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We are at Tokyo Narita airport waiting for our flight. We have had a shower, a massage, done some duty free shopping and eaten freshly made sushi with sake in the lounge. With the shopping we did in USA and Japan and my mag lev train set, we checked in 4 bags.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the introduction to Japan. We had a good mix of sightseeing and shopping. After Kyoto, we caught a train to Kanazawa then Toyama where we stayed 2 nights. Kanazawa was booked out with the annual conference for JCI (Jay Cees) - 8,000 of them. The new Shinkansen to Kanazawa meant that it was only 20 minutes from Toyama. We saw the usual things in Kanazawa - gardens, gold leaf shop and the old geisha area. We did also see a kimono exhibition which was very good. Last Sunday, Graeme & Marilyn did the Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route which is a very interesting trip over the Japanese alps. Unfortunately it was wet all day so they didn't see much. The rest of us got the Shinkansen to Tokyo and did a bit of shopping and sightseeing. Monday was a shopping day as was most of Tuesday. Tuesday night was the Robot Restaurant which is an experience with not much to do with robots or food but still great fun. Even the oldies enjoyed it. On Wednesday we visited Nikko which is a series of shrines and temples for one of the shoguns and dates back 400 years. It is world heritage listed. The day was perfect and the autumn leaves were at their peak in Nikko. The autumn colours go from September to December in Japan so you have to pick the area and elevation to see the colours. We were lucky in a few spots including on Wednesday in the Hakone area. We visited the outdoor art museum which changes each time we go and is amazing. There are sculptures in the gardens by artists such as Henry Moore and a building of Picasso works including metal work, ceramics, drawings and paintings. A bus bypassed the cable car due to volcanic activity but we got to ride on the pirate ship! Yesterday, we went to Kamakura, one of the old capitals and rode the suspended monorail and the small trains of the Enoden line. On the way we saw the 121 tonne bronze Buddha dating back to 1252. Amazing! That's about it for this trip. We have some good photos which we will upload when we get home - not much time after organising 8 of us! All the best Boris and Liz
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Sorry we haven't had time to do an email recently. It has been full on looking after our group of 8 people.
We had a good time in Boston and an uneventful flight to Tokyo in a new 787 Dreamliner. After some shopping on Saturday, we had an early night and caught a 5.15 am train to Tokyo Haneda airport to meet the 4 ladies from Melbourne. They had a fast introduction to the Japanese train system with a monorail and suburban train ride followed by a 2 hour trip on the Shinkansen to Kyoto for a 5 night stay. Graeme & Marilyn were there to meet us and we started with a walk to a market at a temple and a couple of other shops. Quite a few purchases were made. With rain forecast for Monday, we went to Osaka to a large fabric shop and the knife shop we like. More purchases! Yesterday we saw some of Kyoto. The imperial palace was open to the public so that was first in excellent weather. We then went to the textile centre, the golden pavilion and walked some of the Path of Philosophy. Today we went to Okayama to see the Korakuen Garden which is one of the best in Japan. We then went to Himeji to visit the castle which is the best original castle in the country. It has just finished a 6 year renovation and looked great in the sunshine. Despite some misgivings initially, everyone is enjoying the food. We have been very lucky in getting seating for 8 with little difficulty. For those who don't know, the group was organised to visit the Yokohama Quilt Fair so we arranged a 2 week itinerary. The show was cancelled but no one has minded much as they are enjoying the country and the craft and fabric shops. We have 2 nights in the Kanazawa/Toyama area and then a week in Tokyo. We are mixing up shopping with seeing some of the major sights of Japan. Hopefully we will get time to upload some more photos soon. Liz has put some on Facebook. All the best Boris and Liz |
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June 2017
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