Japan: 20th Sep 2015

There was this french girl sitting next to me on this flight. She was visiting Japan for only a week. We were chatting for a while, comparing notes of our two holidays. After the plane took off we were allowed to set up the entertainment screen which was housed in the arm rest. We helped each other out trying to get it sorted. She also helped me find the USB charger for my phone. I remembered to take the charge cable this time so I allowed for the battery to run dry at Osaka airport when texting Alex. I watched Alex Garlands' Ex Machina which was a pretty good film.

Breakfast was served around 7:30am Japanese time. It stayed pitch black outside as we were chasing the night time as it moved across the earth. Not too sure what time it will be in Dubai when we land.

Landed about 9:25am Japan time, Early morning Dubai time say 4:30am but not sure.

I hung out with the French girl at Dubai airport when we were both in transit. We looked at all the duty free stuff and even tried to say things in each other's language dialects and making it funny. She couldn't say 'desert' without it sounding like 'dessert'. Lol. She left to go find her terminal. I was in Area A and she should have been in Area C but she had more time to kill so that explains that.

I next hung out with Mark and Caroline waiting at the gate. They ended up sitting behind me on the plane, along with a rocker type blonde chick who got chatty with me when noticing my Japan T shirt I was wearing. After getting to know her, she is a german girl who came from living in Japan with her boyfriend for 4 years and is now going to be studying at Northbrook College in Worthing for her 2nd year.

Finally taken off at 1:36pm Japan time, 5:36am UK time.

I watched the 2nd Spongebob movie whilst having to pause it multiple times for a snooze. When I was more awake I watched Tomorrowland. The woman I was sitting next too must have been addicted to coffee. She asked for it multiple times and even refused to drink the ones she was served for different reasons like they were "too milky" or 'didn't have enough sugar'. Her type of coffee was jet black with the slightest hint of milk with about 4 sugars. Yuck. She was also really fidgety.

Arrived back at 12:35pm UK time.

Bloody gatwick airport. I was in a queue for fucking ages at passport control. I even queued up in the supposedly quicker Electronic Photo Passport control queue but it wasn't faster at all, it was slower. Stupid UK inefficiency.
I talked to the blonde chick when queuing and added to Facebook too. We split ways after I visited the toilet. When I came out there was a sea of people so i didn't see her again. I did text her about how annoying the queue was.

I went home via Brighton. I had no idea that today is the day The Amex host a Rugby World Cup match. USA v Samoa apparently. The train was packed.

As I mentioned I followed Mark and Caroline all the way back to Gatwick. Mark is actually going to the All Blacks match in Wembley later today!

Ending theme song is: L'Arc~en~Ciel- Driver's High

Japan: 19th Sep 2015

We visited a sake brewery museum today. It was only slightly interesting but Yumi bought us a travel sake bottle afterwards which was nice. I learnt that decent sake goes off really quickly. A new bottle needs to be consumed within 2 weeks. That explains why I hated it in the past.

We next visited Fushimi Inari-taisha, a home of the mythical white fox and location of the Thousand Torii Gates which was a location used in The Memoirs of a Geisha. I bought more trinkets and more takoyaki.

We were dropped back at the hotel and assigned slots for a courtesy room. I opted out in favour of finally getting my chance to visit the Manga Museum just down the road.

It was more like a library for Manga. There were people reading manga everywhere. Because it was so much like a library I was miffed at the entrance fee. I found the english translation section and read Yotsuba& volume 4 in its entirety.

Around 5pm I left to meet the others at the hotel lobby. We left around 5:30. On the coach to the airport it said on my phone that it was only 10am in the UK on Saturday. Considering I'm due to get home through the door somewhere around 4pm Sunday that mega sucks. 30 hours travelling :/

I've arrived at Kansai airport and am now in a queue waiting for Emirates check in to open. The time is currently 7:48pm.
At check in I was upgraded to a seat with leg room which was cool. I walked a lot around the terminal texting Alex via messenger. Also bought a green tea flavoured Kit Kat. Wasn't bad.
At the gate I decided to queue last and was one of the last on board. I love my seat it's awesome. Take off time was 11:40pm.

Japan: 18th Sep 2015

Today was officially a free day. However myself, Mark and Caroline from the group had pre-booked a half days bike ride tour. We all assumed that it would be something more than advertised though, as it was advertised as a "cycling tour through a bamboo forest".

We had to get a taxi to the meet up point, arriving at a hotel in the city. There we picked up our bikes. The 3 of us plus the guide took us for a tour of the suburbs. And you know what? It was brilliant! The suburbs are exactly what I see in anime all the time. In actuality it kinda reminded me of the anime FLCL. Like I was riding around the fictional town of Mabase or something.

As well as riding through the backstreets of the suburbs, we rode through a paddy field. We also stopped off at a few temples and looking around the stunning gardens. We even rode next to the river which was at the foot of the mountains.

The advertised 'bamboo forest' was more like a short walk down one street. It didn't matter.

Our ride was one way only and our guide showed us to the train station.

We caught 3 trains to Nara where the most impressive temples are. There are deer that bow their heads at you for food. I fed them with biscuits you can buy for them. There was one really cool temple with a massive statue of Buddah. So big you can get about 10 people on the palm of his hand!

I finally found a place to buy takoyaki, oh and before I forget the 3 of us ate pork curry at Nara when we arrived.

I saw the Nintendo building from the train back to Kyoto.

There isn't a great deal to say about today, but it was enjoyable.

I may not have mentioned this but Japan has tiny diddy vehicles ideal for driving through the smaller backstreets. Its quite quaint.

I need to pack my suitcase now.

Japan: 17th Sep 2015

We visited Nijo Castle this morning, walking directly from the hotel. It's only across the road. It was used by 5 of the 50 Shoguns overall.

We next visited another local temple which was some type of golden pavilion pagoda. It was raining and I was tired.
I was tired and fell asleep on the coach. When it stopped I noticed we were back at the hotel. I was very grateful for it. Yumi said that we were slightly early for the tea ceremony so she decided to use this time leisurely at the hotel. I shoved a hair dryer down my shoes and changed from shorts to trousers. My warm shoes worked so well I felt completely refreshed at 12:50 when we left.

We drove to the tea house district. We were invited into a small house especially built in the olden times for the tea ceremony. The lady was a tea ceremony master. Yumi translated everything about the small details needed to be performed so as to appreciate the tea. In the past, tea was highly expensive so this was what they did (pretentious) to appreciate it.

We next visited Kiyomizu temple. Its rather large and even recognisable in anime and manga for the humungous drop with balcony. There was a great superstitious feature where you have to walk 10m between two stones, with eyes shut, in order to do well in love. Some people didn't walk straight so failed, however I did! WooHoo!

We next visited the Geisha district. I saw 3 of them. Apparently this is quite rare. The area was packed with tourists.
In the evening after arriving back, I followed Mike and Caroline down to the station via the shuttle bus. I only wanted to walk up the sky garden staircase. I did just that. The views from the top were great. All of us had dinner here in a kebab restaurant named Koke Kokko.

I took out money yesterday but used it all up today. :/ I went to an ATM machine in a 7/11. The system was harder to use and I came away having withdrawn a lot more than I should have. I was bummed out but I will keep it to one side until the return trip to Japan.