Fab day in Tokyo, really loving the contrasts of this city. We used the subway to get to Tokyo Tower, which you will see is modelled on the Eiffel Tower. We went up 250m to the observatory which gave great views and us an appreciation of how big Tokyo is. We then walked across to the Zozoji Temple which was very busy as today was one of only three days a year when the black image of Amida Buddha is shown to the public. We then headed to the busy shopping district...

Lovely morning at the ryokan before catching a train to Tokyo. We had to go back to Toyama to change to the shinkansen so finally got our train ride through the alps! Arriving in Tokyo was great, it was not as crazy as anticipated and we had a nice walk to our hotel, near the Imperial Palace. We relaxed at the hotel and randomly both decided we fancied pizza? We went for a wander and stepped out of the hotel to two pizza restaurants across the road! It was good, ...

We opened the window ( slid the sliding window) and listened to the rain pouring. We then woke, after another amazing nights sleep, to a beautiful day. We can see the snow capped mountains from our window. We enjoyed another amazing Japanese breakfast, they give you the most perfect boiled egg. We then walked next door to the Hida Folk Village. This is a beautiful village preserving village houses over 200 years old. They are beautifully designed and all have a b...

Good nights sleep followed by another lovely Japanese breakfast. We had time for a walk before heading to the station for our journey to Takayama. Our Ryokan owner asked where we were going and I said Takayama, he asked by bus? I replied no by train. We got the shinkansen to Toyama where we were to change to a local train. Unfortunately there was no mention of our connecting train on the board and on enquiry we found it had been cancelled due to Tropical Storm No...

Train from Kyoto to Kanazawa past lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. Immediately loved Kanazawa and following the arrival at our ryokan were even more delighted. This is a traditional ryokan and we left our shoes at the entrance and put on slippers. We were shown to our lovely room where we leave our slippers at the door and step up onto tatami mats. We were then brought green tea. We tore ourselves away from the ryokan and visited the old samurai quarter and ...