Nippon

Happy to be joining land once again i was excited to get off the boat. We were on a tight timescale as we were under the impression that we needed to pick up our rail tickets from Osaka and we were in Kobe. The ticket office closed at 5 and it was after 3. Soon after breezing through an initial customs check i was showing a friendly Japanese man my bags while a dog sniffed me up and don. This was evidently not enough as i was quickly escorted to a private room for a full inspection of my dodgy round eye ways. 30 minutes of every belonging being checked and re-checked, including my feet, i was ready to roll. A guy i had met on the boat Eda was helping us get to the train station where he then took us to the train station ticket office to find out we can pick up our rail passes direct from Kobe. He helped us get our tickets sorted for the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo so we said our goodbyes and hopped on the fastest train in the world.

We arrived in Tokyo about 10 and struggled initially to work out the subway system mainly because each subway station is like a gigantic underground layer with offshoots that go all over. It really has a city underneath its city. We were still pressed for time as we were staying in a capsule hotel that exercised an 11pm curfew. We made it there alive, enjoyed the quick novelty of a small box for a room and collapsed. Tokyo was not nearly as busy as i had initially thought as it spans a large distance the 18 million population is fairly spread out so apart from the main downtown shopping and business areas it maintains quiet streets.

On our first day in Tokyo after having wanted to travel here for roughly 8 years it was great news that i started getting a terrible cold. Nevertheless i persevered and started off by heading to the Tokyo Dome to buy some tickets for the basoball that evening. After getting our tickets we went for a walk and had some lunch in a pretty authentic soba noodle bar. After lunch we walked all around Akihabara, an electronics area. Again after walking by about 30 electronic shops in a row you wonder why some of the best business minds on earth haven't taken on the concept of competition. That night we thoroughly enjoyed our first Japanese baseball game with constant cheers, chants and beer served by entirely too eager teenagers who run around for 5 hours with a sizable keg on their back.

The next day we went to the Imperial Palace which is none too exciting as they only open their doors to the public on 2 days a year so if outside of those 2 days you only really get to see the outer wall which i presume is the least spectacular part. That night we had a starbucks over Shibuya Crossing and people watched. We then met a friend of mine and had a couple of drinks to start off the weekend. Over the weekend we visited a couple of Tokyo museums, went to a couple of temples and tried out some sushimi...mm mmm. On our last night after seeing the Tsukiji fish market first thing in the morning, we got to watch a large scale fireworks show in Asakusa by the river for the River festival they were having.

The next morning we got a Shinkansen to Osaka and went to the 'poor' area Dobutsuenmae o try and get some accommodation. We ended up in the second closest place to the subway station. Osaka was great, we really enjoyed it and preferred it to Tokyo. Among spending nights at Dotombori, a walkway of restaurants, bars and shops all reminiscent of a scene from Blade Runner, we used Osaka as a base for 1 week. Among this time we took day trips all over, we went to a national park in Nara and interacted with wild deer, went to Kyoto twice, Matsumoto, Fuji to see the mountain and a few others. In Osaka itself we went all over also including its massive aquarium which boasts 2 whale sharks among countless other creatures.

After our week in Osaka it was time to move onto Hiroshima for 2 nights before our ferry to Busan in South Korea. We were staying in a traditional Ryokan which was a little pricey and had another 11pm curfew but was well worth it. Hiroshima was a very nice change of pace, it is not as busy but has everything a city should have including a laid back atmosphere. On our first day we decided to go to another baseball game before we left Japan, Hiroshima Toyo Carp number 1! After the game back in our traditional Ryokan...with wifi we found out that our ferry to Busan had been cancelled due to a Typhoon. The only way to progress was still to head to Fukuoka when we had planned so we didn't worry about the cancellation. On our second say we did the usual sights including the A-Bomb Dome, the peace park and various monuments dedicated to children.

The next morning we got a train to Fukuoka as planned and instead of heading to the port we went to a travel agency inside the train station. This proved immensely helpful as after a computer translated back and forth we arranged a refund of the ferry charge and were on our way to the airport to buy a flight. It turns out that because of the weather they did not know when the next ferry would run so the only alternative was to show up at the port every morning and hope. Once at the airport we decided to fly straight to Seoul so as no other weather upsets would prevent us from flying back home. We bought tickets for the next available flight at 9 that night with only 'normal' seats left. After spending all day in the airport we were happy to board our plane, we were even happier to find out that by 'normal' she actually meant first class. After an enjoyable hour and a half flight we touched down in Seoul and welcomed our final destination with open arms...