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Our last four days in Japan were in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and we stayed right near the heart of things in Ueno. I loved the atmosphere in Tokyo and the lights and strangeness of it all. Our first day we wondered around the Skinjuku station area. I was amazed by all the buildings full of arcade games (Enda, you would have loved it!) and all the people in suits playing then. Rick got to play Street Fighter but I stuck to taking photos. As it got darker,the whole
place was covered in neon and buzzing with people. It was really cool and if drinks didn´t cost 7 euro each, we would have
stayed there much longer!
Our second day we took a day trip out to Kawaguchi-ko to see Mt Fuji and the lakes. It took a long time to get there...about 4 hours from our hostel to there...but it was well worth it to see the site and shape of one of the most famous mountains in the world! The mountain is notoriously shy and it was covered in cloud at the top, but we got a few good glimpses through the clouds. And on the way up another mountain to the viewing platform, we meet another troupe of monkeys out
in the wild.
Our third day,we visited two very different types of museums...the National Museum of History and the Sony Museum! Amazingly enough, the Sony one was miles better, one of the highlights of Tokyo. They had Bravia mobile phones which could pick up TV channels, Hard Disk entertainment systems and the Mylo personal internet device (my favourites). The other museum was a good overview of Japense history and art, but not quite the same entertainment value.
On our last day, we visited the Mei-ji Shinto shrine, one of the most popular in Tokyo and the shopping areas towards the Roppingi area. We
spent about an hour in Kiddyland, one of the biggest toy shops in Japan, looking at all the gadgets. Our last stop was the Roppingi Hills
shopping centre, set in a Japense garden with roof gardens, artifical waterfalls and it´s own museum area - very nice.
Overall, we both loved Japan and so far it´s been our favourite country. The people,although they are a little shy, are very welcoming and helpful...they couldn´t do enough for you. The food was great too and we tried our best to taste the different local specialities. Although people say Japan is very expensive, we thought it
was very good value for money...the train pass we had got us all over the country in no time at all, the accommodation was about
20euro a night and very nice and the food was way cheaper than at home. There´s also a great range of things to do. We only scratched the surface of Japan and want to go back there again soon.
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