Japan, Spring 2024 - Part 1
In the comments on my catch-up-and-apology post the other day, aerodrome1 was kind enough to ask for more details of my latest Japan trip. This will be a very edited account, but here and in a few later entries you'll find some highlights from that tour, which took place in late March and early April, and involved 16 days in Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto and Matsuyama (the last just to shake things up a bit), with side-quests to Osaka and Kobe (the latter very much for the beef). It was the first time I'd been travelled in Japan with anyone else, which made for a new kind of experience in which I was forced (albeit not unwillingly) to don the mantle of the Old Japan Hand, leading my daughter and her boyfriend trepidatiously into Looking-Glass Land.
This was actually our third attempt at the trip. It was scuppered four years ago by COVID and last year by BF's loss of his passport - but this time we made it to Japan. It almost didn't happen, even so - a motorway crash meant that our coach from Bristol to Heathrow was diverted (along with all the other motorway traffic) along many a busky backlane, and I was apparently overheard saying sepulchrally "We're doomed, doomed," or words to that effect, but in fact we weren't doomed after all, and landed at Haneda quite handily and on time - even though we were the last to board.
D & BF are big Pokemon fans, and a noticeable Pokemon bias characterised what was, in many ways, a standard "first time in Japan" Golden Route tour. That's why we stayed in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City to begin with, home of the Ikebukuro Pokemon Centre - but we also got a lot of use from the Observation Deck at the top, and the not-so-micro-pig cafe below. [Note: I normally import my photos via Flickr, but am having trouble doing so right now, so apologies for the weird appearance of some of these, which have come via indirect crook'd ways.] D&BF were both rather awestruck by the horizonless extent of the biggest city on Earth - as well they might be.
It was a family holiday, but that didn't mean we neglected to see old friends, and even give a little lecture - in this case at Taisho University (by way of the Shibuya Pokemon Centre), followed by a gathering of children's lit friends at a Sugamo izakaya. The Ghibli Museum with Satomi and Akira also featured in this part, as well as a cat cafe and a rather splendid lunch in Nakano with Miho and Hiroshi (to say nothing of Chubby the Shiba inu), before heading off to Hakone - which will wait for next time.
This was actually our third attempt at the trip. It was scuppered four years ago by COVID and last year by BF's loss of his passport - but this time we made it to Japan. It almost didn't happen, even so - a motorway crash meant that our coach from Bristol to Heathrow was diverted (along with all the other motorway traffic) along many a busky backlane, and I was apparently overheard saying sepulchrally "We're doomed, doomed," or words to that effect, but in fact we weren't doomed after all, and landed at Haneda quite handily and on time - even though we were the last to board.
D & BF are big Pokemon fans, and a noticeable Pokemon bias characterised what was, in many ways, a standard "first time in Japan" Golden Route tour. That's why we stayed in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City to begin with, home of the Ikebukuro Pokemon Centre - but we also got a lot of use from the Observation Deck at the top, and the not-so-micro-pig cafe below. [Note: I normally import my photos via Flickr, but am having trouble doing so right now, so apologies for the weird appearance of some of these, which have come via indirect crook'd ways.] D&BF were both rather awestruck by the horizonless extent of the biggest city on Earth - as well they might be.
It was a family holiday, but that didn't mean we neglected to see old friends, and even give a little lecture - in this case at Taisho University (by way of the Shibuya Pokemon Centre), followed by a gathering of children's lit friends at a Sugamo izakaya. The Ghibli Museum with Satomi and Akira also featured in this part, as well as a cat cafe and a rather splendid lunch in Nakano with Miho and Hiroshi (to say nothing of Chubby the Shiba inu), before heading off to Hakone - which will wait for next time.