So we spent our last full day in Tokyo exploring around Asakusa after a much needed lie in and two laundry loads. It was a nice enough area to be in, but there was less to see than our previous stops, although we did make the effort to walk towards the Tokyo Tower (actually it's called the Sky Tree, but we got it muddled with the Tokyo Tower which is their replica of the Eiffel Tower) which we could see from our hostel. Transpires it was a lot further away than w...

So...just to finish off. As we were leaving Osaka-Jo castle we noticed a cat at the entrance to the main gate...then could hear another miaowing away, then another! Turned out there were 4, of which 3 were very interested in our company. So we let them walk round us for a bit before really needing to get back on the metro and head back to Awaza station and to our hostel to sleep. Another japanese style room and was good, though some candian girls came back at 2 a...

After a shower to wake us up, we headed for dinner in Kyoto and managed to find a cool underground restaurant where we had some prawn gyoza and duck. Nice restaurant with seats at the bar, normal tables and a Japanese style area. After all the walking we opted for the comfort of the bar seats! A stroll around the shops and restaurants ensued before heading back to the hostel for a relatively early night ahead of more walking in Nara. Check out was 11am so we slep...

Time to update again! Been a busy couple of days since I last managed to get on and we've been very busy exploring Tokyo and travelling to Kyoto. The evening of the last blog we went down to a Japanese restaurant in the same building as our hotel and had a small meal (tiredness was winning). We shared 12 pork gyoza, special fried rice, soup and two pork meatball things - all very cheap too. Was more or less straight to bed after though for a loooong and much nee...

Having worked out the internet connection in the Shinjuku Washington Hotell, thought I may as well update already (mainly to keep myself awake until an acceptable dinner time). The 11 hour flight wasn't too bad, watched a few films and dozed a bit but more or less missed an entire night's sleep and landed into 9am Tokyo with little option but to plough on with the day. Negotiated customs etc easily enough and managed to sort out Japan Rail Pass out properly and...