h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

comes the low...

What a superb holiday we had in Japan - the time just flew by & hardly a cross word spoken! How great to see elder son again and sad to bid him farewell.

Arrived back to grey skies, flourishing weeds & all the familiar chores. Perhaps I'll just pause the ironing & look at the photos again...

Welcome back to dear old blighty

So........ where did you go and what did you see?

Well - we're pleased to have you back

indeed, glad you had a good time on hols. Did you get to see much?

Thanks for the welcome home!

We saw & did lots. Tons of temples & shrines (hard to avoid them), castles, gardens, shops, big cities & towns, coast & mountains. We didn't quite get to the top of Mt Fuji - I gave up after nearly 5 hrs climb, with a prospect of 4 more hours in the dark. Still, we did get to see sunrise from our altitude whereas it was misty at the top.
Ate sushimi & sushi & all sorts of local food, even developed a liking for green tea. Decided I like octopus too, though not the rubbery outside bits. Met some ordinary locals & visited a couple of peoples' homes. Travelled on the bullet train & local buses. Experienced high tech & low tech toilets, onsens (hot spas) & a traditional Japanese inn (ryokan).
Shame it was quite so hot - reached 36C & humidity high - would certainly choose a different time of year if we go again. As elder son looks set to stay out there for a while yet, that's quite likely. There's plenty more to see that we didn't have time for.
Treating ourselves to Club Class air travel was worthwhile for such a long journey, particularly to partially jump the long queue for check-in on return. We were a bit worried about getting back with the onset of the security panic, but all was OK albeit a couple of hours delayed.

Still a bit jet lagged now. Waking up early & can hardly keep my eyes open in the evening. Got all the washing done now & back to work tomorrow .