Since a few people have asked what my favourite thing was, what I didn’t like, what I would have done differently, here is the inevitable wrap up posting. Also it will end the Japan trip nicely before I go on to blog about all my Kit Kats (yes, you will get detailed posts about each flavour), and also before I sporadically blog about other things.

I will try not to create definitive lists or anything like that… just my thoughts now a few days home have passed.

Highlights?

My list of highlights will probably be easy to guess from my postings and those of you that I have spoken to. So, in sort of an order but not really…

Climbed a mountain? Check.

Mt Fuji Climb – This is obvious. Most of you know it was my big goal for the trip, and to have such a smooth climb with a good bunch and great weather was almost too good to be true. The climb was tough but manageable, and the fact that I avoided altitude sickness I was very chuffed. But to see the sunrise on top of a mountain? That is truly something I may never do again. Magic.

Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle – This is a combo of being something I dreamed about seeing, and also that the renovation work I knew was happening was not as far along as expected, meaning I saw the castle in its glory. Add my own guide leading me through the twists and turns and it was an amazing historical visit.

More on this guy later

Ghibli Museum – As mentioned I am a fan of Ghibli, but not a full on devotee, but this museum was gorgeous. I wandered for hours soaking up the magical detail provided by Miyazaki and was awestruck, even though I couldn’t jump in the big Neko-Bus. It has made me want to go back and revisit those films I only thought were OK.

Matt, meet Todaiji Temple

Nara / Southern Higashiyama walk in Kyoto – It is impossible to split these two, since they both consisted of long walks through beautiful temples. Nara would have the edge with Todaiji, however the long walk through temples in Kyoto was breathtaking.

No witty comment here

Peace Memorial Museum, Hiroshima – It is just such an amazing and haunting place to visit. You know the enormity of what happened, but until you see the actual consequences of it in your face, I am not sure it can ever be appreciated.

I even pose like a local now

Baseball in Tokyo – I am not the biggest baseball fan in the world, but I am a sports nut, so to go to see a sport where the folks are so crazy was fantastic. Yes, many of you have commented I was hypnotised by the beer girls, and yes I was, but it was the atmosphere overall that was great fun.

What Will I Miss?

There are the little things I will miss…

My gracious hosts

The People – I know I didn’t understand what people were saying 99.9% of the time, but everyone was just so freakin’ nice!

Coffee in a can – Yep. I got hooked on it. I already miss my morning cold coffee hit. I need to get it happening here in Oz.

I still think the Pakenham line is worse

A Train System and Travel Card that works – It astounds me that our train system can be so crappy, and Myki does not work, when I have just used a system in Tokyo that handles millions of people a day without a hitch. Oh, I know problems probably happen, but I never noticed.

The Holy Grail

Getting good cheap food anywhere – That means good noodles from small stores, wildly different okonomyaki, fresh sushi, all pretty cheap. I now have to try and perfect an awesome ramen. Oh, and of course… Kit Kats.

Just telling ya who's boss mate

Wandering parks – I think a default thing to do everywhere I went was to just to wander a park, even in a megalopolis like Tokyo. Usually a temple would poke its head up, or a deer would stick its nose in your pocket.

What didn’t I like?

Someone said to me “You couldn’t have liked everything!”. Well, almost everything sorry, yeah. I won’t say I was disappointed by anything, but some things were not as I expected maybe.

The main thing is probably Tokyo itself. Now let me clarify, I really dug Tokyo. Ghibli! Record Stores! Akihabara! But Tokyo probably didn’t “wow” me as much as I thought it might. It was probably the place I just expected to be picking my jaw up off the ground from either the craziness, the awesomeness, the confusion, or just the sheer scale of it all. But I didn’t really get it.

Sure the train network was overwhelming for a couple days, but then you work it out. Yep, the trains and stations are packed, but you get used to it. There are strange folk, but not the volume of them as I expected. Maybe I was expecting Blade Runner, but I just got another cool city. But would I go back and hang out there? Of course!

I did get Blade Runner’s relentless rain though. But I knew that was coming. Given with work these were the only weeks I could visit this time of year, it was always going to happen. As you can no doubt tell, it didn’t stop me doing anything though. Plus it just makes me want to go back in winter.

What would I have done differently?

I gotta say, for a first trip to Japan, I wouldn’t have done much differently at all. I checked all the big things off my list, and did heaps of things I dreamed about doing. I would maybe have taken a day or two off Tokyo, and popped them on to Kyoto so that I could catch some things I missed and also visit Osaka. But next time hey?

Time to start learning Japanese.

Get those dirty thoughts out of your mind. I’ll get to the blog title later.

As I said yesterday, my plan was to visit the Tokyo National Museum. “You’re in Tokyo and you’re going to a museum?!” I hear you ask. Well, I am not that into shopping unless it is LP’s or toys, so yep, a museum.

The museum is in Ueno, an area of Tokyo I hadn’t been to yet. It is interesting how while it all feels like Tokyo, each district has its own feel. Ueno was no exception. A gorgeous park houses a number of museums as well as the zoo. Apparently the zoo is only so-so, so it was off to the museum for me.

The closest museum I can liken it to is the British Museum in London. It was full of historical artifacts from Japan and over Asia. And it was sweet. This is how a good museum is done. I know we don’t have the history in Oz, but it is museums like this that make you appreciate countries with many centuries of history behind them.

The highlights are the art works and of course the samurai related things. But it was all good, and it was so engrossing it threw my plans out of whack a little. I had planned to also visit the Imperial Palace gardens since I had not got there, but by the time I was done, I really only had time to get back to the hostel for my evenings plans. Oh well, they could wait until tomorrow (my last day sniff sniff).

Being my last night in Japan I wanted to do something cool. As luck would have it (and I certainly have had my share of it) I was able to do something I really wanted to do somewhere in Japan… catch a baseball game. Now I have seen baseball in the US, but this was cool, because I had heard crowds here are something else. Plus being in Tokyo I get to visit Tokyo Dome.

When I mentioned my plans to Taka, my host here at the hostel, he got excited. The teams playing were the Fukuowa Hawks, and his team the Nippon Fighters, so he decided he would come too. By the time I got back to the hostel we had a posse of 5 to head out. Oh yeah.

So Taka led the way, and along the way we picked up some beer and food. Yes, believe it or not we could take our own beer in as long as it was in plastic cups. Man the Japanese have it right. We could buy beer in there, but at 800 yen a pop, it was a bit pricey. But their idea of beer at the baseball is the coolest thing I have seen. We’ll get to that.

So we arrived at Tokyo Dome, grabbed our tickets and went on it.

We elected to go the OK seats which were fine with me, round a bit from first base. I was happy just to soak up the atmosphere.

Not being the Tokyo Giants playing, the stadium wasn’t full, but I could tell it was going to be some fun. You know what soccer chanting is like? It goes on all game. This is what we were in for. But this was cooler, as each team seemed to have their own horn section leading the way.

We also had the obligatory mascots to add to the fun. But the best part I had heard about, but until I saw it didn’t appreciate the awesomeness of it. You know how at the MCG you have to get up and go buy a mid-strength beer? Imagine if there were beer girls with kegs strapped to their backs that came and poured you beers. Now before you say “Matt, what kind of misogynistic fantasy land are you living in?”. I give you Exhibit A…

Yep, there are girls with kegs strapped to their backs pouring beer. You even have your choice of the Asahi girl, Santory girl, and the Kirin girl. I kind you not. Suddenly 800 yen for a beer is not too extreme. But I tell you, these girls work. Hard. They are constantly buzzing up and down the aisles. For the whole game. And the game goes for over 3 hours. By 2 1/2 hours they were spent, you could tell. But it has to be better than a stairmaster.

Oh, there was a baseball game going on too, I wasn’t just fixated on the beer girls. It was good in that there were a lot of runs scored, but not so good in that Taka’s team got done 10-0. Oh well. He had fun and so did we all.

So it was back to the guest house. When we got back I had to say see ya to a couple of the girls who work at the hostel, since I wouldn’t see them in the morning. While this hostel has been pretty basic, the folk who run it have all been awesome, so it is with a sad face that I will be checking out. They have already made me promise to come back. I guess I will have to keep my word won’t I?