Japan

When we first planned the trip Japan was always a perhaps or maybe, never a definite, but being just a short flight away from Taiwan it made sense. Not a country that we had researched at length, but I did happen to know that the biggest and best Disney park of all resided in Tokyo. (hum te tum fancy that...) Not only could we visit Japan, we could visit in Cherry Blossom season (more about that later) and make a short but wonderfully sweet stop at both Disneyland and DisneySea. Win Win Win. I was somewhat reluctant to stay in Tokyo city, with 38 million people and the biggest populated city in the world, it felt a little overwhelming. The Disney parks themselves are found on an island all on their own away far from the bright lights and big city, and it made sense to me to plonk our selves down within the inner boundaries of the Disney bubble, and start our Japan adventure from there. Mrs Bunnies choice of hotel was quite superb, and we all knew that we were sacrificing ourselves to the much cheaper end of Japanese bunny hutches to compensate for this lavish 3 night blow out. (worth it? with bells on!!)

Tokyo Bay Sheraton Hotel, Tokyo. With a flight landing at silly o`clock, we knew seeing Tokyo itself prior to our 2 days in Disney would be a stretch. Ideally we wanted to check in, dump the bags, get the metro to the city until 7pm, metro back, sleep the sleep of the walking dead, then awaken in time to join the hoards of Disney Sea queuing people at 6am. .A plan well and truly scuppered when the hotel refused point blank to let us check in before 1pm, (we had thought that a hotel of that stature would make some compensation for early arrivals, alas not). Then it started to snow! Say what? I kid you not it was absolutely utterly freezing, and of course having sent all our winter clothing and coats back home from New Zealand we were more than a little unprepared for this cold wet weather. We cut our losses, slept in reception until 10am, and generally passed time until 12pm when the staff, clearly fed up with us keeping politely asking if a room was available, agreed to let us check into our room just a little early. With Mr B feeling quite dreadful with a very bad dose of flu, that he "ahem" bluffed away as a dust allergy hence the sneezing, (this is Japan, the land of permanent facemasks) he retired to sleep until 3pm. Mrs Bunny whiled the time away perusing the entry requirements for DisneySea, and noted that we could get same day entry tickets and that the park closed at 9pm. Mr Bunny had quite the shock when he woke to find two female bunnies dressed in our very best Disney gear, and every other item of clothing we could find, raring to hop along to Disney Sea. With Sea being the busiest Disney park of all, with some fairly complicated ride entries, we thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of our half day to recce the park.

Disney Sea Tokyo

Disney Sea part one.

We walked from our hotel to the Mickey Monorail just a 3 minute walk away, and boarded the Mickey train to Sea. Oh my goodness, after seeing all the pictures of this monorail, to see it for ourselves was just wonderful. The seats were Mickey Mouse colours of black, white and red. The windows were Mickey heads, the ceiling hand holders, were Mickey heads. The closing of the door was a Disney Jingle. The station master waved us off with a dance and a smile. We could not keep the grins off our faces. Naturally the entry queues were long gone, and the park entry area was almost deserted, maybe the cold morning had kept the crowds away (oh how we came to giggle about that little thought later) We entered Disney Sea and were instantly blown away with the sheer size and theming of this awesome park. This is not just Disney, this is Disney on steroids! Did we find the people? oh boy did we ! We knew from endless previous research that we would not be able to ride anything, but to see the actual wait times was quite mind boggling. 3-4 hours was not uncommon. Less popular rides had wait times of around 1.5 to 2 hours. Little bunny very much came into her own here. We had all downloaded the Disney app, and little B had trained us well on how to navigate it. To get on any ride, you either wait in a very long line, paid fast pass, or a free 40th anniversary fast pass. Quite complicated, but little B had it all worked out. This particular afternoon however we devoted to trying to figure out the layout of the park so that we didn`t get lost the following day when it all mattered. Very difficult. The park is simply massive. It is also quite brilliant at hiding all its rides. The exterior theming is such that you cannot see anything that gives the ride away. The only exception was a short bit of rollercoaster track in a couple of places. This particular afternoon we managed the Sinbad ride (all in Japanese) and a last minute free 8.50pm fast pass got us a ride on the Tower of Terror. We didn`t mind, nor did we feel like we missed out. The place is out of this world. In the evening there were two different light and firework shows, but unfortunately with our lack of extra warm layers we had to miss these and bolt for our bunny hutch of warmth. From this initial recce we deduced that the only way we could successfully navigate the park, ride the best rides with the least amount of wasted time, was to pay. Mr Bunny said Kerching and Game On!

Disney Sea part 2. One full on magical day.

We left our hotel at 5.45am, got on the metro at 6, arrived at Sea by 6.10am, and in no way whatsoever were we even close to the front of the queue. The local people have waiting in line for Disney off to a fine art. If you are thinking hot drinks and breakfast rolls? Oh no! Not at all. Try make up bags, hair straighteners, hair products, nail varnish, nail kits and accessories. All around us girls were quite nonchalantly touching up their make up, adding nail art to artificial nails, using portable hair straighteners, and generally preening. The ones not preening were taking selfies. We go to Disney and try our best to go as hands free as possible, the Japanese girls, and boys alike, think nothing of carrying huge handbags, styled bags, shoulder bags, smart rucksacks or crossbody bags all liberally adorned with copious amounts of cute everythings. Including the boys. Keyrings, stuffies, accessories are carried everywhere, and the rumours are true, taking your favourite large Disney soft toy is very much the done thing. Our next observation is the dress code. The Japanese dress with style. Not a single Disney t shirt or jumper did we see. My bright pink Marie (Aristocats) t-shirt, widely accepted as the norm in Orlando, was garishly out of place,. Yet, the young Japanese girls would happily wear cute cat ears, carry Marie bags, key rings, and other accessories but not give my cute Marie T shirt even a cursory glance. One Asian girl pointed to my T shirt and said That`s Cool! but her voice was pure American. Many girls would twin with their friend, wearing identical outfits, or complimenting dress, if one carried Mickey mouse, the other would carry Minnie. And a huge amount of them would be wearing school uniform. Was quite odd. Short pleated tartan skirts, white ankle socks, blouses with a large knotted bow tie, a blazer and brogues. At a Disney Theme park? Google informed us that wearing a school uniform of which they are inordinately proud indicated Youth. They crave to look as young as possible, for as long as possible. Such a refreshing change to the youth of the UK who try their utmost to look as old as possible as soon as possible. With flawless complexions it is quite difficult if not impossible to differentiate between a 14 year old girl and a 28 year old woman.

When the doors to Disney finally opened, and security cleared, they literally ran to the first ride of the day, we saw very few younger Japanese or local people in the premier pass line. With little Bunny`s help, we three bunnies did the fastest finger first and booked, paid and planned our day with precision. We knew that paying for the fast pass was the only way we would survive the day, so Mr Bunny gave little B the green light to nab as many rides as possible, free or paid, giving us one heck of an awesome day. The newest part of the park was Fantasy Springs. 2 Billion pounds worth of awesomeness! The rides here are just unbelievable, 5 rides, with the most extravagant theming you could possibly imagine. We were happy to miss Tinkerbell, but with exquisite organizational skills, little B got us on all the remaining rides in Fantasy Springs, and all the rides and shows we wanted to see in Disney Sea. I could tell you all about every ride, but I`m sure by now you are getting bored. In brief, we Journeyed to the Centre of the Earth, dived 20,000 leagues under the sea, boarded a hang glider on Soarin, took the lift in the Tower of Terror and so so so much more. On far too many occasions we did the walk of shame, walking past hundreds of people with our fast pass that queue jumped us to within 10 feet of the ride start. To say that we were grateful not to understand the language was an understatement. These people had been queuing for up to 3 hours when we breezed past them. We will probably never get the chance to visit Disney Tokyo Sea again, but I am proud to say that on our one full day we did it well.

Disneyland. Our magical day 2.

With the phenomenal crowds at Disney Sea, we totally expected Disneyland to be so much quieter, and a breeze. We planned to get up at 7.30, join the line at 8, meander the park at leisure... lucky for us a chance conversation at the bar (Mr B of course) suggested that we needed to go such much earlier. Phew! good job we took the advice. Disneyland was every bit as busy as Sea. Once again Little B did the fastest finger first and again we queued, paid, and fast passed our way through another action packed day. Every ride is superb, but one was just unforgettable. Beauty and the Beast. How can I possibly describe this jaw dropping ride? From walking through a castle, listening to the story, boarding a t cup on a trackless ballroom, dancing with the plates, watching a lifelike yet totally animated Cogsworth and Lumiere to finally witnessing the Beast rise and turn into a man before your eyes was pure ride magic on a scale we have never seen before. We started the day with the most unbelievable ride, and ended at the most entertaining Disney theatre show. Not just one or two characters in the same costume. All of them, in all their costumes.

Disney Sea and Disneyland Tokyo. You made all our bunny dreams come true.

Leaving the Disney Bubble for reality is always a shock to the system. Just as we previously toured Disneyland Hong Kong, then ventured into the chaos of Hong Kong Island, this was to be the same sort of bubble pricking moment, this time it was Tokyo.

Tokyo. We really wanted to say that we had at least seen something of this incredible city, but with just a few hours we could only touch on a little bit of something. We chose the Shibuya Scramble Crossing and learned the hard way just how difficult it is to do anything in a short period of time. especially in the most populated city in the world. With all our bags we headed into Tokyo with a plan to leave them at `one of the many lockers at the station`, we headed for Shibuya. Fail number One. No lockers. With a bit of thought and hindsight, we would have realised how daft we were for thinking we could find an empty locker at the busiest station in the biggest city in the world just because we wanted one. Fail number 2. Trying to find Cat billboard. In the time we had to spare we couldn`t even find our way out of the station, never mind find a certain street corner with a very special cat animation. Last chance to achieve a Tokyo dream., with all our bags we boarded yet another train for a further 15 stops (and still didn`t even remotely come near to touching the edge of Tokyo) we made it to Shibuya Scramble. Fail number 3. We needed tickets. We did not have tickets. (the tickets are for the elevator that specifically takes you to a certain viewpoint) We did however have access to a very large shopping mall with windows that looked across and down onto the crossing. Whilst it would have been awesome to have experienced the crossing at ground level, with all our bags it just wasn`t an option. We gazed our fill then boarded our first Shinkansen train to the west coast of Japan and to our next destination, the town of Kanazawa.

I gave little B a free reign to choose whatever route she wanted through Japan. I asked for off beaten track places, less popular, certain attractions. We knew we couldn`t come to Japan without seeing a few iconic places, but we did try for a few of the quieter ones. Little Bunny does the most fantastic research, learning not only where to go, but she finds us the best places, local facts, must eat foods, and titbits of local knowledge. For example the manhole covers. Each city has their own design, here in Himeji where I am at the moment, the covers are all of the castle.

Kanazawa, also known as little Kyoto. This wonderful city of many faces was one of the few places in Japan not to be affected by the war, leaving a very unique and special old town. Our first stop was the castle and the gardens. For just green trees and Bonsai, it was a very special garden. The trees are all tied from top to trunk with ropes. It makes for a very pretty and eye catching silhouette, these ropes act as snow landing deterrents for the delicate bonsai trees. We visited a tea house and watched a tea ceremony of sorts. Bit of a nightmare for 2 bunnies of limited mobility as everyone was invited into the room and asked to kneel. Kneel? One bunny has two knees with limited movement, and banana back bunny cannot sit on the ground in a kneeling fashion for all the tea in Japan. With a pointed look at two very able bodied young people just about to sit down on them, we acquired the two chairs that had been placed in one corner of the room. Little B with her own wonky hip sat in a partial kneeling position and we three bunnies tried hard to not giggle our way through this very formal ceremony at our lack of bodily functionality. Leaving the castle grounds, the castle btw was superb, but a reconstruction, and though beautiful was quite bland and wooden. If you are an architect and love wooden structures, this would be right up your street. For us mere mortal bunnies, it was just another pretty wooden structure, they called it a castle, we called it a large expanse of room. Leaving the `castle` behind, we headed next for the old town of Kanazawa. Old traditional wooden houses untouched by war or fire. Whilst busy in the town, we were as yet not confronted by the hoards and hoards of rude tourists that would plague us later in the trip. Kanazawa is the home of gold leaf paper. They even put gold leaf on ice cream. We ate gold ice cream. What does it taste like? The ice cream was incredible, the gold merely a tasteless but pretty addition. We had to eat in the shop as you are not allowed to eat on the go anywhere in Japan, least of all in Kanazawa and especially not ice cream. Mr Bunny sat all snuffly with his cold outside, but we sneaked him some ice cream to ease his throat and sooth his cough, Mr B, stuffed the lot into his mouth in one go and feigned his best chubby bunny innocence of not eating where not allowed. Our last visit in Kanazawa was to the home of an original Samurai warrior. His armour and sword preserved in a glass cabinet. Part of the house was a museum, and we found one artifact most amusing. In a glass case was a scroll of Japanese writing, and its translation, which read, ` We appreciate that you worked so hard to kill one high ranked officer on the fourth of last month at Yokokitaguchi Battle in Kaganokuni Enuamagun. We are very happy that you brought us his head` October 9th 1566 (Eiroku Ninth)

From Kanazawa we had yet another glitch in our list of planned events. It was on the agenda to visit Shirakawa a small village in the mountains, but alas all bus tickets were sold out `due to the festival`. Again I will refer to this later. Instead we spent one last day in the old town of Kanazawa, then left our first, and very cosy capsule hotel, for our next destination, Takayama.

Once more we caught a train. Catching a train in Japan is quite the art form. They have an app called Navi time and it is superb. Leaving the app to little B she has patiently and diligently navigated us around all our destinations of Japan using this app. There are around 7 types of train here in Japan, and a train is not just a train. ( Quick bit of info here...at our first hotel they asked us how we got there...I said `train`, they didn`t understand, I mimed choo choo and made train sounds, they still didn`t understand. I know now that most, if not all Japanese trains are not only silent, they are also very futuristic and silent, oops) There are 3 types of Limited Express trains, a rapid express, express, sub express, semi express and local. Then there is the Shinkansen aka the Bullet Train. These trains can only be described as `sexy` Japan train travel is quite the experience, and as for the stations? Kyoto alone has 15 floors/levels.

At Takayama we stayed in a little house with the most giggly funny helpful Japanese hosts. They were so nice. They also thought we had come from Ecuador (booking.com having a glitch) and had written us a lovely welcome message in Spanish. They were quite thrown when we said we were from England and couldn`t understand a word they had written. As we had arrived early, and the day so pleasant, we walked to the nearby Hida Folk Village which was (if you are from the UK) a Japanese version of Beamish. A whole forest area with original houses brought there from all over Japan. There were very many house and all original. Very interesting. As we travelled to Takayama that morning we had gone through many snow filled valleys, and snow still remained around the town and at this village giving it a very pretty almost Christmas village like appearance. On our walk back into town we came across one of the many hundred drink vending machines that you see absolutely everywhere. One can said Hot Cocoa, a hot drink in a vending machine? We thought it might have been one of those clever chemical reaction cans, shake to create heat etc, but nope, the can that came out of the machine was hot. Unbelievable. But this is also the country that puts strawberries and fresh cream in sandwiches so we really shouldn`t be fazed by a hot can from a vending machine. Our next visit in Takayama was to the original samurai homes. In particular the government house. It was huge. And all original. The Samurai history is quite fascinating. I keep wondering why it died out...but then again, what call is there now for warriors with huge swords, topknots and scary battle armour?

Onwards and upwards by train this time to Kyoto, and the town of Takatsuki. Staying this time in a private Japanese house with more rules than an airport check in counter! At first we didn`t quite know how to take the old guy. He was quite fierce and precise. Leading us into his living room he first gave us his laptop and instructed us to Read! (Yes Sir ! ) So many rules! He then invited us into the kitchen and demonstrated the kettle, the oven and the glassware. He then proceeded to give us a washing up demonstration with a glass clearly prepared earlier. Wash the glass thoroughly with this sponge, like this. Now use this sponge and wash again to clean away the residual soap. Now fill this bowl to the brim with clean water and place washed crockery in this bowl for 6 hours to disinfect, before placing it here in the dishwasher. You couldn`t make it up. Shower instructions next. Like this, not that. Toilet, look, oh heck, did I dare step into the toilet area in the wrong slippers?? He barked at me Out!! swap!! We had to use the toilet, clean our hands, 2 squirts of soap only mind, then clean the toilet with a disinfectant sheet. Change out of shoes (which is customary in Japan) at the front door. Only indoor slippers to be worn, but must be left at the bedroom door. Wear bedroom slippers the 4 paces to the toilet, remove slippers, place feet in toilet slippers. Don`t slide the doors like that, don`t open that window. don`t eat food in room , we did, but only cold food. We also used our own cups to avoid making any kitchen mistakes. With respect to Ken, he also did run us to the station each morning, and collect us promptly to the second each evening. Such was his character we didn`t dare even be a minute late. We slept on Futons. We also slept rather well. On our last day with Ken he told used, via google translate/audio, that he also thought we were from Ecuador, and that he had researched Ecuador and learned that there were 50% more murders in Ecuador than Japan. Poor guy must have thought us bandits or something. Was quite funny when he told us he was nervously anticipating our arrival. He was a genuinely lovely man.

Kyoto like most of Japan is exceptionally expensive, especially as our trip has coincided not only with Cherry Blossom season, The Festival as it sometimes referred to, but also a half term school holiday. Hence the reason we are staying out of the city. Going to Japan to see the Cherry Blossom is on every bucket list you ever read. Did we plan to be here in Cherry Blossom season? No. It just worked out that way. Would I come again in Cherry blossom Season? Not a chance. At this point in my writing I will talk about the cherry blossom. Its a tree. It blooms. It is pretty, but nothing at all like the pictures portray. The majority of all the trees in bloom are very pale pink or even white. In all truthfulness, the May blossom at home is far prettier than any Cherry Blossom we have seen here. Cherry Blossom season in Japan, HUGE. They celebrate the Cherry Blossom by decorating the shops, they dress up in pretty Kimonos and stand under the trees taking so many photos. They even dress their dogs. Tourists come from all over the world to witness this spectacle. Have we been wowed by it yet? No. Have we seen much of Japan? 3 weeks of travelling and moving through vast parts of the country by train I would say so. Are the trees everywhere? Yes, and no. Like everyone else I have seen all the pretty pictures of the vivid pink trees, but those bright trees are not found everywhere. We have seen a lot of the pale pink blossoms, but the vivid pinks are very few and far between, needing specific journeys to specific places to see them. I had images in my head of seeing many deep pink tree lined avenues, but alas I have been disappointed. The cherry blossom as I alluded to earlier also coincides with heavy touristic traffic. Never before have we witnessed such blatant disrespect for a country. No wonder my MSN homepage is full of albeit over exaggerated `places where tourists are not welcome`, but when Kyoto is mentioned, I can see why. On a visit to the Bamboo forest, there were big clearly marked areas with signs saying `Do not stand here` Do not take photographs, with one after another after another tourist just blatantly ignoring these polite signs just to take a photo, because they want to. At another point in the forest we witnessed a despicable act of vandalism by a loud brash American woman who egged her son to pick up a rock and carve his name into the bamboo. How very dare you. We were shaking with anger, and no amount of vocal `how dare you` would make her change her mind. Her brat was having his name on that bamboo no matter what. What a disgrace you are. Watch You Tube you ignorant witch, watch as we show the world your blatant disrespect for Japanese property. Kimono. another Japanese tradition that for me is being disrespected by the number of westerners hiring them to parade up and down in. It feels so wrong. I suspect they see the `hire your Kimono here` signs, and take it as a green light to play dress up. Would I not be correct in thinking these shops are designed for the Japanese tourist market, to wear a kimono, to feel a pull with tradition, and quite probably left their own at home? Yet there goes Mary, David and Sarah parading up and down looking, in my opinion, quite ridiculous. Even more infuriating when ` Western David` chooses to wear a female kimono, rather than the gentleman`s traditional Montsuki. Each to their own I agree with, but don`t flaunt it with another countries traditional attire.

Rant over.

Kyoto. A huge city, but an old city, everything that Tokyo is not. We first went to the temple and traditional gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha. Such a fabulous sight, but drowning in a sea of tourists. We left the train station and quite simply followed the 1000s of people to the Shrines and Temples. Signs everywhere beg you to show respect, but with everyone wanting `that photo` to prove to anyone who cares, not, respect seems to take a poor back seat. There are 1000s of these bright red traditional gates all adorned with Japanese writing, which looks very romantic to the non Japanese reader, but which, if you pause to take a second and translate, merely tells the reader who donated or sponsored that particular gate. The gates wend their ways up the paths of the hillside and do look very pretty. Just not with wall to wall people. On the rare occasion when we had no one around us, it was a lovely place to just stand and look around. From the gates we had planned to cross a certain bridge to see the old Edo period houses, but given the sheer numbers of tourists, we decided to give this area a miss and headed out of town instead. We chose to have ourselves a little pit stop of tea and cakes, and found the cutest little olde world cafe. No body there but us, and the Beatles. The soundtrack was back to back beatles music, there were so many photos, and cute little old ornaments it felt quite homely and a world away from the rabble of tourists. We had tea and cakes, cakes so light they felt like air. From the cafe we made our way to the oldest streets of Kyoto, Gion, where the Geisha ladies can be found. These dignified ladies are not to be seen just wandering the streets, and indeed we only saw one lady as she moved quickly from car to building. We did try, and failed, to find the Hokan Ji Temple, a 5 story dark wood building built on a hill. Such is the complexity of Kyoto old town, we had to give up and search another day.

We booked ourselves a trip on the Hozugawa River. We got up super early took 3 local trains to our destination, and fell at the final hurdle. A large sign at the final station informed us the river boat was cancelled. How annoying. Long story short, it wasn`t but we only found that out when we applied for a trip refund. Anyway, as the boat was cancelled we took ourselves off to a local bamboo walk, and onwards to a pretty little garden. It was in this garden surrounded by numerous people taking photos, that we saw a guy with a little robot. He was carrying it in a pouch round his neck that rested on his chest. We saw him raise his camera and this little robot moved! We swear we also heard it talk. We begged him to show us the little guy and he was most willing to do so. Removing the doll like robot from his pouch he set it down on a bench and said watch, he can sing and dance, would you like to see? Yes!!! of course we would. He bent down and spoke to the little guy, can you dance and sing? Can you sing Ave Maria? Oh my goodness our jaws hit the floor, as this little man started to sway and sing so beautifully. He gave us the full rendition singing and swaying his little heart out. Of everything we saw in Kyoto, that little robot will always take first place. With time marching on, our last call of the day was the Samurai Museum. Quite Brilliant. A precise, non convoluting very informative talk about the Samurai their rise, and their demise. Turns out Tom Cruise in the film The Last Samurai did an excellent job of portraying the story. They even acknowledge its remarkable accuracy, with just one movie inaccuracy exception, in the museum. Mr Bunny along with Little B both took the chance to play dress up in the Samurai replica armour, complete with headwear and plastic life like swords. Mr B took several attempts to pose like a Samurai, with his first two poses being more reminiscent of Harry Potter. Poses 3 and 4 taking the persona of a Jedi. Finally with a little direction, we achieved scary Samurai. Little B tried and failed miserably to wipe the silly grin off her face as she wielded her sword. Our last day in Kyoto and we tried once more to find the Hokan-Ji Temple. Pleased to say that we, and 5000 other tourists, managed to find it, however only 200 tourists, perhaps even a few less, found our cutest little temple, am I allowed to use the words cute and temple in the same sentence?. A bunny temple. We liked it for the bunny statues, but I think it was family and pregnancy related as there were a lot of young couples praying there, buying the cute bunny that you place on the shrine, and generally praying quite fervently. We maintained a polite distance, having no further desire to encourage the arrival of any small bunnies in our hutch, thank you very much.

Osaka. Another train, another destination. This time Osaka, and what a contrast this city is to Kyoto, quite the chalk and cheese. Osaka is loud! Bright lights and big city. We spent a lot of time in the area of Dotonbori, walking up and down the river just gazing at the many bright lights and endless food stalls. We were quite a long way out of the city, yet in a strange way also very close. We were staying within walking distance of 3 metro stations and truth be known, I actually got quite confused as to which direction we needed to be in at any given time. I resigned myself to playing follow the leader, relying solely on Mr B and little B to return me to our tiniest hutch to date. 2 small beds and a futon on the floor that didn`t quite fit. Our `kitchen` was a pan and two bowls, but we did have a private bathroom and loo. Always a bonus. In the area of Dotonburi was the biggest and strangest ferris wheel you have ever seen. Not round, sort of straight up, and over, then back down. Of course 2 bunnies thought this looked like a real bit of fun. Not wanting to be left behind, Mrs B, against her better judgement, also partook a ride on this crazy wheel. To say there were tears is an understatement. I truly hate heights, and this was just plain stupid. I managed a couple of glances, but I swear all I wanted to do was curl and hide. Never again will I subject myself to something so idiotic. We finished our short hop in Osaka at the tower near were we were residing. Lit up in all its glory displaying the countdown to Osaka Expo 2025, that starts in just 10 days time, 5 days after we leave Good timing or bad, I cannot decide.

One final day trip from Osaka took us to the area of Nara. Famed for it tame, bowing, free roaming deer. From the moment we arrived we saw the deer. Casually roaming the streets. We watched them for a long time as they interacted with people, and we also saw how very pushy the deer were. So so many signs everywhere telling you how to behave around the deer, do not pet them if you do not intend to feed them. Of course, vastly ignored. People mean food. That is all that goes through their little minds. For a long time we chose to leave the deer well alone, but the pull to feed them the specially designed deer crackers was too much. The deer feed was not to be found everywhere. Naturally the deers gather where the food is found. Little B took her food, and such is her nature, was immediately surrounded by the smallest cutest deer, all clamouring to be fed, but all patiently waiting. Mr Bunnies deer had a hunch he carried food in his pockets and he was hassled by pocket munching deer. He had to feed them quickly before they raided his pockets for items that most definitely were not edible. Then Mrs Bunny. True to my nature, I was followed by the deer that wanted to know everything, Now! Where is my food, when, how, is it today, where do we get it...pushing me for food my group of deer were actually quite aggressive. With go pro in one hand and food in the other, I am certain it is going to reveal a kerfuffle of squeaks as I am bitten both on my breast and with more venom, on my backside. Damn deer took a real chomp at my rear end. Very painful, but what if I was a child? A lesson learned. Deer are wild by nature. Leave well alone. Leave feeding to the keepers.

Nodding Deer of Nara

Himeji. Our time in Japan is brief so we are continually moving forward. By train again we travel to the town of Himeji. We are here for one thing only, its fabulously huge Japanese Castle. Standing with in the grounds and surrounded by large moats, some with water, some now without, this beautiful structure dominates the landscape. From almost everywhere in Himeji you can see this stunning white wooden castle. About as different in construction to any other castle that we have in the UK, this is built purely of wood. Construction was started in around 1333, and continued expanding until around 1618. Considered the finest surviving example of Japanese architecture, its not difficult to appreciate why. Buying an entrance ticket we joined once again the many many hoards of tourists and I think locals alike, to wander, in a strict one way passage, to the Keep of the castle, the very top. Again I was forced to question the 'why'? people want to pay to enter such a stunning place, to merely trudge through, following the feet of the person in front, and blindly ignoring the actual physical structure of the building around us. We three bunnies, hopped out of the mass queue, and allowed ourselves the time to just gaze with wonder at this awesome piece of architecture. No screws, no brackets, no stone walls, just an internal structure of precision woodwork. Like a huge jigsaw this castle slots together. And the tourists just trudged past it all. We bunnies stood for ages on each floor just looking at the aged beams, you could see everything was hand carved, and the sheer size of these wooden beams? How on earth did they get them there? The inside of the castle was quite dark, with only narrow slits of light from the windows, but spotting dark holes, I shone my phone torch into one of them and noted they were iron hinged flaps, none were open, but very much pointed to archery deployment. The sheer number of people in the castle was a little alarming, surely even a structure of this complexity was never designed to house this amount of moving people? We never did make it to the very top. The stationary queue was quite ridiculous. We chose instead to appreciate the inner beauty of its construction. The rooms of the castle were not rooms, imagine a square outer edge, with an inner `room?` in the centre, then a staircase to another square, a little smaller, and so on. Each level getting smaller. No furniture, no dividing walls along any of the passage ways, no content. Long gone, or simple Japanese living?

I will mention our odd hotel at Himeji. Always driven by budget, this 7.5 rating hotel seemed satisfactory, however I failed to read all the reviews of our latest stay. 2 rooms for a starter, (that ticked a box), but rooms that contained accessories of condoms, sachets of lubrication, a dvd/video player, `room service` a double bath with tv, a TV with adult channels? Beds (shudder) with rubber backed sheets, (banished to the floor)! I cannot deny the room had a decent amount of space and was perfectly adequate, but it felt just a little `icky` Turns out this was once a 'lurve' hotel, but is trying (according to their most recent responses on booking.com) to reinvent itself as a tourist hotel. 5/10 for effort. Never mind, we have had more fabulous and acceptable places, than odd ones. This one was however, a little Unique.

Hiroshima.

I don`t profess to know everything about the war, the who fought who and why and when, but know a man that does. I do know about the Atom Bomb of Hiroshima. Wanting to see the city for myself, and attempt to share this cities history with him, we chose Hiroshima as our next destination. As soon as we arrived we noted this was a city with a very different vibe. It was a very quiet city, vast, spread out, and exceptionally pretty. The river banks were wide and green, the cherry blossom trees lining their paths. Buildings were spaced, not cramped.

Leaving our bags at the hostel, we left straight away and headed to the Peace Memorial Park and Bomb Dome. I was already clenching my fists and preparing to bite my tongue should I dare witness anyone playing the fool or taking inappropriate selfies, (witnessed first hand at other poignant sights around the world) but you know what? I could totally relax. 99.9% of everyone standing in front of that eerie building was respectful. You could sense the feeling of, did this really happen? Here? yet standing before the only remaining building, was living proof of what one nation could do to another. This building was not the only building to survive, there were a few others, but for some reason this one held the most importance for the city. The plaques declare that for a long time the city managers wanted to destroy and remove all reminders of the war, but the residents insisted that it should be preserved as a memorial to all those who died, and how they should never be forgotten. Endlessly protected and with sympathetic preservation, this building stands, along with its fallen masonry ,exactly as is it was the morning of August 6th 1945 at 8.15am.

We went to the museum. It was a very large museum, one half dedicated to the immediate after effects, the survivors, the artifacts, the human stories, and one half to the realities and prevention of Atom and Nuclear bombs. (Far too much reading) With a thousand other silent people, we read the stories and saw the realities of war, but chose not to read the vast expanses of `Why`.

Prior to reaching Hiroshima, little B had done her usual endless research. What else was there, what to do, where to go. Personally I only wanted to see the Memorial Park and leave it at that, but I had this continuous little voice telling me that we could go to Miyajima. Only a train ride away, won`t take long, should we go, Miyajima, Miyajima, Mirayima, Miyajima.... I know when to take notice, and this is clearly a place we should be going. From experience, I know little B is seldom wrong. Of course she was right again. We caught a fast train to the coast, and a ferry to this Island, and Wow!! there they were, the Torii Gates of Mirajima, protecting the island since 1167 . They stand in the water and at certain tides appear to be floating. Quite the spectacle. Standing in the water and held up purely to their great size. We had planned to visit the beautiful Orange/Red temple of Itsukushima but alas, once again thwarted. Our second attempt to visit a 5 tier pagoda, our second time of seeing a pagoda completely shrouded in scaffolding being renovated. I could mention the deer of the island, but to be honest, once bitten, twice shy...

Mirajima 1167

Our time in Japan has come to a close. It has been quite the journey and a fabulous trip. I would like to think that it gave us all food for thought. We arrived in time for the Cherry Blossom, but would I come to see it again, definitely not. The excessive hoards of tourists all heading for the same few spots make for a very crowded and unpleasant experience. The Cherry Blossom itself is pretty, but my most favourite picture of tree blossom was sent to me by my dad taken in our local park. The swathes of deep pink blossom are found in very few and far between places, not in every park as online photographs would suggest. The train system is also an eye opener. Not quite the easy to navigate stations of Taiwan. Don`t even consider trying to make eye contact with anyone except those with whom you are directly in contact with. Smiles are few and far between. Yet oddly in the poorest area of Osaka where we were staying, the people there was so much friendlier. Cash is the preferred method of payment, and slot machines of every description are everywhere. Gachapon machines, (think plastic balls containing absolutely anything and everything you can think of, in the small toy variety) are to be found everywhere. Claw grab machines are equally popular. Gaming is huge, as is `cute` Even the Shinkansen has a pink Hello Kitty version. Shoes on/off/on/off is a regular occurrence. Skechers slip ons would make a killing here! Bathrooms everywhere are mostly immaculate, with toilets having built in bidets and heated seats. Yet the bathrooms seldom have hand dryers. Women whip small towels out of their bags. There are no public bins anywhere. Food must not be eaten whilst moving. You must give and receive anything with both hands. Cleavage is not a thing in Japan. All clothing is exceptionally modest. The women strive to look as youthful as possible, younger girls wear school uniform, even when not in school. I found Japan quite wonderful, but also stifling. We tried our best to be as respectful to their customs as possible, but now and again it felt restrictive. If I chose to return to Japan my choices of both time of year and destinations would be quite different.

A very special country. Japan, we thank you for your hospitality.

Ps. I if can share one last silly lasting memory of Japan, it would be this little guy.

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