socherryknits

Well we're back in rainy Glasgow, and I think I'm sufficiently recovered from jetlag enough to be able to operate a PC, string a sentence together and complete my Japan blogging. Just in case you thought we'd spent our entire time playing in yarn shops, arcades and eating - a bit of culture was also had. These pics are from the Meiji shrine and surrounding Yoyogi Park. The top pic is a big pond full of koi karp, terrapins and massive dragonflies. We had our lunch there - it was very peaceful and relaxing. The above picture was the dwarfing entrance to the shrine. We walked around the gardens and had lunch but we never visited the shrine itself. [It was a Saturday so fairly busy and really humid hot, so we were looking for a bit of peace from the crowds.] This was me walking in the park - I used my umbrella to shade myself from the sun, but on this occasion it was up despite being in the shade ... due to the massive spiders that lurked. This was just at the entrance to the ...

I made it to Yuzawaya in Kichijoji - wow! I mean wow! It was AMAZING! Unfortunately I had to be fairly restrained as I've reached my suitcase limits and am probably going to have to pay excess... There was a group of women knitting too. The yarn went on for about 15 aisles -loads of different brands and types. I bought some love variegated 'Scottish Heather' all purples and greens, and some variegated autumn colours from the same brand. I also got some organic cotton in quiet subtle shades. A few sets of needles in Japanese sizes so I have in-betweenies for those gauge crisis', and also some cherry ribbon and handle parts. I could have stayed in there all day, and spent millions... The boy didn't seem to realise just how big it was - even though we left at breakfast and I had planned dinner in Kichijoji. We also made it to the infamous Kiddyland in Harajuku - another wow! Probably 6 floors I think. I think I'm all Kawaii'd out now :) ... and I finally manage...

Just back from a few days in Osaka. We went by bullet train [Shinkansen] and it only took 3 hours from Tokyo to Osaka. [About 300 miles I think - it slows down for station but otherwise I think we were going about 130 miles an hour]. It was a great experience. The staff leave carriages backwards, bowing to the carriage before the doors close - how nice is that? The only issue was that sometimes it's going so fast that when it passes through bridges, the passing bars can create a strobe-like effect which is a bit uncomfortable. I saw cranes and Mount Fuji, and there was never more than 5 fields between more houses. Never-ending people the whole way. I did chicken out when I realised that we had to be at Tokyo station [7-8 stops away from Shibuya] during Tokyo rush hour. We went down to the desk to ask for advice - who agreed that it would be an utter-cram fest on the train. Tokyo taxis are notoriously expensive but I didn't care. The trains are so busy at rush hour that if you h...

Well we lived through the hurricane - there was one point where I woke up and the building had stopped creaking and was now literally screaming in anger at the hurricanes attempts to remove it from it's foundation, but I couldn't feel any swaying or anything so felt confident it was OK [for 'confident' read 'lay awake wide-eyed and ready to leap into the cupboard at the first sound of glass breaking, lest I be sucked from the room at this high altitude'] and eventually dropped off. The boy woke up later to a noise that he described as 'firemen with jet hoses directly outside the window firing not water, but bird seed at the glass'... I am SO glad I didn't wake at this point, though I have no idea how I slept through it. In the morning all was calm, and cooler. Although a lot of train lines were suspended. We have so far been brave in our Japanese dining, and embarked upon revolving sushi bar, tempura and shabu-shabu restaurants. The one you see pictu...

Home early this evening thanks to the hurricane - just lots of rain and a creaking hotel at the moment, but I think it's due to get worse later so we're staying in the hotel. I checked with the desk this morning before we went out: [as we can't understand the Japanese weather channel and the BBC hasn't been bothered to update the latest for 24 hours...] "Today's weather" I said to the reception woman [by way of setting the subject before I embarked on broken Japanese/English with pantomime hands]. "Aah yes" she said, before I could begin; "it will be rain with hurricane in evening. Thank you." - not much more to be said really I suppose! Last night we were supposed to be going to the Shabu-Shabu restaurant that Bob and Charlotte go to in Lost in Translation . However the boy translated the words "put the translation book in your bag" to mean "throw the translation book on the bed" and so we ended up outside the res...