Spent the next few days dodging showers and heavy rain; such a shame, as when the sun does pop out the island looks beautiful. Making the best of it we read books, play scrabble and hit the beach whenever the weather permits. The house and the people we are staying with are lovely, and the room spacious which is such a bonus in Japan - so it sort of makes up for the rain.

Catching the 10.45 flight to Tokyo we land at 13.30 to expected torrential rain (it was rather sunny when we left Ishigaki - typical). We reach our hotel completely soaked through. The area, Shinjuku is home to the busiest railway station in the world with over two million passengers passing through it each day. It has sixty exits, a massive underground network of shops and bars and underground walkways that go on forever. The area is what I thought Tokyo would be like - full of skyscrapers with massive neon signs, huge crossings and thousands of Tokyoites going about their business. It is also home to the Kabukicho area which is the lively red-light district with a myriad of host and hostess bars, girly shows, sex venues and Love Hotels. At the end of this quarter there is a lovely glade of greenery which leads to the atmospheric bar quarter, Golden Gai. Recently, this area has gone through a mini renaissance - it is a hugely atmospheric warren of a hundred and fifty drinking dens some full with only eight customers.

Heading out into the local area we take in the muffled view of Tokyo from The Government Metropolitan Offices on the 45th floor. From here we can just about make out how huge and built up Tokyo really is.

That evening we head off to Omoide Yokocho - meaning memories alley. It is also known as **** Alley - a reference to the time when patrons had to relieve themselves in the street. It is a very narrow alley with loads of tiny yakitori bars; a smaller, but more lively version of the Golden Gai. Here we sit at the most intimate bar being served yakitori and drinking lager served by the friendly manageress. Chatting to the other five customers, an American, a Burmese, two Australian Vietnamese and a Japanese who lives in New York, we wonder at this mix of nationalities, exchange holiday experiences and information as well as gleaning a better insight into the psyche of the Japanese.

Waking up only to a very slight drizzle (hurray) we head off to Shinjuku Station to buy our train tickets to the airport tomorrow and have breakfast; no mean feat with thousands of commuters rushing off to work.

Off to Uneo for some retail therapy and a visit to Tokyo National Museum. We are amazed at the disappearance of the cherry blossom as we walk through the park to the museum - as only three weeks ago we viewed the blossom here in all it's glory - it's as if we were in a completely park. The museum was well worth a visit especially for it's original wood-block prints.