Somewhere in ... the train in Japan

... With Richard!

As always we have changed our plans a little bit and stayed in Seoul for one more day. We couldn't resist the party and the BBQ invitatons from our hosts, and as Richard (who we were meeting in Japan) was arriving two days after us so we had some leeway. We have made it again with Asiana Airines to Tokyo and got 90 days entry visa to Japan without any problems. Another stamp on our passport, another country before us. This one is special, as is Richard, who is joining us for 14 days and who had planned the whole journey (which made Pedro extremely happy and he is taking a break from planning and organising).

Arriving to Japan left us without a mobile phone as the roaming is not working and we can't buy a new SIM card, but if we wanted we could rent one:)! This made the initial communication with Richard a bit complicated, but we have managed and met at the right time, on the right subway station:) It was great to see a friendly and familiar face again and we have 14 days to explore Japan together.

Off we go, exploring Tokyo, from the beautiful flat of our first host, beautiful Hitomi and her mom, who welcomed us straight away with a most delicious japanese meal (what better way to start the trip?), and continued as the most gracious guide to this wonderful metropolis. Tokyo is a collection of many different, huge towns all put together into a giant metropolis, full of neon lights and modern buildings but aswell shrines and temples rebuilt from the successive 20th century disasters which raided this city, earthquakes and air raids (the lovers of japanese gardens would have to wait for other photos as Tokyo is not famous for its greenery)...

Walking around Tokyo was a fantastic experience to the senses, and with the speed with which Richard is walking, we have seen nearly everything in Tokyo in two days. We were very impressed with this neat, sophisticated, busy town and its hardworking, friendly people, and look forward to coming back for the final couple of days of our japanese tour.

Our first experience in the Bullet train was a travel south to Takayama, a very comfortable ride, where we as always had as lunch the delicious sushi and maki takeaways from supermarkets, these are the most common and one of the cheapest ways to eat in Japan - which so far has not been as expensive as we feared!

Takayama is a very small town, where we ventured out to see an impressive collection of old Japanese homes brought here from all over the country, a walk in an impressive forest where on top of many old temples we also glimpsed a most impressively long snake, and chilled out with our anglo-american english-teaching hosts!

Tomorrow we go to Kyoto, immortalised recently in Hollywood through the Geisha film, where we go seeking new gardens and bonsais, kimonos and, most importantly, more of the delicious japanese sushi!