sun was starting to set and this enhanced the golden hue of the temple. A great place for photographs. The bus back was less of an adventure but enjoyable.
I must find a hat for tomorrow. My hair is short and the top of my head is starting to tingle. Can you get sunburn on the head? I don't want to find out.
I've just checked that we have breakfast ordered for tomorrow so I can go to bed happy.

 
Another day and another good one. Bright sunlight and no clouds. The taxi arrived on time and we met up with Elizabeth in Starbucks. Getting the tickets was fun. For a country which is so modern they can still be in the past. It took three goes to find a ticket counter that would accept credit cards. Our train was to leave from platform 18 at 9:46. And it did. The carriage, non-smoking reserved seats, was spacious and more like an aircraft than a train. The trip to Kyoto on the express took 2 hours and 24 minutes. Half way through the journey Mount Fuji rose up. What a site. I, like many other westerners, leaped up to take photographs of the view. Glad I have a digital camera as of the 40 odd pictures I took I immediately deleted half of them as failures. Trouble was bits of the railway, like poles, buildings and walls kept getting in the way. The camera could pay for itself in no time on development costs alone.
We arrived at Kyoto right on time. According the the instructions the ryokan, Station Ryokan Seiki is only a two minute walk from the station. With all the luggage we had I was so glad that the information was correct. We didn't do much today. Liz was tired after her all night bus trip from Yokote and wanted a hot bath and a few hours sleep to recover. The ryokan is clean and friendly, and they speak good English. We met German, Dutch and French guests. We did walk around the local area, including a department store for a nose. We also found a good, but very noisy, restaurant to have our evening meal in.

 
Today saw a complete change in the weather, from sunny and hot to showery and quite cold. Even so it didn't stop us and after breakfast we wrote out a few postacrds and then set off to resume our visit to Ginza. One interesting thing we noticed s that if there is a spare seat next to either of us on the train it is often left empty even when people are standing. Are they worried they may catch something?
We popped in the Wako departo to have a look around. Beautiful goods and far too expensive for our pockets. Another thing there are so many staff in the shops, even when there are no customers they are busy getting on with some chore or other. None of the standing around with arms folded like back home. I discovered a shop that specialised in Go and Shogi. They had some beautiful boards and I would loved to have bought one of the free standing ons, but the expense and extra cost in excess baggage put me off.
The weather seemed to be brightening so we decided to find our way to the Imperial Palace. Which proved to be very close. I wonder if the Imperial family ever pop outto buy the odd item in Ganza?
The main part of the palace is hidden away behind a moat, immense walls and screens of trees. The actual palace is visible but is quite modern having been rebuilt after the Second World War. The Eastern Garden is open to the public and proved to be immacualte. The weather held off and we spent an hour wandering around the gardens. We stopped off at a small building which was selling momentos, postcards and prints plus ice cream. Like elsewhere in Tokyo we were surprised about the cost of the items. Fifty pence for an ice cream which would easily have cost £: at a statly home in England. £:1.50 for eight good quality postcards. In a similar light the items in our minibar are roughly the same price as the local shop sells them for.
Anyway, I digress. The weather now was starting to get up and the wind was blowing quite hard and the dark clouds were closing in, time to depart. We made our way the the nearest station on the Ginza line and returned home where were took the opportunity to soak in the hot bath, after washing first. We felt refreshed enough to write more cards. I down loaded the pictures I had taken during the day. Nearly 8 mega so far.
The evening saw a deluge and we had to make a run for a local tempura restaurant to avoid drowning. The food was good and filling.
I would certainly recommend the ryokan Shigetsu, Asakusa, the stay has been very pleasant and the staff very helpful, and very polite about my attempts at Japanese.
We have booked our taxi for tomorrow morning at 7:30 to take us to Tokyo Eki where we meet Elizabeth and then travel down to Kyoto. We have not seen Liz since June. She finished University at Dundee, turned up at home and then jetted off to Japan, leaving us to drive up to Dundee and pick up four years of stuff.

 
Woke up early - always the same in a different bed. Slept quite well, although a few aches.
Started the day at 7:30 with a Japanese breakfast which was very tasty and far healthier than the normal English breakfast. The weather was clear and brisk, but hinted of warmer things later. I had checked the map of Tokyo and had realised the places we wanted to see were in walking distance. So with hopes high we set out around 8:30 to Euno Park about a mile and a half away. We made it still not out of breath. The cherry blossom was in a riot. St out along the main avenue were blue mats most with a solitary person sitting on it, I assume the designated reservist ensuring the group would have a place to enjoy their party.
After Eno we decided to walk to the Korakuen Gardens which Rita had read were beautiful and a place to relax. By chance we came across the Uishime Tenin Temple, hidden away up a flight of steps. Many people, mainly men in business suits, were in the temple where a service was in progress.
We found the Park without too much problem, however it was almost completely dwaft but the Big Egg, the baseball stadium, and the Big Top, a new amusement park which will open on 1st May. Can you imagine one of the big rides and a big wheel set on top of a building in London. The ride actually goes outside the boundary of the building and at one point through a wall. It looked impressive, I will not be around to find out what is like to ride, unfortunately.
The Gardens were everything the guidebook said they were. We bourght as bento box and after wandering round for a while sat by the lake to eat. Many of the local workers had also had the same idea, and in some cases what looked like whole departments were enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery.
We had intended to visit the Imperial Palance next but discovered the gardens were closed on Mondays so I persuaded Rita a trip to Akihabara, the electronics distric, would be interesting. She was not convinced. I was pleased to discover my Minolta Diamge camera not not much cheap there than what I paid for mine in England.
Our next destination was Tokyo station. We needed to validate our train passes and also scout out a place to meet Liz, my daughter, on Wednesday. We found a great place - Starbucks. We got rather lost around the station and it took us 15 minutes to orietate ourselves. Then on to Ginza but when we got there we were far too tired to do anything. Luckily Ginza is on the same line as Asakusa so the return back to the ryokan was reasonably easy. We even got a seat. We got home around 5pm and had clocked up over 10 miles.
After a meal of sushi, rice, miso soup and green tea in a local restaurant, we fell into bed.

 
Well we made it. The plane was nearly 2 hours late in taking off - had to wait for some late arrivals from a British Midland flight, then last our slot. Even so the late arrivals still didn't get their baggage loaded and were told at Tokyo some would be on a later flight, and some would arrive tomorrow! The seating was very good, glad we paid the little extra. Watched The Two Towers again which past some of the time. Couldn't really sleep that well, just the odd catnap. Typing this is fun. I'm in a cramped area, on a keyboard with Japanese hiragana and to make it reallyhardit is an Apple iBook. I keep pressing the Control Key instead of Shift and end up with weird characters which is the best it can do for the extended Japanese character set.
Anyway Tokyo was glorious when we arrived, bright sunshine and bracing. We caught the Rimujin to the Tokyo City Air Terminak T-CAT and then a taxi to the hotel. That was fun. I tried my best Japanese on the driver but he didn't understand the address. Nor did he know where it was when I gave him the written address. He ended up phoning the ryokan for directions. He then dropped us off at a street corner because the road was pedestrianised. Luckily the second person we asked knew the location of the ryokan and told us how to get there - my surprise was that I understood and found it.
The outside of the buildings are not wonderful, rather makeshift, but the insides make up for it. We opted for a Japanese style room which look wonderful until we got all our luggge inside then it was just cramped and messy. It is taking some getting used to everything being at ground level, hard on the back.
Being Sunday the local riverside park was packed. The cherry blossom is in great abundance and all the way along the narrow park were group of people enjoying picnics.
I pleased to discover I could plug my power supply into the Japanese socket and it worked. I took quite a few photogrphs and managed to review them on my laptop which was another success. It seems the planning was worked.
Collapsed into bed at 10pm. I wonder how well we will sleep in the Japanese stlye beds after so many years on a soft matress?