Up early this morning. Not because we had to catch the train or anything, but because, starting at about 7am, families with screaming, shouting, excited or upset kids started getting up, possibly to go to Huis Den Bosch, and doing all their shouting, screaming and crying through the paper-thin walls of our hotel room. Even if, by some miracle, that hadn't woken us, the oddly "Japanised" Carpenters muzak playing somewhere at what must be Donnington Monsters of Rock decibel levels was bound to have done.
Watching morning TV while getting ready for the off, I saw an astounding offer on the box for an electronics shop selling a Panasonic (National over here) 21" television for 9,800¥. That's about £56 in real money! I know the telly would effectively be worthless in the UK being based on the NTSC and 110v standards in Japan but... a 21" TV for less than sixty quid?! The mind boggles.
To Tokyo! The shinkansen is working today so we climb aboard for our six hour journey east. Not much to say about it really apart from the fact that we got to see the sights of Northern Kyushu and Western Honshu for the first time since they were shrouded in mist and rain when we caught the train to Nagasaki. Oh yes, and there's the small matter of us going past the majestic mist-shrouded form of Mount Fuji with me taking masses of photos that will doubtless look incredibly boring when developed (sure enough, none of them conveyed the majesty and sheer massivity that was evident with the naked eye - ed).
We cruised into Tokyo at about 5:15 and were initially disappointed to find that the hotel with our Japanese teacher's name had cancelled our booking for tonight because of my miscommunication (damn my lousy Japanese!). However sorrow turned swiftly to joy when the first of our other choices for places to stay had space for us for the remaining six nights of our hols. Our joy was tempered by the fact that the Kimi ryokan only deals in cash or Japanese travellers cheques - both of which we have a very small to non-existant supply of. Still, never mind. So here we are in Tokyo, capital of Japan, city of bright lights and all manner of experiences and what are we doing? Are we walking through Shibuya? Are we gazing at Tokyo Bay? No, we're in a back alley launderette doing our washing...
Watching morning TV while getting ready for the off, I saw an astounding offer on the box for an electronics shop selling a Panasonic (National over here) 21" television for 9,800¥. That's about £56 in real money! I know the telly would effectively be worthless in the UK being based on the NTSC and 110v standards in Japan but... a 21" TV for less than sixty quid?! The mind boggles.
To Tokyo! The shinkansen is working today so we climb aboard for our six hour journey east. Not much to say about it really apart from the fact that we got to see the sights of Northern Kyushu and Western Honshu for the first time since they were shrouded in mist and rain when we caught the train to Nagasaki. Oh yes, and there's the small matter of us going past the majestic mist-shrouded form of Mount Fuji with me taking masses of photos that will doubtless look incredibly boring when developed (sure enough, none of them conveyed the majesty and sheer massivity that was evident with the naked eye - ed).
We cruised into Tokyo at about 5:15 and were initially disappointed to find that the hotel with our Japanese teacher's name had cancelled our booking for tonight because of my miscommunication (damn my lousy Japanese!). However sorrow turned swiftly to joy when the first of our other choices for places to stay had space for us for the remaining six nights of our hols. Our joy was tempered by the fact that the Kimi ryokan only deals in cash or Japanese travellers cheques - both of which we have a very small to non-existant supply of. Still, never mind. So here we are in Tokyo, capital of Japan, city of bright lights and all manner of experiences and what are we doing? Are we walking through Shibuya? Are we gazing at Tokyo Bay? No, we're in a back alley launderette doing our washing...
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