We’d left our plans for the last day flexible; with a 9pm flight, we had time for some last minute sightseeing, but what we did would depend on the weather.  Yesterday’s rain (the only wet day of the whole trip) cleared overnight and we woke to blue skies and fluffy white clouds.  We packed up, […]

We had plans to go to the seaside … but when we woke up this morning, Tokyo had all but disappeared under a blanket of mist and rain.  Not exactly beach weather.  However, most of the journey involved train travel, so we figured we’d start out dry, so we set off regardless.  Captain K had […]

Our travel day to Tokyo went smoothly enough. Captain Kumamon kept an eye on the speed app on Ian’s phone, but we were unable to get near Pete and Ilze’s Italian record.  We enjoyed a relaxing 3 hour journey; less fun was the hectic transfer from Shinkansen to subway at Tokyo Central.  We’re staying in […]

It was our last day in Osaka, so we thought it was time to look at the local sights, rather than just the immediate neighbourhood and the inside of the subway between Shin-Osaka and Shinsaibashi.  We mapped out a rough plan for the day, and set off.  Yesterday I told Ian that for every temple […]

In the words of Arkwright in “Open All Hours”, it’s been a funny old day.  In the morning we were hiking up a mountain covered in fox shrines and thousands of vermilion Torii gates.  In the afternoon we were shuffling around a Buddhist temple wearing ruby slippers.  We weren’t in Kansas anymore, but Kyoto. We […]

It was our longest excursion, 340 km to Hiroshima.  After a dash to Shin-Osaka in personal-record-breaking time (32 mins), we boarded a Sakura Shinkansen, which covered the distance in 90 minutes, at a top speed of 290 kph.  I wish we had a train network like this.  I would have saved years of my life […]

Our first day trip by Shinkansen was to Himeji, home to one of Japan’s oldest and most spectacular castles, known as “The White Heron” for obvious reasons.  We are too late for cherry blossoms, and too early for autumn foliage, but it was still beautiful – and less crowded than it would be at peak […]

Trivia update – we placed third in the Progressive Trivia.  Little did we know that all that quizzing was simply honing our brains to cope with the complications of the Japanese railway system.  We’d already booked seats on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to get from Yokohama to Osaka – but how to get to the […]

Our last port of call on the cruise was Kagoshima, still in Kyushu.  After a big couple of days, we got a relatively late start to the morning, accompanied by Captain Kumamon on his first adventure away from home.  When we got off the ship, we discovered there was a ferry service shuttling passengers to […]

A new travelling companion/stowaway has appeared in our cabin; he’s dressed to impress, and excited to see the world.  He’s a soft, cuddly, black and white bear with rosy red cheeks.  He is decked out in his Captain’s jacket and cap, and his name is Captain Kumamon.  He’s left his home behind in Yatsushiro, and […]