Japan is AMAZING!!!!!

Well now our time is nearly up in Japan and we have had a truly amazing time. Ben & Izumi have been amazing hosts. 2 and a half weeks have gone so quickly, but we have done and seen a lot in that short amount of time.

Geting off the plane in Japan was such a shock, the heat and humidity was intense. It has been about 36-38 here and most of that has been humidity. Sightseeing in that heat isnt the most enjoyable, but we got on with it.

First night in japan and we went to Dotonbori which is a area/street along the river of osaka and a hub for food, nightlife and big lights! We werent out too long as we were very tired from all the travelling we had done within the last couple of days: Uluru back to alice springs, alice springs to cairns, cairns to osaka. So the next day was spent pretty much taking in our surroundings and sleeping in the air con! On the saturday night (the next day) we went to shinsaibashi, which is kind of like the camden of Osaka except much more colourful! We spent the day looking around and then the evening was taken up by Ben`s gig. A really good atmosphere at the venue, interesting people & Ben`s singing made the night a good laugh, needless to say we got home early morning again and spent the next day in the aircon and in the evening we braved all the japanese menus and ventured out on our own for some dinner. It ended up being really easy, the girl in the restaurant tried her best with us and we used a couple of japanese phrases and we got by.

On the Monday we took a road trip with Ben and Izumi to Kobe and in the boiling heat we saw the remains of the 1995 earthquake disaster, the port, shops, and chinatown. On the way home we stopped off at a 100yen (47p) sushi train restaurant which was very exciting to me as i love sushi!! In the evening Izumi cooked us a traditinal home cooked meal of Okonomyaki, Yaki soba Noodles and some Korean veg in a spicy sauce it was amazing!

We chilled on the tuesday and went to see the Sky Building in the evening all lit up. On the Wednesday we went to dotonbori and shinsaibashi again to look around and soak up the atmosphere. On the thurs we met up with Ben again and i got the funniest haircut done by one of Ben`s English students, a gay, japanese hairdresser guy who walked in with a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. Hilarious, he wanted to practise his English on me and he got so excited in parts when he was sppeaking that he just stopped cutting my hair! In the evening we went round to Ben & Izumi`s again for some dinner.

On the Sat we went to a big shopping center called Hep and met Shinoske (one of bens band mates) for a drink and some food. In the evening we went to a place called Tako Tako King, such a cool place to eat and the waitors were hilarious. We had Takoyaki and then moved onto Japanese style karaoke...the funniest thing. You get your own room to yourselves and you book in for however many hours you want and you sit and do Karaoke...basically a posh version of singstar. so much fun. After that we decided we were still hungry and ventured back to Tako Tako King untill closing time @ 4am. I think we eventually got back to the hostel at 7am when everybody else was going to work!! haha

On the tues we ventured for a 2 day trip to Tokyo on the Bullet Train! Its name was Hikari and oh my god was she fast. At its top speed of 186mph it felt like we were gliding, so smooth and quiet it puts our railway system to shame. it took just under 3hours on the train to reach Tokyo. (Ashleys geeky bit about the train over with) Once of the bullet train we were straight into Harajuku so i could hopefully spot some mad fashion, sadly nothing too extreme. After walking around for about 3 hours we went to Yoyogi Park to visit the Meiji Jingū shrine which is built in a huge park and needless to say i got bitten countless times!! In the evening we went into to downtown Shibuya and took in the big lights and hussle and bustle of the city.

The next day in Tokyo was hotter than the last, we looked around shibuya in the light and then off to Asakusa for the afternoon, which was a very traditional little town with many old school japanese streets and shrines. We spent the afternoon looking around markets and walking along the river. We got back on the bullet train that evening due to there being nowhere to stay in Tokyo. We met ben off the train and went out for a traditional japanese dinner of Yakiniku: which is a Japanese style of cooking bite-sized meat and veg over a grill/bbq that is in the middle of your table, you get brought the raw meat and veg and you cook it yourself.

On the Thurs we moved hostels to a traditional Japanese guesthouse, very small it only housed 12 guests and the beds are traditional fold out futons. The next day we decided to visit Osaka Castle but what we didnt realise is this was one of the hotest days around 38 degrees, that evening Ash had very red shoulders!! The castle itself and its grounds were amazing, very beautiful and the view from the top of the castle of Osaka was breathtaking!

Yesterday (sat) the 3 of us went to Kyoto with our very own japanese guide in the shape of Shinoske. We visited the famous Toji temple and pagoda before we went in search of geishas downtown in the Gion area of the city. Shinoske knew the exact time to catch them out: on there way to work. We saw about 8 in all their glory!

It is sadly now Sunday and our last day in Japan before we move onto Thailand in the morning. We truly have had an amazing time in Japan, sorry about the daily diary i have just wrote, i just had to try to get it all out in one blog!! haha

We hope Japan is not a one off and would love to come back again. Thankyou Ben and Izumi.

Sayonara