back in tokyo

well, we survived the trip back. towards the end of the ride down to tokyo, we were all pretty sick and tired of riding the shinkansen, but we made it back in one piece, and wihtout ripping each others heads off. beign back in tokyo felt liek coming home to me. we had our place that james and tamaki have let us stay in, and the rest of our luggage, to make us feel welcome. i think becasue we had been a full week in here before we took off for hiroshima, the familarity, although very small, was a welcome experience. time for some sleep, and to recharge those batteries.
woke up and had the luxury of spending about three hours before i had to do anything, which had to be a first for me here in japan. i chilled out a james and tamaki's drank some coffee, read a book and watched some sumo. met up with elise and the others in the afternoon, and helped drop some fliers into letterboxes for the english school. the weather was nice so we decided to have a bbq down by the river. james bought us delicious meats and equally delicious beers, and once everyone had arrived we had the makings of a feast. the rain that had been threatening to dampen our plans all day, even held off long enough for us to all finish. it was a touch of back home, to bbq by river, and a really lovely night.

the next day, elise i had the pleasure of looking after the adoreable alina for the afternoon. we rode bikes into town, to a gallery owned by the who started bridgestone tyres. he has an amazing collection of artworks, by almost every european artist you can think of. we saw works by picasso, monet, renior, miro and so many more, that i can't even remember. we stayed just as long as a six-year-old could handle (which was pretty good alina), and then got some lunch and ate it down by river. tamaki had told her cousin adn husband that we were in the country, and they'd offered to show us around their end of town for the rest of the day, and we'd meet up with tamaki for some dinner later on. we caught the subway with alina over to meet them. i've got say that keeping in form with all the great people we've met in japan, these guys were no exception. mosako and akira were really lovely, and showed us the sights around a really popular, and upmarket part of town. over teh last few weeks, our budget had taken a pounding, so we were a little concerned when we passed an ice cream shop that had scoops for a thousand yen. we kept our appitetites and wallets in our pockets, as we checked out some great clothing shops, and yet another truly excellent toy store. we went out for dinner at a sushi train. there were plates, tables and conveyer belts everywhere. at one hundred yen a plate (about AU$1.20), we ate till sushi came out our ears. had a great time with tamaki, alina, akira and mosako, and arranged to meet up the next day.


you'd be forgiven for thinking that this bbq was taking place in australia mate. nj and james played the part.


tokyo takes on completley different view at night, and the night view from our bbq spot, was no exception.


can't quite put my finger on what it is with japanese and their dogs. these guys are just a sample.


bambi shot with an accessory gun, in one of the displays in a downtown clothing store.


akira and mosako playing with alina.