Kobe marked the end of our visit to Japan and what an ending! On the ferry out to Japan we met a chap called Akira, marketing director for Kobe port, who asked Joe, David and I to contact him when we arrived in Kobe.So on our last night we all went out for a meal ofShabu Shabu - this is a pot of boiling water which is placed in the middle of the table into which you put raw vegetables, meat and noodles. When they are cooked you take them out with your chopsticks ...

Osaka is like a mini Tokyo - we quite liked it as it is small enough to get around and gives you a bit of the madness of Tokyo but on a smaller scale (though D did liken the nighttime Dotombori area to Blackpool). We were apparently staying in a 'bad' area in Osaka and were warned to be careful after 10pm but to be honest, other than there being a soup kitchen next door, we felt perfectly safe - this is Japan after all - how can you not feel safe!!!In fact we th...

David here, thought id better do my bit towards the blog, as Ann`s busy uploading the photos from the last few days, well we decided to get out of the madness of Tokyo on Monday and go and see the view of Mt Fuji from a place called Hakone which is out west from Tokyo and takes a good 2 hours by train. We showed up mid to late morning and read that it was the Hakone Daimyo Gyoretsu Parade and was packed out (Basically national Culture Day holiday with locals dres...

Cameras have become the bain of our life - firstly D lost all his camera leads rendering his camera useless, then we lost my camera in Hiroshima, then, having purchased a new (pink - to D`s disgust) camera we managed to pick up a virus on our memory card from one of the Youth Hostel computers and the camera stopped working. I wouldn`t mind but the photos of Hiroshima`s Peace Park on this memory card were the second take as the first round disappeared with the los...

We have been on our first Shinkansen or bullet train today - we went from Osaka to Hiroshoma a distance of 214 miles and it took 1hr 45 mins travelling at 122mph. David had the window seat but complained that it was making his eyes hurt as we were going past things so quickly! We are staying at the Hana Hostel in a Japanese style twin room - which basically means making your own futon up!　 So far we love Japan - it is so peaceful and serene. Everywhere is cle...