Hakone

21st July

We left Kyoto for the mountains, to Hakone National Park. Here we took a break from the walking, as the public transport (including... train, bus, tram, cable car, and boat) took you on a circuit around Mt Hakone, unfortunately the thick low lying cloud and rain meant we couldn't see Mt Hakone, let alone the snow capped Mt Fuji.

However we maxed out on culture and spent the night in a traditional Japanese Ryokan (hotel), the best part being the hot spring baths (Onsen).

Tokyo

22-23rd July

We finished our trip back in Tokyo by which time we were exhausted and crashed out in our Hostel which was straight out of the 70's but very well equipped. Later we met up with Jus' Japanese friend Tsumugi in a classy part of town, Ebisu Garden Place. She treated us to a traditional Japanese meal (Okinyaki) at the top of the tower, cooked on a hot plate in front of you with an amazing view of Tokyo. Tsumugi then became our tour guide for the night and took us to the up-and-coming business centre Roppongi, where we went up another skyscraper and got terrific views of the tokyo night skyline.

On the day that we left Japan, we squeezed in a quick visit to the imperial palace garden, which was vast and impressive, but did not have as much character as the smaller gardens in Kyoto.