Waking up to a bright sunny day (typical), we head off to the daunting Shinjuku train station to begin the twenty four hour journey home. Giving ourselves an extra half an hour to get from the entrance of the station to the platform (the station is that big), we board the train and reach Narita airport only to find our plane is delayed by an hour and a half. In spite of the initial delay, our flights are fine and we have no problem catching our connecting flight...

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 ra...

Wake up early after a well needed sleep at the Nikko Airport Hotel to catch our flight to Ishigaki, a sub-tropical Island over a thousand miles from Tokyo. The island is famous for manta rays and hammer head sharks. These islands were independent until the 1970s and still have a local island vibe - its very much Japan mixed with the South Pacific. The weather forecast is not great for the next few days but we have our fingers crossed. On reaching Le Lotus Ble...

Although our hotel had small rooms it was luxury compared with the Capsule Ryokan in Kyoto. We make use of the free laundry facilities (sooo needed) and the onsen which we enjoyed. Today is pretty much limited to a mooch around Hiroshima and grabbing the Shinkansen Nozomi to whisk us off to Osaka Kansai airport where we are holed up for one night before a quick hop on the world famous Peach Airways to our island home in Ishigaki. The weather forecast looks...

Having enjoyed fabulous Teppenyaki of scallops and salmon cooked three ways, we find we are acclimatising to the food. Although we have found Japan crowded, and at times quite taxing to get around; we are overwhelmed by the peoples eagerness to help and their friendly open nature - something that all the guidebooks seem to miss. The alarm goes off at 6.30am and we slowly rise, check out and head for the train station to catch the Shinkansen for the three hour jo...