Konichiwa,

Many things happened since we got back from our Mt. Fuji adventure. We had 5 nights (of which we spent 4 in our "favourite" Capsule Hotel) left in Tokyo and tried to see another firework (failed - ended up soaking wet again! Seems like we bring bad luck to Japanese fireworks and better stay away from them in the future), visited the Tsukiji Fish Market and met up with some friends.

From the beginning we had on our "to do" list for Tokyo to make a daytrip to Nikko, a town 2 hours north-west of Tokyo but since most of the main attractions are closed right now for constructions, we decided to go to Kamakura instead. Kamakura is 1 hour south of Tokyo and is famous for its many Temples, Shrines and the Kamakura Daibutsu (Great Buddha) a 13 meters high, bronze statue. We saw as much as our brain was able to take on a hot and humid day and spent an hour on the beach before going back to Tokyo.

Another daytrip was Yokohama which is only 30 minutes south of Tokyo and with our personal tour guide we had an awesome day. Yodai was Sabrina's host brother when she visited Japan 9 years ago and since his father is from Yokohama we were shown around by an almost "local". It was a rainy day and we started with the Ramen Museum. Ramen is a famous dish in Japan, a little like a noodle soup but with different soup flavours and of course every area in Japan is famous for a different preparation. The museum part was small and only in Japanese but with our own translator no problem! The 2 lower levels of the museum's building brought us back to the earlier times in Japan; dimmed lights and all buildings, streets, and signs were old designs. Those 2 levels accommodated many Ramen Restaurants and after Yodai chose the best we sat down and ordered our first Ramen - delicious (but can be oily at times, depending on the soup flavour)! After the museum we went with the bus to Sankeien Garden, a traditional Japanese Garden with a 3 tiered Pagoda, a residence of a former clan leader and many statues. Since Yokohama and the garden were damaged during WW2, many of the remarkable items came from Kyoto. After the Garden we went to the Osanbashi Pier to see the sunset. On a clear day you can see Mt. Fuji from here but we were only able to see a faded vision in the distance, nevertheless, the sunset was beautiful. We finished the day with an amazing sushi dinner (thank you again Naoya for inviting us). Yodai, reserve already 2 seats for when you fly your first plane, we're your fan club!

Another one of Sabrina's friends, Nobu, rented a car for the day and took on the mission to drive through the craziness of Tokyo's traffic to get us to Hakone. For us it was an experience by itself to see the city and surrounding area through the car instead of the train. Out of luck again with the weather we could not see Mt. Fuji from Lake Ashi and decided against the Gondola but that could not change our great mood in the slightest. We simply enjoyed watching out of the window and not having to walk a lot for a day. Before saying good-bye we went for a nice dinner. Nobu you are our hero in driving through Tokyo, managing the Navigation System and parking the car in the smallest parking spots we have ever seen.

Thank you Yodai and Nobu for spending the day with us, we truly had a great time. We wish you both the best of luck in your lives and hope to see you again soon.

Last on our list for Tokyo were Tsukiji Fish Market and the Tuna Auction at 5:25am. We got up at 3:00am after only 2.5 hours of sleep and took a taxi to the market. The poor taxi driver had no clue what we were talking about when we repeated "Tuna Auction" at least 5 times but he was so nice to check with a security person which entrance he has to drop us off. Since only 120 visitors (divided in 2 groups) are allowed per day we had to be there at 4:00am and wait until 5:25 to get into the auction. Seeing a tuna the size of us is impressive - so much sushi! Unfortunately we couldn't understand much of what was said during the auction and everything happened very quickly but civilized and quiet. After the auction we had 3 hours until the market was open for public so we waited 2.5 hours in line to get into what is supposed to be the best sushi restaurant at the whole fish market. It was definitely worth waiting and paying the money.

On August 1st, exactly 2 weeks after we arrived in Japan we were ready to leave the big city behind us to see some more of Japan. Thanks to our JR Railway Pass - the best investment so far - we can use all Shinkansen (Bullet Trains) and JR lines as often and many times as we like. Off we go!

Our first stop was Sendai where we were invited to stay with Miyuki and her family for 2 nights. Here we got to experience true Japanese Hospitality, we were welcomed to their home and family, shown around Sendai, introduced to home-made Japanese food and Onsen (Japanese hot springs) and spoiled the entire time. Miyuki we will take the memories of our stay with you and your family with us forever.

After 2 amazing days in Sendai we headed to Akita where Seiko and Naoya (Sabrina's former host parents) opened their home to us. Memories from Seiko and Nagoya's stay for 1 year in Germany were shared, lots of laughter about pronunciation differences and old times, a culinary dinner experience we will never forget (thank you, we would have never ordered snails by ourselves), a visit to the Kanto Festival (Lampion Festival - 1 of Japan's 4 main festivals) and a breakfast of champions ("My host mama's breakfast is the best!") made our stay perfect. Thank you for helping us to sort out our train connections (we survived without any engine fires) and we promise to come back, latest in 9 years again or for our weddings. ;-)

Thank you to Miyuki's Family and Sabrina's former host family for accommodating us, we truly felt like home away from home and hope to do the same for you one day when you come to Germany.

To take full advantage of our JR Pass we decided to make a short trip up north to Wakkanai (Hokkaido - most northern city of Japan). We left Akita at 11:00am and arrived in Hakodate at 5:00pm. After seeing the sunset from Mt. Hakodate, dinner, a few drinks in a bar where we were invited to a plate of sausages (no idea if this has anything to do with us being Germans or not) by some Japanese guys and a round of UNO at the train station we decided to continue by train at 1:30am. We reached Wakkanai at 1:00pm and after slight difficulties (the map did not indicate that we had to walk up the entire, freaking hill and it took us more than just 2 minutes) we arrived at our hostel which ended up being more like an apartment with bathroom, kitchen and separate bedroom. For the afternoon we rented bikes and toured around town; the next day we went to Cape Soya, a historical place with a statue that marks the most northern point of Japan and many war memorials. At 5:00pm we hopped on the train again to make our way south - next stop Kyoto!

Cheerio,

Ann & Sabrina