Day 19 - Flying home

It was our last day in Japan today. We went to the Tsukiji Fish Market and looked at all the fresh and cooked fish. The wholesale market wouldn't let tourists in until 11 so we didn't have time to wait for that section. I can understand why as the place was swarming with tourists. We then went back to Shinjuku and visited the Ninja Trick House. We were the only group in the tour so we got a full half hour of sword lessons, ninja star throwing and learning the tricks of a ninja house. The boys loved it 😊 After that we went to the Samurai Museum and the boys each chose a samurai sword. For lunch we had indian and then we collected our bags and headed to the airport. It's been an amazing trip and we have seen so much. It's definitely been the most cultural holiday we have ever done and I think the Japanese are the kindest people I have ever met. I can't wait to come back ☺

Day 18 - Tokyo

It was a rainy day today but that didn't stop us from exploring Tokyo. We went to The National Museum of Emerging Science, particularly to see the robot display. The Asimo robot was amazing, it could run, jump, hop, side step, kick a ball and of course talk and sing. We also saw a demonstration of the Andonaroid robot which was scarily lifelike! 🤖 The science centre was huge and so interactive and it only cost about $10 for all of us so it was great value. I could see on Google maps that Toyota MegaWeb was close by so we went to see what it was. It is a huge showroom with every sort of Toyota out there and it was also like an amusement park! The kids got to do a driving test in these really cool mini cars and they were stoked to be issued their own licence 😄 We also played on the car simulators, virtual reality speed track, motion theatre, sports games and a historical car room. And all that waa free except the drivers licences which were $5 each so another bargain for the day. There was so much to do there we didn't leave til 6.30pm. The boys had been begging to go back to Genki Sushi so we trained it over to Shibuya and ate there. Our food wizzed out on the conveyer belts and put big smiles on their faces ☺ On the way back we saw the Hachiko statue. It comes from the real life story of a dog that would wait for its master at the Shibuya Station every day, and when the master died the dog continued to wait there every day until its own death. We had seen the movie so it was nice to see the statue. We arrived back at the hotel at 9pm and are now packing our bags ready to leave tomorrow 😟

Day 17 - Tokyo

We left at 8am this morning and headed back to Tokyo. We bussed it to Nagano and then took our last bullet train to Tokyo. We decided not to go to Disneyland after dealing with the Universal Studios crowds so we switched hotels to APA in Ginza. After dropping our bags off we headed to Harajuku. The boys were desperate to go to a cat cafe so we went and patted all the cats 🐱 Next it was my turn to choose and so we went to Reissue Cafe which does 2D and 3D art in drinks. The 2D pic is our cat Reggie from home and they drew the image from a photo we had. After that we walked through the craziest street in Harajuku which is full of colour and hype. We shopped for souvenirs and the boy's had maccas for dinner. We arrived back at our hotel and Steve and I got takeaway curry for dinner (we finally needed a night off from japanese food 😉). We have two separate hotel rooms tonignt so the boys are fighting over who's sleeping with who 😄

Day 16 - The Alpine Route

We started out at 7am this morning and headed for the Japanese Alps. After arranging for our luggage to be transferred to the next hotel (which cost about $50) we then took a rickety old train to Tateyama and then a series of cable cars, buses, electric trolley busses and a ropeway which took us up and over and through the mountains. The first two stops we did not get off at as signs warned of a recent bear attack and walking trails were still snowy. The views from the bus were beautiful as we climbed higher into the mountains. We got off at Murodo (2,450m) and spent quite a bit of time there walking through the ice walls, around Mikurigaike Pond, viewing the volcanic sulfur pits and of course having snowball fights 😄 We had a picnic lunch there before moving on to Kurobe Dam. The view as we were going down the ropeway was amazing. We walked up, and then down, too many stairs to count. We had afternoon tea there and then took the last tunnel trolley to Ogizawa where the Alpine Route finished.  We then took a local bus to the Kurobe Kanko Hotel. We have a traditional Japanese room (except for the tv I guess 😉) and the hotel is very nice. There are 4 onsens, two indoors and two outdoors, segregated between male and female. For those who don't know how an onsen works this is how it goes, you go into a room and strip off to the nude and all you can take is a little modesty towel (hand towel) to the bathing area. You then have to sit down on a little shower stool and scrub yourself clean, then you get into the bath nude and you can use the hand towel only on your head or to pat your face dry, it is not allowed in the water. The water is about 41 deg cel so it is very hot and we could not stay in there long! The water is natural minerals so its supoosed to be very good for you. It was a weird experience but as they say, when in Japan do as Japanese do 😄 A buffet dinner was included and it was a huge spread of japanese food, Steve absolutely loved it, I thought it was good but I'm not a fan of the raw seafood 🐟 When we got back to our room our futon beds had been made so all we have to do now is go to sleep 😴