Utopia (or talking to God)

It being our first time on an outdoor snow slope and given that everything was in Japanese, it wasn't surprising that we got on the wrong cable car to start with. We got a clue half way up when the bottom of the slope seemed vvvvveeeeerrrryyy far away and the slope looked quite steep. When we got to the top, we saw that the slope was called Utopia.

The cable car going down was scary enough, never mind actually boarding down it.

How many kit-kat flavours are there?

Apple and grape seem relatively tasty after the baked potato and edemame paste flavours, but come on, how many can there be?

The Imperial Palace, Tokyo (at last)

Followers of this blog will know that we attempted to enter the Palace gardens on the first day of this wee trip but they were closed. Now that we are back in Tokyo, we decided to go and see what we missed on the first day. We saw beautiful gardens, expertly tended. The grounds of the Palace are open to the public but not the actual Palace, as it is still the royal household.

The reason we chose April to come to Japan was to see the sakura (cherry blossom). The watching of the sakura in Japan at this time of the year is called Hanami. 2 and a half weeks ago we saw the blossoms in full bloom. Coming back to Tokyo, it was also kind of nice to see the end of Hanami. The 'snowfall'.

The last picture was one I took when we first arrived to show the local interest in the sakura.

Yudanaka

This is the little village where the monkey park is - Yudanaka. We had a lovely dinner in the restaurant; unusually for Japan, I had too much on my plate and the very hospitable chef cum waiter boxed the surplus for me and I had it for my lunch next day. Yum. I took a picture of his wee restaurant.

I also snapped the obligatory Pachinko Hall!

The reruxing (relaxing) space made us chuckle. Japanese/English is at times as hilarious as you think it would be. Kind of like Thai/English for those of you who have been to Thailand.

And the silhouette of the forest scene was of a child's bedroom on the way back to the hotel.

Yudanaka was a nice wee onsen town. The place is full of bath houses and they all use the natural hot springs, kind of like the monkeys. We got the train with a tonne of old women who were all probably going to bathe in the hot baths.

Here's a real life geyser in action.

Vending Machines

I could think of a dozen things a day to blog about Japan, I have only chosen a mere chunk to share with you. Partly due to time constraints, partly due to the daily exhaustion that inevitably occurs near the end of another busy day. I do however want to make a special mention of vending machines. They are not as we know them.　

They only serve drinks. None of your McCoys or family size M&Ms. Drinks only. In cans or plastic bottles. No change there then. The real difference is that you can buy a hot can of coffee; a hot tea or a hot chocolate. Yum. Sometimes, it's just what you need.

And they are everywhere. Like pachinko halls, you are never more than 20 yards away from a vending machine. Seriously. In the smallest village to the biggest city, vending machines are on EVERY corner.

My personal favourite is cold green tea. There are about a dozen different kinds in the vending machines. Jason is not a fan favouring coke zero or water.

Monkey Park

Monkey Park Day!

When we started planning this trip, one of the most anticipated days out was in Yudanaka, at Jigokudani Monkey Park. Snow monkeys, as they are known, handle the extreme winters by sitting in the hot outdoor pools. It's a comical sight.

If we had been here in February we would have seen them do just this, but we arrived in April, and the weather was considerably milder. So they weren't hanging about the onsen (one or two were) they were just playing all around us. It was fantastic. They were so close. They clearly didn't care a jot about us. The park maintain a "Don't feed them, don't scare them” policy　which means that they don't see men as friends or enemies. We took hunners of photos and a fair few videos. Here are the highlights. And an excellent video that Jason took. It wasn't set up. One of those happy accidents.

Bad wire management

You may or may not know about my fastidiousness for good wire management. I hate wires. Of all kinds. They must, wherever possible, be neat and tidy. It's one of my charming quirks.

These examples of bad wire management do not suit Japan at all. Come on Japan, sort it out. You should be able to get some plastic tags wrapped round some of those wires.