Tour Of Japan - Pt 6. The Final Part. The Conclusion

Back flying to Kyoto. Around 2 hrs flight. Back to our Air B & B and meeting up with Mary again. Going between one side of the Honshu Island to the other. Just over 2 hrs on the Bullet train, either way, to Tokyo.



We spend a full day at Disney Tokyo, which was....spellbinding...






We do some shopping and things on my hitlist....luckily, Mary loves her yoga so she takes me along to a class. I love yoga too, and do it regularly. We join a class of other ladies - some young, some older. All very polite, very smiley and a little limited in their English, but all very welcoming.

Wonderful sweaty hour.



We attend a tea ceremony, which was really...I’m going to say beautiful. I love tradition.

Then....oh boy! Mary invites some of her friends and, alongside Ade and I, we have our own Karaoke! So much fun! Lots of Asahi beer (‘Biru’) consumed ! I’m up, natch, doing some Taylor (a girl’s gotta represent, right?) and Ade - who I’ve never heard do karaoke! - is doing some Bryan Adams numbers!

Next day was hangover day!

Then, thanking Mary and flying back home...

Absolutely wonderful time.

So, points to make?

Firstly, you can go much (MUCH!) cheaply than we did. We made a pact, back in 2020, that we get over the world crashing and burning, that we’d go all out on a big trip to Japan. So, it has cost us thousands to rent accommodation and catch flights, but there are ways around it all.

So...I’d recommend travelling by train when you can. It’s fast, it’s efficient, they’re usually painted up in ‘Hello Kitty’ or ‘Godzilla’ type artwork, so that’s fun. There’s also this form - called the JR Pass (Japanese Rail) - that you can get unlimited rail travel for the period of time that you book. So, for us it was 21 days, which cost £526, but you can book 7 days at £263 or 14 days at £421. Pricey? Maybe but we’ve travelled thousands of miles in that time and, when you consider in my first blog I talk about Tokyo to Hokkaido costing £125...and that’s just one journey.

It’s good value. Obviously that’s each.

Food? Raman Noodles and Sushi? From £2.60-ish to about £7.80, depending on where you go. Posher places will charge over £50 for a higher end dining. Wine? Around £6.30 upwards. McDonalds? Around £4.20 for a combo. Beer? Draught, domestic style? Around £2.60 for half a litre. A Day Pass to Disney costs around £42 during weekdays.

Toilets! Let’s talk toilets! Essentially, there’s 2 different types; traditional, which is like a trough, and requires you to squat. Or there’s more the ‘Western style’, which, as it’s name suggests, is similar to ours in the West with the exception that they are lower to the ground. Many places, you can also add in the subgroup of tech style - they call it Woshuretto - and it has a control panel with, like, 7 settings! Heated seat, some water bidet function (for males or females) and some other things...that...I...can’t...say...I...understand! Lol!




There’s so much more I wanted to see but Japan is one of those places that needs a lot longer than 3 weeks. For example, i wished we had time to see some more Samurai stuff, a Sumo meet, a traditional Japanese play and, really random I know, but a Japanese movie in a Japanese cinema! Ade wanted to look around the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park and the Okinawa Blue Cave.

Maybe next time?

The demographic is pretty much of an older person, I think, these days. Whilst family is a big factor of society, front and centre is productivity and efficiency. Career. Achievement. There’s a year on year decline in births which Mary says (She has a son) can be put down to lack of initiatives to do so. Essentially, you don’t work you don’t get paid. Maternity leave is for up to 6 weeks before the due date and 8 weeks afterwards. Unlike in the West where, from people I know and talk to, they can have around 11 months off (holiday leave etc included).

The government, thankfully, are starting to rectify this.

So...there you go. My little ‘reporter around town’ review of Japan as a tourist. Loved it. Miss certain parts of it.

Wished I was back.

Hope you've enjoyed this series and it might have wetted your appetite for adventure.

Sarah 💋