Day 362: Back in the seat

But I did stumble upon the coolest wall I've ever seen.

Day 361: New beginnings

Very jet-lagged, I played a little hooky ... I definitely got the post-Christmas blues ...

But I was also offered a job!

Day 358: Tokyo

With full day in Tokyo, we made the most of walking around this incredible place.

Senso-ji Temple, famous for the traditional Japanese shopping - Kimono, acessesories ... 

Ladies in their traditional Kimono (blurry due to the photobomber I had to crop)

One of the back streets. This is what urban Tokyo looks like, mostly wood/concrete pre-fabs (as they think along the lines that houses (especially in such an earthquake zone) are fairly expendable).

An Emma photo

                                    Tsukiji Fish Market                         A hot meal vending machine

 

Toyo Ito's 'Leaf' building in the Harajuku District (sadly I didn't get any pics of the beautiful Harajuku girls I was too shy to ask - "Reflecting the sihouettes of elm trees that line the streets are these apparently random concrete braces, together with the floor spanning glass windows."

No pets in the store. Dogs or cats !?

Nom, lunch - sushi!!

Minami Shinmon Gateway

Happy New Year lanterns, put up for good luck (etc)

to the Meiji Shrine

 Where we randomly saw the master sumo's welcome in the New Year.

We ended up in the wrong place to see the ceremony, er, head on, but we did manage to pop up in the media's photos (check out the blonde bonce circled below!!

The magic hour

Last stop - Roppongi Hills. A building designed to enable you to work, sleep, shop there, with the most fantastic 360 views, where we watched the sun set behind Mt. Fuji:

 

Day 357: Mount Fuji

Stunning Mt Fuji - we were very lucky to get a pretty clear day, apparently "she doesnt show her peak very often".

I'd fallen asleep in the coach, and the view when I woke up took my breath away.

We sat down to a bento box lunch, with Miso Soup in a very pretty restaurant...

Before we went for a wander in the grounds. Oh thank the lord we spotted this rollercoaster after lunch!

This is the Mt. Fuji Art museum. The exhibits were pretty dry, but the building itself was beautiful.

A wee cruise over Lake Hakone, to Hakone peak - on which I saw Pirates! Well, an old chinese junk now toating tourists around ...

Before we we went up the most terrifying cable car (only as it was soooooooo high), to one of the most breathtaking scenes I've ever witnessed.

                                 ^ The pacific ocean to the left

Then back to the city.

Day 356: Shinkasen to Tokyo

Today was really sad, we left Mike & Junko in Kyoto, to pop over on the Shinkasen (bullet trains) to Tokyo for a few days before we flew home.

(Aren't we hams?!)

These are non-reserved economy seats. Can you image how good First class is?

Once we'd navigated Tokyo station (13 train, metro and bullet train lines, approximately 1 million use the station every work day - and that's not even close to the busiest station, which has approximately 4 million each work day), we settled in out hotel, then went for a bite of dinner, and a wander.

I set my self two photo challenges whilst in Japan.

1) To get an awesome city lights over the river shot using my tripod.

2) To get a light trail shot (this is where you catch the motion of something moving, by using a really long shutter speed.

Wham! I'm more proud of these shots than any other, oh except my first manual depth of field shot on my phone camera.

Day 354: Hiroshima

This was incredible, sad but incredible.

This building is known as the Atomic Bomb Dome -  so close to the detonation site of the nuclear bomb, some of it survived:

 

Folded paper cranes representing prayers and wishes for peace and Sadako Sasaki

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum: The museum exhibit presents the facts of the atomic bombing, with the aims of contributing to the abolition of nuclear weapons throughout the world, and of promoting world peace.

Hiroshima Peace Park, with the flame of peace.

Treats on the way home - Green Tea & Citrus KitKats, and the special 'Momiji Manju' cake/biscuit.