End of the Trip

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