Big in Japan

Actually this post could probably be called big ON Japan as well as big in Japan, because the fact is that our trip to Tokyo and cruise on Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess around the Japanese islands was one of the most memorable holidays of my life.

We got back last Tuesday and I still wish I was there; I’d wanted to go to Japan for years and it exceeded all my expectations. And I was very lucky to be able to take my niece, Harriet, with me – she had never been outside Europe before so her mind was properly blown by everything we saw and experienced and she even managed to learn some Japanese phrases.

I’ve been to Asia a few times now, most recently to Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore, but Japan is really the most intriguing destination I’ve visited to so far; I just want to go back as soon as possible, and next time take No 1 Son as I know he’d love it too.

I’m going to blog about all the things we saw and places we visited in chronological order (and we ended up spending four days in Tokyo thanks to Typhoon Phanfone – no real hardship though, as it’s officially now one of my Favourite Cities in the World, and we also got to travel on the bullet train, which is a whole post in itself.) But to give you a little taster…

 

 

 

…while we were in Japan (10 days) we encountered everything from the slightly weird to the absolutely wonderful and crazily cute. Like this little lucky cat and kitten outside a shop – with a saucer of salt…

 

 

…the very traditional – we spotted this adorable little girl in Asakusa…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…the unexpected – like this shop assistant wearing a skater dress made from Disney’s Frozen material…

 

 

 

…we saw lots of incredible natural beauty, waterfalls and streams and the wonderful Fall (autumn) colours…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…temples and Buddhas – Japan is a very spiritual country despite all the commercialism…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and Blade Runner-esque scenes, like Shibuya Crossing.

 

 

And yes we were big in Japan as two men said within earshot at Shibuya Crossing (I think they were trying to flatter rather than insult us) – partly because Harriet is nearly 6ft tall and partly because the Japanese eat so healthily (all that fish, rice and noodles) that they are very petite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In fact, I lost weight while we were there – no mean feat when you’re stuffing your faces with nikuman – Japanese pork buns (soooo good) at every possible opportunity. You know that scene in Mulan? It was *exactly* like that #notevensorry.

To give you an idea of the *madness* that is Tokyo (more on this later in the week), here’s my time lapse video of Shibuya Crossing. Proper Bladerunner stuff, right?