Asakusa by day. Our last day in Japan

We were very sad that today was our last day in Japan, but were also a bit tired (still recovering from colds and gastro) and over "touristing". So although we had the time to go out to Shinjuku or Ginza or Shibuya and Harajuku, we ended up just staying in Asakusa and wandering around for the few hours until our train to the airport.

Edo Tokyo Museum, Akihabara and Asakusa by night

Upon the recommendation of my older sister, we decided to check out the Edo Tokyo museum and get an English guide. It was great!

After looking through the museum, we caught the train through to Akihabara to have a look. Daniel was hoping to get a cheap MP3 player, however all the ones he liked were only in Japanese.

For our last night in Japan, we went for a wander through Asakusa and ended up in a Big Echo karaoke bar

Osaka to Tokyo

Another day of travelling, this time from Osaka to Tokyo.

We were very grateful for our 11am checkout time, because we didn't sleep very well. Daniel was still a little under the weather and I seemed to have caught the same bug which resulted in a restless sleep and a number of trips to the bathroom through the night.

Neko no Jikan, Osaka Castle and Yakiniku

猫の時間, 大坂城, 焼肉
In the morning we decided we would check out a Japanese cat cafe and went with the (self proclaimed) first cat cafe in Osaka before heading on to Osaka castle.

For dinner we stopped in at Akiyoshi based on the great looking menu out the front - and we were not disappointed!

After dinner we went across to Q's Mall and played some video games at the Sega store.

Unplanned rest day

We had planned to go to Universal Studios today, but Daniel woke up with a very upset stomach and wasn't too keen on venturing out of the apartment. Given that we had been going pretty much non-stop for almost two weeks, a rest day was appreciated.

Tennōji Zoo, Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan and Dōtonbori

天王寺動物園, 海遊館, 道頓堀
Since it was just around the corner and only ¥500 each, we thought we'd check out the Tennoji zoo. Worst. Idea. Ever. This was the most depressing zoo I've ever been to. I realised what a high standard Australian zoos set for animal welfare and enrichment!

After that we journeyed to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. We liked it so much we went through it twice.

From the city of temples to the city of food

Today we travelled from Kyoto to Osaka. It was only an hour by train, but we couldn't check in to our room until 2pm, so we took our time getting to the train station and catching the train.

Once we got to Osaka, without having internet, it was a bit tricky finding our room - and it was raining - but it wasn't too long before we were there.

The room was amazing!

Once we'd settled in, we went and explored the nearby shopping mall and then went out for dinner

Nijō Castle and Daimaru Department Store

二条城 と 大丸
After checking Google maps I thought the castle would be a short walk from our accommodation, but after an hour we were only halfway there! We ended up catching a bus.

Kimonos and Samurais, bamboo and booze

着物と侍; 竹と酒
Our next stop in Kyoto was to head out to Arashiyama and visit the famed bamboo groves. On the spur of the moment while we were there we decided to rent some kimonos for the day while we walked around.

Sanjūsangen-dō and Kiyomizu-dera

三十三間堂 と 清水寺
Today was our first full day in Kyoto. We weren't too sure about using public transport, I was worried (unnecessarily it turns out) we wouldn't know which stops to use, so we walked around Kyoto today.

Time to leave Nozawa :(

Our time in the snow has been magical but sadly it is time to continue our journey to Kyoto - the city of temples and shrines.

Let it snow!

Today one of my dreams came true - I was able to see snow falling for the very first time!

Monkey Magic

地獄谷野猿公苑
One of the many reasons we chose Nozawa Onsen for the snowy part of our holiday was because we could make a day trip to see the famous snow monkeys.

Time to ski - take two

After yesterday's... delays... we were able to get back onto the snow and enjoy some proper skiing

Hitting the slopes - and hard!

Today was our first day on the snow.

Nagano snow shuttle to Nozawa Onsen

Before we left Australia we had booked our transfer from Tokyo (Narita Airport) to Nozawa Onsen using the Nagano Snow Shuttle. We were booked on the 9:00am bus which was due to arrive in Nozawa Onsen (after transferring at Nagano) at 2:30pm.

Our hotel had a free shuttle to the airport so we decided to check out early and get to the airport at around 7:30am so we could get breakfast, snacks (and of course I found a stationery store and obviously I bought the choc-vanilla chupa chup scented pen) and fluff around for a bit.

We fluffed around for a bit and then as our departure time approached things started to get a bit stressful! First we were having trouble finding our bus stop - turns out we were on the wrong floor, who knew floors applied to outside the building too! We found our stop but the bus there didn't look right. On the website it was bright purple with Nagano Snow Shuttle plastered on the side, but the bus at the stop was more of a plum colour with some other name on the side. 9am was looming and the Japanese are known for their punctuality.

I ran (jogged) through terminal two to the Nagano Snow Shuttle counter (all the way at the other end!) and it was lucky I did because it turns out they had to give me a ticket/receipt and stickers for our luggage. I jogged back to our stop (the man at the counter confirmed it was the right one) but the purple bus still wasn't there.

There were some people milling around the plum bus, one being a Kiwi guy who seemed to realise we were looking a little frazzled. Turns out he spoke Japanese and was able to confirm that the plum bus was actually the one we needed. We quickly had our luggage loaded and boarded the bus and took our seat. Luckily we weren't the last to board and it was nearly half an hour before everyone was boarded and we were ready to go.

It was a coach, but the seats were still a bit small. Someone moved to the seat in front of us and kept leaning back and squishing Daniel's knees :(

The views from the bus were really interesting. At first it seemed like the suburbs of Tokyo went on forever. Eventually we had our first rest stop and we got our first sight of Japanese vending machines in full swing. I even tried a Japanese style toilet - for the record, I didn't find it too bad.

After the rest stop, the scenery started getting more mountainy with the odd sight of Mt Fuji would flash by the window. Before long, we started seeing a spattering of snow here and there beside the road and it started getting thicker and thicker until we got to Nagano and changed buses.

Once we were on the second smaller bus, things started getting even more mountainy and villagey. Rural Japan is beautiful! We hadn't really had much interaction with any Japanese people, but we were already madly in love with this country! 100

Eventually the village of Nozawa Onsen was in sight and it was stunning! The bus pulled up at the local terminal (more like a small parking lot) and then we had to figure out how to get to our hotel. I was unable to get a wifi signal to look anything up on Google Maps but then the driver offered to call our accommodation. Within a few minutes (and after purchasing the most tasty corn soup we've ever had - in a can, from a vending machine, served hot and only ¥100!) the owner had showed up and took us to our accommodation, which turned out to be just around the corner.

Love is in the air.

The day we have been waiting for has finally arrived!

The plane hasn't even taken off yet and
we're already super excited!

We got up at about 6:00 and made a final check to make sure we had packed everything we needed, chucked out the last of the perishables and had a quick coffee. By 6:30 we were waiting for the Con-X-Ion bus out the front and, lucky for us, it wasn't too far away.

Before we'd even gotten to the Smith St lights, Daniel had realised he'd left his phone at home, so luckily the driver turned around and we were able to grab it. The bus picked up another passenger and we made our way to the airport.

We got there more than 2 hours before our flight, but the line for check-in was still huge. Daniel tried to use his Reilly charm to get us upgraded to Business class, but unfortunately it was full.

We had some breakfast at the airport and then proceeded through passport control. After not too long we'd boarded the plane.

I'm glad we'd paid the extra for the exit row, we were right by the boarding door and had miles of space in front of our seats. Before we knew it the plane was taxi-ing and then we'd taken off.

Once we'd gotten to altitude and the seatbelt sign had been turned off, Daniel turned to me and said "This trip is pretty amazing. There's not much that could make it any better". Then he gets out of his seat, gets down on both knees and asks me if I'll do him the honour of becoming "Mrs Idiot"!

Obviously, I said yes! Shortly afterwards, when they were bring around the customs cards, Daniel told our flight attendant that we'd just gotten engaged. She was almost more excited than I was! A few minutes later we hear them announce our engagement over the PA and all of the passengers gave us a round of applause, then the lead flight attendant brought us each a glass of champagne. It was pretty nice too!

Love is in the air

After the excitement of the engagement settled down, we settled in for the 9 hour flight with some movies on the tablet, some snacks and some nap time. Even though Daniel had the window seat, I still had a pretty good view outside. The sunset was especially lovely.

  

Once we arrived in Japan it was pretty smooth getting through customs and border control and we were soon out in the cool crisp air waiting for the shuttle to our hotel. We were tired from the long flight, but buoyed from the excitement of finally arriving!

The hotel was fine. The decor was dated, but the bed was comfy and the buffet had some tasty Japanese food to whet our appetite. After dinner we settled down to sleep in preparation for our next journey to Nozawa Onsen.