And then there were two... We've still not left Japan yet but are only hours away from doing so; we're sat in Narita Airport waiting to be called to board the plane to Cairns. I got up at 6.15am this morning to say goodbye to Donald in reception - was very sad. I'm really going to miss his relaxed and cheerful attitude. Hopefully he is winging his way safely back to Blighty as I write, just in time for the England match, much to Jim's annoyance! Caught another...

As you've probably noticed, I've managed to upload some photos at last! You can see my accommodation for the night in this one... We mooched about Kamakura until about 3pm today when we got the train to Tokyo. Our hotel is in Akihabara (Electric Town) and is of the capsule variety. At 4,000 yen a night it's a bit of a bargain - only slightly more expensive than the hostels and cheaper than our ryokan that may have been authentic but wasn't exactly luxurious. Yo...

It's a slightly grumpy Samways writing this today. I've been feeling a bit homesick for the last couple of days, probably because we've done very little but sit! We're still in Kamakura at the moment in Daisy's Cafe, which is Hawaiian themed. In fact, the entire town of Kamakura seems to be Hawaiian themed, which is more than a little surreal. It's a beach town south of Tokyo where all the surfers come apparently. However, I'm yet to see an actual wave and you ca...

Am writing this from Kamakura at the moment but we're still recovering from a brilliant weekend in Chiba. We left Osaka on Saturday, getting the Shinkansen up to Tokyo where Sheryn met us at the station. She'd driven down from Sendai and had very kindly offered to drive us to Chiba (I think she was keen to get involved with the karaoke!) We stopped for lunch and then carried on driving to Abiko Station where we met Jim's friend, and fellow ex-Derby Evening Teleg...

No temples today (thank chuff for that) and mostly lots of sitting in cafes. We went to the Tempozan area of Osaka, the port, to visit the aquarium on Sheryn's recommendation. Two hours of admiring penguins, otters, sharks and freaky looking Japanese spider crabs later we emerged very relaxed into the blazing sunshine. We sat and watched an inept street magician who kept dropping his juggling balls (what is it with rubbish street acts in Japan?!) before going fo...