Tokyo

Sorry it has taken us a while to get to write this! We are currently in Nagano after quite a busy few days and it is really good to have a bit of a break. We have had a wonderful time in Tokyo with Ken and Rie - they were really wonderful hosts! We arrived in Narita Airport early on Monday morning after two reasonably long flights from New Zealand via Singapore. Ken and Rie picked us up from the airport and took us back to their place to unload and have a shower before we headed down south of Tokyo to the seaside town of Kamakura. It took us an hour and a half to get to their place from the airport - Tokyo is a really massive city! Lots of traffic jams - we were very glad that we are travelling by train.

Kamakura has lots of shrines and temples and a really lovely tree lined main street, famous for it's cherry blossoms in spring. We had a look around the main shrine before having lunch in one of the many small soba resturants along the streets, then off to see the big buddha - Daibetsu, which is also the main attraction in Kamakura. It has survived many earthquakes, typhoons and other natural hazards, as well as much human history.

That night we met some of Ken and Rie's friends around at their place for dinner which was a great night full of interesting japanese home cooked food and various japanese drinks!

The following Tuesday was a National Holiday so we all caught the subway into Tokyo and visited Shibuya, Akihabara and finished off at Roppongi to watch the sunset and lights come out over Tokyo. The weather has been great so we have been able to see Mt Fuji very well from Tokyo and the view from the Mori Tower in Tokyo allowed us to see 360 degrees over the city, with Fujisan right by the setting sun and the full moon rising beside Tokyo Tower. Traveling the trains has been really fun and we are really glad we had Ken and Rie there for those first few days so we could get the hang of it!

The next morning we got up really early and headed in toTsukiji fish market - very busy and quite easy to get run over if you're not careful! An amazing collection of fish and seafood of all kinds. Most of it seemed to be still moving so is very fresh! We had raw tuna and rice for breakfast at one of the stalls before Ken headed off to work for the day and Dave and I headed off to try the subway for ourselves for the day. We went first to Asakusa to get our rail passes sorted for the rest of the trip and book our passes for Nikko. Then we headed to the Senjo-ji Temple complex which was actually really amazing - hundreds of stalls and shops on the main street heading up to the temple and quaint little side streets, some preserved from when Tokyo was Edo. Next we headed to Ueno where we found more interesting little streets and the Ueno Park which was a lovely break from the rush. Finally for the day we stopped at Shinjuku and wandered in to the west side where the massive skyscrapers and government building are. It was pretty much empty! I think everyone was either elsewhere shopping or inside the buildings working!

That evening we all went out to this fantastic Izukiya or traditional japanese pub where we were served dishes of all kinds of food - I'm still not entirely sure what all of them were! Another reasonably early morning saw Dave and I heading off to Shinjuku station again where we left Tokyo and Ken and Rie on a bus for Fujisan and Lake Kawaguchi-ko and the Five Lakes.