Himeji

It was a bit of an up and down sleep last night. I was out like a light almost immediately but was woken up by Tom crying at 11. We couldn't settle him so I moved my futon into his room and slept with him. It worked. Although he was awake for the next 2 hours he didn't disturb me - and then he slept through till morning. My deep sleep was over for the night though and I dozed for the remainder of the night. Matt didn't get to sleep until after the crying incident but then did well.

Anyway we all felt a little better in the morningWe decided, after seeing how empty our apartment was, that we would need to go shopping today, so we went into Himeji for the day. First stop was a 100 Yen shop for a football for Tom and then we headed to the castle gardens for a kick about - wow it is hot! We all had to put hats and suncream on. We then headed back to Himeji Station as Matt had found out that it was very likely that a certain Dr Yellow would be passing through and we thought a certain little boy would like to see him. Can you believe it - we got to the station to find out that their had been an incident earlier on in the day and there were delays of up to 80 minutes - that never happens in Japan!!!!!! We hung around for a little while but then decided it was a lost cause and went to find lunch in the department store (department stores are very different in Japan - generally the top floor is dedicated to restaurants and there will be quite a selection of them - each specialising in something different and each of them displaying their dishes by food models in their windows (very handy if you don't speak or read the lingo as you can go with the waitress outside and point to what you want). We ended up in a Katsu restaurant (specialising in Items that have been covered in panko crumbs and fried). Pork Katsu with egg for me and an ebi plate for Matt - all very delicious.

We then went back to the 100 yen shop to stock up on bits (some cushions to sit on the floor with as we have no chairs), a washing line, a mug so Matt can drink tea (funny - I didn't think of that when packing), a battery operated light for the bedrooms (for some reason there are no lights in the bedrooms) and so on. All these plus more came to under £20 - oh how we love 100 yen shops, ( oh if you are wondering 100 Yen is about 80 pence).

We then went on the hunt for nappies (difficult to find over here - I guess they don't use disposables here) and then home. Tom had a nap on our return (under protest but he was asleep within minutes) then we went for another wonder around before heading to our nearest restaurant for dinner:
Okonomiyaki. A tiny neighbourhood restaurant - these are the best restaurants in Japan but you have to be able to speak and read Japanese to use them - and they are also usually very cheap which is a bonus - you haven't experienced Japan properly until you use these - I always feel sorry for regular tourists who are missing out on this experience. The 3 of us shared 2 okinomiyakis - one with soba the other regular. Tom ate his without too much fuss and Matt caught up with the local gossip.

Then home, Tom went to bed, I hit a wall around 8.30 and followed suit.

Today's purchase: Doctor Yellow cup

Location:Himeji