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...

Osaka 19th July We made a day trip to Osaka, a city just south of Kyoto. In contrast to Kyoto it was quite modern and upbeat with several malls and skyscrapers in close proximity. Japan manages to combine its modern identity with its ancient past so seamlessly. We went to the top of the Umeda Sky Building, through a maze of glass elevators and escalators, with hardly a tourist in sight. In fact we were the only 2 on the outside observation deck. We also like...

Kyoto 16th - 18th July Finally! Our first travel journal! We left London on Saturday 15th July for Japan and got off to a good start with a free bottle of Champagne because our TVs were playing up! Didn't get much sleep on the 11 hour flight although we weren't too jetlagged. When we landed we went straight to Kyoto on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train), which was very fast, clean and comfortable! We probably got more sleep on the 3 hour train Journey th...