Tokyo - Loin cloths and maid outfits (?)
Rather pleased that all the driving around London stood us in good stead for driving into Tokyo, we returned the battered hire car to its home and scarpered before they noticed a few scrapes!!
A ride in Japan's child-unfriendly taxis (incredibly clean white seats!!!) still amuses us with their white gloved drivers, chauffeur style suits with matching caps and taxi doors that open automatically for you!
Our reason to spend 4 nights in Tokyo was to experience another festival (matsuri) at the Senso-Ji temple in the district of Asakusa. We were lucky to book a room in a hotel right next to the temple, although as the festivities started at 5am one day, we realized why it was available!!
A quick change at the hotel and off to join in the revelry. First sightings rendered J and H speechless - (don't think O ever really noticed).
Trouser-less men everywhere! Later (not much later!) we discovered that many of these men also sported loin cloths! 3 days of buttocks still didn't dampen the shock of such sightings! There was something just plain odd about standing in line at a shop in a thoroughly modern city with a host of semi-naked men in front of you, chatting away as if this was the norm.
An attempted chat with a lady at a café whose son Owen had befriended, as to 'why loincloths?' produced various unbelievable reasons from the crowd in the café who she proceeded to ask on our behalf (cringe! Cringe! Please don't - we're British!!). Reasons ranged from 'because it's hot', to' they still dress like this is the countryside'. The latter proving how little Tokyoites visit the hinterland of their country!
J had a particularly distressing encounter in a tightly packed shop when one loin-clad chap who was stood right in front of him (and forgetting his revealing attire), lunged to the floor to try shoes on - if only H had had a camera for Js face!!!
Anyway, the festival itself involves the community dividing by sub-district, donning their matching attire to parade the sub-district shrine around the community. Carrying the shrine is seen as a huge honour so therefore the tussle and bustle to 'have a go' is crazy and frenzied. The shrines never fall, but the sight of one lunging towards you as the troupes swap is a little unnerving!!! Drummers and callers attempt to keep a beat to the carriers movements and lead a chanting. It was all very raw and so utterly un-British. Each community also had a kid's shrine which is very sweet to watch. Those nippers can't half make a racket when asked!! Add to this picture all the folk making their way to the temple itself, the plumes of smoke from incense burning, the ricocheting feeling in your chest as huge drums called out, and the shrill -'bleating' of pipers- it was brill!! We fell asleep to this sound for three nights and woke up to it for two, and whilst one wouldn't want to do this forever (sleep deprivation!!!), it really did remind us how great travel is!

Asakusa is one of the few traditional districts in Tokyo, so a labyrinth of little roads lined with eateries and shops were filled to brimming with the festival. It meant we didn't have to just 'stand and watch' but could explore a lovely area at the same time. Good food, beer, sunshine, and lots of fun!! What more could you want? Oh, and a play park for O!
We crammed into the rest of our time here a quick visit to Akihabara, the Geek district of Tokyo - full of computer gadget shops and girls dressed in maid/punk outfits trying to lure people into odd geekie/techie cafes. All very odd and a whole world unknown to us and too old for O! Ginza is one of Tokyos' Oxford Streets. Sauntered along here for a while - Tokyo has the great idea of closing the road on Sundays - so cafes spill out into, effectively 'Oxford Street'. Very pleasant. Our favourite area however was Harajuku which is very loosely, a cross between Camden, Soho and Islington. Tiny streets full to the brim with esoteric shops, all located in very quirky and architecturally splendid buildings. It's a gorgeous place. We topped this off with a G and T at the bar on the 41st floor of The Park Hyatt. Full of Tokyos' most elegant Ladies Who Lunch, the Gs in their now very very scruffy combats looked a tad out of place - but didn't give a monkeys! The view was amazing! We weren't allowed to go to the bar on the 571st floor where they filmed Lost in Translation as no under 20s are allowed - a while to go O!
Regrettably we failed to make the renowned fish market at 6am. In spite of J's proddings at 5am, H and O remained resolutely comatose. Probably a good job as H's mercury level was in the danger zone after all the raw fish she had eaten!
We will be sorry to leave Japan tomorrow. We have absolutely loved it here - we can now understand why so many writers try and have a go at explaining what Japan is all about as it is so varied and has so many quirks and eccentricities, but all in all, as trite as it sounds, it just seems like a really happy place. It is the only place we have been to so far that both of us would love to live in for a while. With sorry hearts, we will board our plane tomorrow for the US.