Japan we are done, thanks for the memories.

Our second visit to Japan, has been just as wonderful as the first time, we visited, we are pleased to have travelled all over Japan, and had the wonderful company of the gracious Japanese people. Thank you for sharing your country with us, the food, culture and experiences that Japan has to offer are a delight and that one should partake of, if you ever get the opportunity. "Origato domas"

Even Ginza district, Tokyo has a Hooters.

Staying at the Ginza Grand, my sister has capitulated and started sewing hexagons, to make a coin purse.

Harijuku, the trendy area of Tokyo, very crowded and wait times for meals.

Horse meat on the menu in Ginza.

Osaka, Universal studios.

Kyoto, Golden Palace.

Hiroshima, trams

This actual tram was working in 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped.

Miyajima Misen and free roaming deer.

Snow in Sendai

Light show, Tokyo Dome.

Sumo, Endo the Japanese sumo.

Goodbye Japan, onto our next adventure, hello France.

Miyajima Misen, Daisho-in Temple

Australia Day Monday the 26th Jan we all braved the rainy weather and took the ferry across to Miyajima Island, the rain was steady all day, slightly cold, but we were all determined to maximise our sight seeing efforts on what this island has to offer. The deer roam freely on this island and are very friendly.  The ferry below was our lift across to the island, this ferry ride was also included in our JR. a Pass.

Not a great photo of the temple gates with the rain, but an amazing site, Miyajima has been voted one of three most beautiful scenic spots in Japan. the temple gates are made of camphor wood.

A local getting shelter from the rain.

Just love these little hedgehog creatures.

You could get a rickshaw to the top, instead of climbing the 90 mins, cable car can get you down,only   7000 yen.

The shopping streets

The temple gates, as you can observe, wet and slightly cold.

The temples built over the water.

Amazing hexagons everywhere, not sure what this symbols means, appears to something spiritual, as they were all over the place.

A rounded bridge, hard to walk on, note the tide coming in, it did not take long before it was filled with water.

Mizo Bosatsu who wear red bibs, this depicts parents who have lost children and take good care of Jizo images as though these are their lost children. Usually these statues are Buddhist monks.

Some sashiko?

More sashiko, not really this is gold dots, very similar to sashiko.

We left Hirsohima to travel to Kyoto on Tuesday, some of the wonderful window dressing in Kyoto shopping precinct.

We visited the Golden palace

This is our last day with Chris, she will be travelling home on Wednesday.

Our last night dinner in the Gino district of Kyoto at Ultra Chop restaurant.

A very enjoyable antipasto shared.

Lamb cutlets from NZ.

Seafood Pasta

Chop curry.

Another visit to Yuzawaya and more great fabric bought.

We leave Chris and Kyoto , off to Osaka and Universal studios.

Farewell Japan

Oh well last night in Japan, what a fun packed 8 days, had by me, not sure about DH, although he did enjoy the sightseeing, food and Japan in general, not my shopping though. The comment made was, if he see's another Yuzawaya store, he will slit his wrists, LOL. All in all our experience of Japan was a very pleasant one, food was great, freshly cooked and efficient service, the Japanese do try to  accomadate the English  and have menu's written in english, but we did eat at some out of the way places, pointing to a picture on the menu also worked well. The pointing method seem to work and we have not been disappointed so far with our choices. In Japan they still have smoking areas in restaurants. Fashion is interesting, the Japanese are very well dressed, the young girls wear shorts with stockings and boots, temperature is dropping and will soon be winter, not sure if the shorts will be worn in winter or not. Hubby was hard pressed to find TV channels with English subtitles, so he spent the time watching samurai movies in Japanese. The trains are amazing and are always on time and they come every few minutes, so we have not had to wait long for a train, a little different with the buses, where you may wait anything up to a hour. Taxi's are also plentiful, the cab drivers have white gloves on, seats are covered in white lace and the doors are automatic, so no need to open the door. do not put your luggage on the seat!!!  The toilets are automatic, music, shower, bidet and an automatic flush, a person could get used to this. Japan is a shoppers delight, anything and everything is for sale. Fabric, craft items, needles and scissors are half of what we would pay in Australia, this was an added bonus for this trip, my mission was to buy as much fabric and accessories that took my eye. next trip to Japan is hopefully with family and mainly sightseeing? Jan 2015 is booked in for the Tokyo quilt show.

Some highlights of our trip, Golden pavilion in Kyoto.

Japanese dress, kimono,s/ culture.

Japanese woman sweeping leaves at the Golden Pavillion.

Autumn, colourful leaves.

The Yokohama  quilt show.

Well maintained gardens, with flat rocks so people can sit and mediate.

Window displays decorated for Xmas, love how they use unusual critters, heaps of Xmas trees and displays all over Japan to celebrate Xmas.

Fabric town, chose to visit on a Sunday, will journey back to Nippori today as we need to fill in a few hours.

The Japanese are so organised! see the yellow line! these are everywhere, footpaths! escalators and train stations! you walk to the left of these.

Mac delivery bikes, yes that is right, mcdonalds delivers in Japan.

Typical Japanese street, lots of restaurants and good photos to point to!

We sampled the local speciality "ramen" in kamata Tokyo 

Prepackaged food for sale in beautifully decorated box's, we did not sample any of these but have been told they are fresh and flavoursome.

Last but not least, my little patient Japanese man who cut me, 20 pieces of fabric in the kamata Yuzawaya store! farewell Japan it has been an experience! one that I will repeat at a later date.