Nagasaki

Today we headed to Nagasaki for the day.  We didn't do the atomic bomb thing, as trying to explain that to a 7 year old is hard going and Matt has been to the museum and says it is very very graphic.  Don't want to give the boy nightmares quite yet - we will save that for another time when he is older and more able to understand.

Thomas Glover's house

Instead, we decided to do the European settlement in Nagasaki bit.  For a few hundred years, an island just off Nagasaki (Dejima) was the only place foreigners were allowed.  When the country finally opened up in the 1860s, Nagasaki was one of the ports which was opened to trade.  Quite a few British came and settled, helping the Japanese to develop their ship building skills.  One of these was Thomas Glover from Scotland, who made quite a mark on the place, in fact he was one of the founders of what is now known as Kirin Brewery.

Hello Handsome!

We went to visit the Thomas Glover Garden, the location of his house and where they have relocated a number of other houses lived in by Europeans to show examples of early Euro-Japanese architecture.  They were a right mix of styles inside and out.  Generally they were one floor houses, filled with western furniture (sofas etc) and English fireplaces.  Nice big houses they were too.  Can't say they have been well preserved, but you get the idea.  In Thomas Glover's house they had laid out dinner in the dining room - very interesting - it looked more Western than Japanese, but needed a very good dust to be able to see it properly.

The view from Glover Garden

Festival Float

The gardens were lovely, waterfalls, cherry trees (blossom is out nicely now), carp ponds with massive carp, lots of pansies etc - looked very much like English gardens.  The museum ended up in a museum of the performing arts where there were mikoshi (festival floats) on display from the Nagasaki Kunchi Festival which takes place in March.

A healthy appetite

These were very colourful, there was a film showing you how they are used during the festival which was really interesting, they take their festivals very seriously here, would love to see another one (we were at the local festival in Aioi 4 years ago, which was brilliant).  We then headed down souvenir shop alley (amongst hoards of Chinese) to the main road and walked back to the JR station.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't working for us today (first real horrible day) and although we managed to stay out of the rain most of the time we were in the gardens, we got soaked on the way back.  So much so that we decided not to look round Dejima (where there are still buildings from when the Dutch were living there during the period of Japanese national isolation).  Instead we ran into Starbucks (it must have been bad) to dry off.  Unfortunately, Starbucks in Japan only sells tea and coffee, so Matt had a coffee, whilst Tom and I dried off!  We then headed back to the station and got the Kamome (white seagull) limited express home.  Then a quick (and very cheap) tea in Yoshinoya and home.

Hot, hot, hot!

Whoosh!

Today was a special day that no regular tourists get to experience.  Hiromi suggested that we might want to spend the day with a friend of hers, Mr Yokoyama, who is a glass artist.  We knew of him as Matt had done some translations for a brochure for him and we have a number of his pieces at home. He specialises in hand blown items full of little bubbles.  We like his glasses very much and use them all the time.

A glass being created

We travelled out on a local line to see him - he lives in an old coal mining town which was looking rather down on its luck.  We went through the ticket barriers and saw someone dressed very casually with long hair, we all knew immediately that it was him.  He drove us to his house and workshop.  He lives in a traditional wooden Japanese house - 120 years old.  It was beautiful.  We had drinks (including some fantastic coffee - Matt) and then Mr Yokoyama invited us into his workshop to see him at work.

Blowing hard - but not quite hard enough

Tom got to stand in front of the furnace - it was 1200ºC  - I don't think Tom could quite believe it!  Mr Yokoyama then showed us how he makes his glass.  He started off by adding a rod which had been dipped in a mixture of oil and water - this is what adds the tiny bubbles to the glass.  It was quite theatrical as a flame jumped out of the furnace as he did it.  He then proceeded to blow a glass which Kyoko had ordered for her cafe.  Everything was done by touch and feel, there were no thermometers, just his expert eye.  He made it look very easy but most masters of craft do!

With the Yokoyamas

He then asked Tom if he wanted a go at blowing some glass, but he went all shy and said no to start with, so Matt had a go.  He got off to a good start but then blew too hard and the glass shattered!  Tom was then up for a go, he blew and blew but couldn't get the glass any bigger.  Tom then forced me to have a go, at first I couldn't get the glass any bigger, then I blew hard and 'pop' it burst just like Matt's.  Apparently it takes 3 years of practise to learn how to blow the glass properly.  Mr Yokoyama has been doing it for 39 years!

Stringy!

Anyway it was a great experience, but very very hot!  We retired back to their house for some cold water before heading back to the train station.  Tom got a present of a special blue glass - lucky boy!

We got the Sonic (limited express train) back to Hakata and then headed to the okonomiyaki restaurant for tea.  The restaurant was empty (it was only just gone 5.00pm), so we got to sit on the seats next to the teppan to watch it being made.  Fantastic.  We had one deluxe (full of sea food) and one with mochi and cheese which was really yummy too.

All in all another good day.

Hot Sand Bath!

The "Ibutama" Limited Express

Today, after breakfast at the house, we headed to Ibusuki - right down in the far south of Kyushu.  First we got the Sakura Shinkansen to Kagoshima and then another funky special limited express, the Ibusuki No Tamatebako (or Ibutama for short)  This was another black and white train: the black side facing the mountains and the white side facing the sea.  Another great train - with sofas, seats facing the sea, lots of wood, very splendid Dorises etc etc.  As has become the norm now, we got our stamp for the scrapbook, photo of Tom with a Doris, and enjoyed the trip.  The train was a bit of a bone shaker, but it didn't matter.  We had picked up some Eki Bentos in Kagoshima, so settled down in the best seats in the carriage to eat them up, we then enjoyed the trip which hugged the coast along to Ibusuki.  Shame it was so hazy, we could hardly see anything in the sea, which is a shame as there is a massive volcano (Sakurajima) just a mile or two off shore which is a classic volcano shape.

Lunch on board

We got to Ibusuki around 12.45 and then walked the mile or so to the sand bath.  This place is famous for its sand bath and the train was full, but the town was a complete ghost town, no shops or restaurants were open, it felt like the place had been deserted, tumble weed would not have been out of place here.  We thought we would be on our own when we got to the sand bath, but there were others there.   We got our towels and yukatas and headed into the changing rooms.  We put on our yukatas and then headed down to the beach.

Here were were directed to a pit of sand where we lay down in our yukatas, a towel put around our heads, and then lots of hot sand laid on top of us.  A hot spring comes up on the beach meaning that the sand is hot.  We were buried up to our necks with hot, heavy, wet sand.  It felt really good, although I had about 6 pulses going off around my body: in my feet, my wrists, my chest etc.  I'm hoping the heat has hard boiled my troublesome cysts!!!!!!!  They suggest that you stay there for 10 minutes.

Enjoying the luxury

We were slightly worried that Tom wouldn't be up for it / be able to lie still etc, but of course this is Japan, and anything Japanese is good with him.  He lay still for the 10 minutes, and said he really enjoyed it.  Good on him.  I did a little longer and Matt a little longer too.  We then headed back up to the baths, for a shower and onsen. Tom as usual got 'kawaii' from some old ladies and I was able to tell them I came from Igirisu.  As seems to the norm this holiday, we were the only Europeans around but there were plenty of Chinese.  I'm beginning to not like the Chinese, find them a bit like the Italians: very pushy with no manners!  At least being European,

Getting the steam treatment

I am bigger than them so can use that to my advantage when they get really annoying!  Anyway when we came out of the sand bath they were queuing up to be dug in, and when we got back to the onsen they were queuing up to pay, so we were feeling quite smug!

Doris Ibusuki

We met up with Matt in the reception area, we all had a very welcome cold drink each (all 3 of us were looking pink), had a look around the souvenir shops, didn't buy anything because as usual the souvenir shops are full of things that have no interest for us, and then walked along the shore back to the station.  Oh today it was lovely and warm - just below 20 degrees - were were all in shorts.

We then got our nice Express train back to Kagoshima, and then after a quick visit to Krispy Kreme to pick up some afternoon donuts we got the Sakura back to Hakata.  Then a quick dash to Daiso to pick up some screwdrivers and batteries for Tom's new train and dinner upstairs: yakitori tonight (meat on sticks) very nice too, but unusually bad service!!!!

Anyway, a good day and Tom now loves sand baths (not sure how many more of those he will have in his life?!)

Aso Boy

Aso Boy!

This morning I didn't wake up until after 7am!!!!!!  That is the first time since my visit to Preston Hospital, so I think we can say this holiday is having the right effect.  I've completely lost my anxiety, nervousness etc etc and am not constantly thinking about the what ifs, in fact I barely have time to think about it at all, which is exactly what I needed, this holiday couldn't have come at a more perfect time (apart from the fact I can't eat everything I want or as much as I want to).

I very much enjoyed lying in today as well after waking up so late.  We didn't have anything planned for the morning so had a very relaxed morning, reading my book, then breakfast, a quick trip to the supermarket to stock up on staples and then some scrapbooking time.

Charming the locals. Again.

We then headed to the station, we were there a little too early (again!  I think the boys get so excited everyday about their railway journeys that they can't wait to get to the station!).  To overcome this, we decided to have lunch at the station rather than pick up a bento and ended up in a tonkatsu restaurant (deep fried breaded things) as my tummy seems to be settling down.  We had two meals shared between the three of us and very nice it was too.  I had ebi and pork katsu, whilst Matt had chicken and pork katsu, all washed down with barley rice, salad (cabbage), miso soup and pickles.  It went down very well.

Not clouds - emissions from Mt. Aso

We then got the 800 series Shinkansen to Kumamoto where we picked up the Aso Boy, another of these special trains.  This one has been specially decked out for children and has a carriage which is completely dedicated to them.  It has a shop, parent and child seats (i.e. one big seat and one small seat next to each other) and a ball pool and a library.  Such a shame Tom is a huge 7 years old!  This would have been perfect for him 4 years ago when we were last in Kyushu.  One of the Dorises actually stays in the ball pool area with the children, so you could just leave them there if you wish!  The balls were actually wooden balls, so I'm not sure I would like to be her - I saw her get attacked a couple of times through low flying balls!  The train also had wooden booths, sofas, and 2 wonderful panoramic cars (one at each end of the train) from which you could see 180 degrees as the driver's cab sits above the seating area.

In the panorama car. Driver directly above!

Because the train is geared towards kids, most normal rules are relaxed around them.  This meant that we hardly saw Tom the whole time we were on the train as he was wandering up and down the carriages, mainly heading to the ends so he could watch the tracks.

Aso Boy takes you into the Aso Caldera, within which there are a number of active volcanoes.  Now Matt and I visited here 10 years ago and went to the volcano head where you could lean over and see a bubbling pool of mud, water, magma etc etc.  It would have been fantastic to take Tom there too, however, the whole area has been closed off for the past 6 months due to high levels of poisonous gases. This means that without a car to go exploring in there isn't much to do in the area, so we got there, waited for the train to be made ready again and went back home again.  Today wasn't about the destination, but about the journey.

Parent-and-child seat

Tom once again spent the journey going up and down the train, enjoying himself, whilst we relaxed.  On arrival to Kumamoto we got the Sakura back to Hakata and then did a quick Skype call with Bob to wish him happy birthday for yesterday.  Next stop was a restaurant for tea (Nabeyaki udon for me, Katsudon for Matt and curry noodles for Tom).  We then walked back for baths and bed.  A quiet and relaxing day.

My Japanese Grannie

A proper speed for a train

Today we were up early as we had to catch the 8.43 Sakura to Kobe.  Not a problem for me, as I am always awake at 5am, and today the others were up early too, so in the end we got to the station a little too early.  As we had so much time on our hands, we decided to have breakfast in a cafe ("Seattle's Best Coffee") rather than a bun from the bakery.  A bit of a mistake, this meant our breakfast cost about 4 times as much, and Matt was disappointed as the egg in his ham and egg muffin was runny, meaning I had to eat that one, and he had mine.  Tom had a cold croissant with no butter / jam etc.  Don't think we will be doing that again - we will stick to a bun from the bakery to take away next time.

Cake time!

We got our train and made ourselves at home.  Tom and I did some scrap-booking whilst Matt did some work.  Tom and I then played countless number of games of Uno (I won) until Daddy gave up his window seat for Tom to stare out of.  The 2.5 hour journey went very fast.  We arrived in Kobe and were greeted by Hiromi at the ticket gate - Tom gave her a huge hug, which of course went down very well.  Hiromi had hired a car for the day, with a booster seat for Tom (how thoughtful), so we got in and she took us to a restaurant for lunch.

She had asked us what we would like to eat, Matt had told her that my appetite and tummy aren't quite normal and that I am always on the look out for healthy stuff, so she took us to a restaurant that specialises in fruit and vegetables.   I had mushrooms and spinach on toast, Matt had toast with kiwi jam and olive oil dip and Hiromi had pitta bread with omelette and avocado, we all had home made minestrone soup.  It was perfect, just what the Dr ordered.  Tom had a bit of everything and, after a false start, ate everything up.

Tom's Japanese fan club

Hiromi then took us to Ashiya to a sugar craft shop she had heard about.  How cool was that?  I was in my element, and spent some time looking at all the cutters which are more funky than any you get in the UK.  I also picked up an angled spatula and some pipettes for adding water to royal icing.  All good stuff.  I did see some colours from the UK in the shop - they were being sold at 4x the price!  They also gave us advice on how to cut cakes so they don't crush.  I'm after a cake cutting knife to take home as every time I cut a cake at home, I seem to ruin it, rather than cut it cleanly.

We then headed back to Rokko and visited Kyoko's cafe / gallery.  It is in an apartment block - you would never know it was there.  She is as brilliant as ever.  I've always liked Kyoko, she has a taste and style all of her own and she carries it really well.  Her cafe / gallery is something that you would only find in Japan - an apartment which has been stripped down.  The front has serving implements mainly from Europe (cheese knives, plates, bowls, glasses and the odd novelty item (corkscrew) etc and food items such as jam, caramelised nuts, cordials etc.  Then there is a big table which acts as a communal table for a cafe.  We got served items from the shop.  I had Chickweed cordial - because I had never heard of it before - strange flavour, a savoury herb type thing, but pleasant enough to drink.  Tom had elderflower cordial and Matt a coffee.  Tom then got served the Japanese version of strawberry shortcake - a sponge cake filled with cream and strawberries, he got dug straight in (mainly for the strawberries I think).

Kawasaki rider

We gave Kyoko and Hiromi hand knitted tea cosies from Cowan Bridge as presents.  They went down extremely well.  One idea for my convalescence, learn to knit again and see if I can knit tea cosies and export them to Japan - if you can knit them quickly enough, you could make a killing -they were absolutely delighted with them.

Once we finished, we said our goodbyes to Kyoko and then headed down to Merikan Park.  We were going to have a walk, but it started to rain, so instead we headed to Kawasaki Good Times World.  We brought Tom here 4 years ago and remembered it as being a good museum.  Tom LOVED it.  Kawasaki make everything from ships, to bikes, to aeroplanes, to boats, to trains, to rockets, to robots etc etc.  This means that there were loads of fab things in the museum for him to play on.  He was a driver in a 0 series shinkansen, a driver of an electric tram, and had a go on a very small motorbike, but most exciting of all there was a model railway in the middle and this took up most of his time.  He was jumping about like a loon watching all the different trains swoosh along.

Bye Bye Hiromi.

In the end we almost had to drag him away.  Hiromi took us back to Shin Kobe, we got ourselves Eki Bento (Station Bento) - Tom got the last special children's bento in the shop - a ceramic 500 series shinkansen full of rice, noodles, karaage and other stuff.  We didn't get to see as he got stuck right in and finished it in record time.  I ate my bento with gusto (was hungry), afterwards the guy I was sat next to started talking to me - turns out he was Japanese by birth but was brought up in Canada.  He was enjoying our conversations about our bentos but a little disappointed that we weren't freaked out by anything!!!!

We got back to Hakata at 8pm, tired but happy, it was a good day.

Hanami

Today we stayed in Fukuoka.  One of Matt's friends had invited us to a Hanami party at Maizuru Park in the city.  A Hanami party is basically an alcoholic picnic under the cherry blossoms to celebrate spring.  (Schools broke up for the Spring holiday on Friday).  Unfortunately the Cherry Blossoms aren't really out yet - there are one or two trees showing off their blooms, but on the whole, buds are tightly closed - we reckon in a week's time, the place will be looking beautiful.

Cherry blossoms

There were plenty of people out for picnics though and lots and lots of food stalls selling local delicacies (we almost were upset that we had bentos with us).  When we got there, there weren't that many people at the gathering (this was a translators meet up) but as the afternoon wore on, more and more arrived, including, to our lovely surprise, Joel with his children Leo  (7) and Hana (9), who we stayed with 4 years ago.  Ben, Matt's friend who invited us, also had children, Max (12) and Louisa (9), so Tom had plenty of friends to play with.  In fact we were very proud of him, because he was unusual in being the only fully Caucasian child in the group and it was he who made friends with the others.  Although to be honest, I don't think he even notices the fact he looks different from the Japanese, he certainly doesn't show any culture shock / shyness at all when it comes to people here.

Party time

Basically we lost Tom for the afternoon, this being a safe country, children have a lot more freedom than at home and are allowed to roam out of site of parents etc.  So Tom went with them, and do you know we didn't worry at all, because we knew that here nothing will happen, and also because he stands out in a crowd, he would be easily recognisable to anyone.  The afternoon was spent basking in the sun, meeting new people and drinking beer (well for Matt anyway, I unfortunately don't currently have the constitution for beer!)  Such a shame the blossoms weren't out or it would have been perfect.

Our 500 Series Shinkansen

We stayed a good 4 hours, Tom was having a ball playing with Max (shame we didn't get a photo but when we left he was nowhere to be seen) we have arranged to meet with them all again later in the holiday.

We then headed back to Hakata and as we had a spare hour before tea time, we thought Tom might like a quick ride on a Shinkansen.  We headed to the shinkansen tracks and found one going to Kokura in 10 minutes time.  We got to the platform to discover it was a 500 Series, a blue train - the one with the kids' play area at the front, with a mock up of the driver's cab so that kids can pretend they are driving the train.  How perfect.  Tom immediately went up and made it his own and 'drove' us all the way to Kokura (although at one time he was telling us the train was going backwards, which made us a little nervous!)

Kids at play on board the Shinkansen

We then switched platforms and got a Railstar back to Hakata.  We think we travelled 134 km in 34 minutes for no particular reason other than we could!  We then headed to a new restaurant street we found this morning and ended up in a 'Chinese' restaurant.  Tom had the children's plate, I had vegetables and noodles in soup and Matt garlic rice.  Then we headed back home for baths and bed.  A good day - we were all a little red from being in the sun all day.

First Train Ride

Tom and Doris

Today our JR Rail Passes kicked in, so we decided to start in style and get the Yufuin No Mori Limited Express to Yufuin - a spa resort.  The train is quite famous within Japan and for good reason, it is quite striking.  A forest green colour on the outside and inside lots of wood, and seats covered in forest print.  The seats even had trays stored inside the arms - just like on an aeroplane, and there were a large number of what we call 'Dorises' - dolled up train stewardesses who are very demure and talk in a very cutesy voice.  To be fair to them, the Dorises did lots of work, including a photo call with a date board, another photo call for children wanting to dress up as Drivers / Doris, ice-cream waitress, trolley waitress, sweet waitress etc etc.  We were the only Europeans on the train, but by no means the only foreigners, nearly everyone was Chinese.  It took us a while to realise it - but no one was speaking Japanese on board.  They have an interesting dilemma the Chinese here, because they can read the Kanji around them, but because the language is not phonetic, they can't speak it.  So, they read Kanji and then have to converse in English to be understood.  They all lined up for maps at Yufuin when we got there, and most were taking 2 - the one in Japanese to be able to read it and the one in English to be able to speak it.

Anyway, we were taken through lots of lovely Japanese countryside to Yufuin.  Lots of mountains, villages, even a waterfall for which the train slowed down so everyone could take photos of it.  The rice fields aren't full of water at the moment which is a shame, that always adds to the scene.  Tom was transfixed to the window - there really is very little similar between Japanese landscape and English landscape, which means everything you see is different and interesting.

The Yufuin No Mori Ltd. Exp. at Yufuin

We got to Yufuin around 11.30, Matt asked Tourist Information for info on the best hot springs to visit and we headed to one.  They were much much cheaper than yesterday, but the facilities were a little more basic too (no yukatas to wear today I'm afraid!).  The spas were segregated, so Matt went into the men's and Tom and I into the ladies.  We had a good soak and then met afterwards ready for lunch.  I thought I would ask Matt what his spa was like as I had a sneaking suspicion that all is not equal in the spa world.  The ladies spa was upstairs, we had one indoor stone rectangular spa and one outdoor rectangular stone spa and what I would describe as 3 pots - over sized round wash basins which can house 2 adults at a time.  It was all very nice, but not amazing, there wasn't a sauna or anything.  Then I get Matt to describe the men's: they had 4 (four!) indoor pools, a sauna and 1 cold and 1 hot outdoor pool.    hummmmmmmmmm!   Then he told me that he had taken a photo of the outdoor pool as there was only about 3 men in the facility.  Wow!  There were about 20 plus women sharing the 2 pools in the ladies, and then I saw his photo - a beautiful outdoor pool set in the scenery, with waterfalls, rocks etc etc.  Ours was literally a stone rectangle.  I was right!  There is an inequality between ladies and men when it comes to spas, and considering you get more ladies using them than men, it seems quite unfair!!!!!!!  Rant over, but really!!!!!!!

Today's onsen

We met up red in the face and a little floppy and went looking for somewhere to eat.  There was a 'all you can eat buffet' next door, but considering I can't eat loads at the moment, it would have been a waste, so we carried on into the town.  Everything was quite expensive (it is a tourist resort after all) and everywhere that seemed more reasonable was closed.  We were about to give up when Matt spotted a ramen shop down a side street.  We went in to find a stall with about 8 seats run by a old man.  Fantastic, Matt ordered for us and in no time we had 2 bowls of steaming ramen and a plate of gyoza to eat.  Very welcome after the bath, just perfect and of course very very cheap.

Totoro!

We then went for a ramble around the town, there were lots of shops so we did some browsing and Matt did some shopping (he turns into a shopping prodigy in Japan).  We found a rather large Donguri No Mori - a studio Ghibli shop with massive Totoros outside to pose with.  Wow.  Such a shame all their stuff is soooooo soooooo expensive otherwise we would buy the place up.

Foot spa on the platform

We completed a lap of the town and then headed back to the station as we had discovered on our arrival that there was a foot spa bath on the platform.  So we sat down and soaked our feet whilst waiting for the train to arrive, how very very civilised.  The trip back to Hakata was good, so good that I fell asleep for a bit.  We got back at 6pm and went to Yoshinoya for tea - traditionally a gyudon (beef and onions on rice) restaurant, but they have diversified, so Tom had curry and rice (an adults portion which he snaffled up in no time by himself) and I had gyudon and steamed vegetables on rice.

A good first day on the trains.

Onsen!

So Matt and I managed to stay up until 10pm last night.  I stayed asleep until 5am and Matt managed until after 8am, so I think it is safe to say we are over our jet lag and back to normal.  Today we had decided to go to an onsen.  Matt had done his research and found one within walking distance of our flat, so after a leisurely morning we walked the mile to it.

Once again we found a very empty building - are we the only ones on holiday here?  So, back to the routine - although with 2 years off, I am rusty and for me it is more difficult because I can't read any of the notices.  It always takes courage the first time to walk into a changing room and strip completely naked and then walk around in front of complete strangers trying to 'blend in' when it is obvious that you are very different (can't say my body shape is anything like a Japanese body shape). However, once you realise that no-one is watching, and that it is completely normal then inhibitions go to enable a wonderful relax.

Handsome boy in his jinbei

First stop was the showers to have a good old scrub.  I wasn't sure if you could shave in the shower area, however, there were free disposable razors in the wash area, so I figured it was very much encouraged.  I spent a good 30 mins having the best shower and wash (probably the best since 2 years ago).  I then dried off and put my jinbei on (it was too small - my thunder thighs didn't fit!) to meet with Matt and Tom as we had rented a family bath for an hour.  We went up and spent a lovely hour playing in the bath until we were all red in the face and needing cooling down.

We then went downstairs for lunch.  They had a buffet which was fab, full of all our favourite things, so we helped ourselves and enjoyed it very much.  Tom got glued to the baseball on the telly, but had trouble getting his head around the fact it isn't cricket - we have got some major education to do before we take him to his first game.  We took him down to 'Kid's Land' which was full of slot machines.  We had been given some tokens, so he tried his luck - but they didn't last long!

Japanese family

We then headed back into the bath area for a soak. Tom came with me this time so I had someone to speak to.  Matt wanted to go in on his own to try to have a chat and develop further his spoken language skills.  It was still quite empty, Tom ended up swimming in some of the baths!  We didn't stay in any too long, but it was a very enjoyable experience, very very relaxing.  Surely this can only help my 'condition'.  After half an hour we were bright red all over, so met up with Matt for another down period.

I had ditched my jinbei by now and instead got myself a yukata.  Tom had a very cute boy's jinbei and Matt was in a jinbei too.  We looked 'proper' Japanese in our outfits so got someone to take a photo of us.  Not a bad family photo for us.  We then went upstairs to the relaxation room - basically a huge room full of what look like business class airline seats, which recline to a flat bed.  We all had a go, hmmmmmm, yes I think I would like business class on an airline.  Quite a few were taken up and there was quite a bit of snoring going on.  We, obviously, only got to enjoy them for 10 mins as that was Tom's limit on being quiet!

Curry for tea. £8 dinner for 3!

We then got changed back into our regular clothes and headed back to Hakata Station for a Mr Donut to give us sustenance before heading home.  Matt then did some work, whilst Tom and I worked on his scrapbook.  He did really really well - a complete change to yesterday.  Maybe the onsen relaxed him into wanting to write etc.  We got it up to date including today's activities which was great as I need to have it ready to send into school immediately on our return.

We headed back to Hakata Station for tea as Tom had requested curry.  Well we have been here almost a week and he hadn't had any yet.  We found a restaurant that did a monster portion of curry and sat down to attack it - all 3 of us (although I think Tom secretly wanted to eat the whole lot).

Our rail passes kick in tomorrow, so the train trips are about to begin, got ourselves a trip on a very posh train tomorrow....

Aquarium

High-flying dolphin

Today we decided we needed a Tom day as he has been very good the last two days battling with jet lag and being dragged round shops etc.  Plus he's had to contend with learning to be a good Japanese boy in the apartment - i.e. not jumping, shouting, stamping,  etc etc as we have neighbours both to the left and right and upstairs and downstairs.  It is very hard for a 7 year old who's always been able to be loud at home to understand - but he's getting there (slowly!).

We all had a better night's sleep last night - took a while to get off, but once I did, I didn't wake up until 5am - which has been normal for me this past month or so.  Matt managed about an hour longer.  We had a lie in until around 9am and then had breakfast before heading out to Hakata Station to get the local train to Uminonakamichi - where there is an aquarium.

The place was completely deserted, almost eerie in fact.  We got there just in time to see their dolphin and sea lion show, lots of splashes and oohs and ahhhhs, Tom enjoyed it.  We then went for a look around the aquarium, saw all the usual things, including some real live Fugu (the puffer fish which is a delicacy here, even though some of it is poisonous and about 30 people die from eating it each year!)  There were some enormous moray eels and of course the best tank was the big tank full of sharks, rays and 20,000 sardines all swimming round in a bait ball - looking like a silver chandelier.

Photobombed by a turtle

We found the restaurant and had a great lunch - katsu curry for Matt, a special children's meal for Tom with all his favourites: tomato pasta, ebi, hamburger, karaage etc. udon noodles in a soup for me I am making a concerted effort to remain as healthy as possible this holiday by eating as much fruit and veg as possible.  Shame as my favourite Japanese foods are the fried foods (tempera, ebi fry, karaage etc), but I figure health should come before enjoyment - boring though it may seem!  Anyway considering there were very few people at the aquarium, the menu on offer was amazing and the quality of the food very good.

We finished off at the aquarium and then headed to the ferry terminal to get a boat back across the bay to Fukuoka, only to find we had to wait an hour.  We went for a walk and found a beach, so hung out there.  Tom got into full digging mode - sand went flying everywhere and before we knew it the hour was up and we had to go and get the boat.

Playing on the beach

The boat took us to Momochi - which is home to the Fukuoka Dome which is the home ground for the Fukuoka Soft Bank Hawks -the local baseball team (did you know that baseball is really really big in Japan).  Matt went to the ticket office to get some tickets for a game on 5th April.  This will be Tom's first major sporting event.  Apparently baseball games in Japan are very family friendly so it should be a good introduction.  Tickets only cost £30 for the three of us - so slightly less than the equivalent in the UK - Premiership Football tickets.

Japanese footballer

We then headed back to Hakata Station on the bus - took ages, but it was nice to see the hustle and bustle of the city.  We went shopping for Tom and found a very reasonably priced Japan Football Kit - so snapped it up immediately.  Then a 3 o'clock tea and a bun (I had a very strange apple and sweet cream cheese bun thingy) before heading home for baths and to start the dreaded scrapbook.  It didn't start well - we had tears and frustration on both sides, but after a false start it was OK.  It is a pain to do - but sooooo good to look back on and is proof to the school that we aren't irresponsible parents taking Tom out of school with no educational recompense.

"Nanbantei" - an excellent local eatery

At 6pm we headed out for tea.  Now this is when having a very lovely fluent husband comes into its own.  We ended up in a local izakaya (a sort of restaurant/bar hybrid) where we had lots of bits and pieces: chicken wings, Japanese omelette, tofu, pork and bamboo shoots, stuffed peppers and others.  It would be impossible to eat in these places without a Japanese speaker as there is no English anywhere and no models to point at.  It means we get to know the locals, and pay a fraction of the price of anything from a 'tourist' restaurant.

Quiet Day Number 2

Fountains at Canal City

We all had a terrible night's sleep last night.  We all got off to sleep no problem, but then Tom woke up crying just before midnight - wondering what the strange noise in the room was (the fridge!).  Then he cried about his big tooth falling out about an hour later, then he needed Vaseline for his lip which had split etc etc.  Matt and I tried various tricks to get back to sleep, but none of them seemed to work, it was about 4am before Tom got off, 5am before Matt got back off and 6am for me.  We woke up again at 9am - not good!

We decided it would have to be another quiet day today.  We headed to Canal City - a huge shopping complex with its own canal, fountains etc for a wander, shop and stare.  We got there without any bother and looked round.  First stop was Uniqlo, a clothes store where Matt and Tom normally get interesting t-shirts.  Matt found lots of interesting t-shirts for him and I found some for me - get this - I can fit in Japanese clothes!!!!!!!!  I have lost a bit of weight in the last 2 years (almost 2 stone) but maybe Japanese clothes sizes are getting bigger too?  Not only did I fit, but an XL was too big, so I had to buy a L.  Unfortunately for Tom, we couldn't find anything for him.  We have always got his Pla-Rail T-shirts from Uniqlo in the past - but this store only seemed to have Disney and Pixar themed T-shirts, which is a bit rubbish!

Tom and the "Yufuin No Mori" limited express train

The shopping centre was pretty empty (children here are still at school - they break up at the end of the week for Spring holidays).  We saw a fab fountain display to Abba's 'Dancing Queen' and found a couple of interesting shops.  Lunch saw us at a takoyaki bar and then we headed to the 'children's area' where we found a Ghibli shop (Tom bought a cat bus dangly to go on his book bag with some of his holiday money - thanks Granma and Pop Pop) and some other children's shops, but no pal-rail stuff (the train themed bits Tom normally ends up with from holidays here).  We then headed back to Hakata Station as Tom wanted to watch some of the local trains.  We indulged him.  Then we headed back into the station city in the search for tea and a bun, we found a Mr Donut, were very excited and headed straight in.  By now were were all beginning to fade so we decided to find some bento boxes and head home with them for tea.  I ended up with a vegan one as I was needed veg, and the boys had meaty ones.

Fukuoka from the top of Hakata Station

We got home, had some quiet time, then showers and baths before having bento around the table, followed by a game of UNO and some Eddie Stobart Trucks and Trailers before bed.  Our evening was spent trying to stay awake and drinking wine, believe it or not the wine did actually help us stay awake!

Quiet Day

The longest sleep ever

For a first night's sleep, we didn't do that badly.  Tom slept the best - he did a straight 15 and a half hours, don't think he moved either.  In fact Matt had to wake him up in the end.  He was bright for the rest of the day.  Matt and I managed 4 hours sleep, then 4 or 5 hours awake before another 4 hours sleep - so all in all not too bad.

We had an easy day.  First stop was our nearest supermarket where we stocked up with the bare essentials: milk, breakfast bits, coffee, etc etc.  We then headed over to the Hakata Station area for a look around and to familiarise ourselves with all the local facilities.  We found our local Daiso (100 yen shop) which happily is absolutely massive - it is definitely going to be my place of choice for holiday shopping before we come home, saw loads of new things which looked interesting....

Okonomiyaki in the making

We then hunted out restaurant alley for lunch and found ourselves a fab okonomiyaki restaurant where we had a 'deluxe' and an 'ebi' and very nice it was too!  We then got ourselves some platform tickets for the shinkansen tracks in the station and headed down to see what we could find, we saw quite a number of N700s, a couple of Rail Stars and Sakuras, but sadly no 500 series (the blue train).  We then had another stomp around Yodobashi Camera before heading home for a quiet time and recuperation.

We asked Tom what he wanted for tea - there was no contest - it had to be Shinkansen sushi, a 'sushi go round' where your orders are delivered by train - for us it was Dr Yellow!  How cool is that?  The sushi wasn't particularly amazing (some came with warm rice) and some menu items were a little strange (cheeseburger sushi?!) but it was all readily eaten and with each plate being about 80p (rather than the £4- £8 you get charged at Yo Sushi) there really was no call for complaining.  The whole meal came to 4,000 Yen, and 2,000 Yen of that was beer!  The equivalent would have cost a small fortune at home.

Tom and a Tokyo-bound Nozomi

We came home happy.  Tom went straight to bed, and once again we struggled to stay awake until 9pm, but managed it (just) and happily rolled into bed.

Japan here we come

On the way!

So after a bad night's sleep (why do you always have a bad night's sleep before going on holiday?) we headed to Manchester airport.  We were ridiculously early, but found complete and utter chaos at the check-in.  Obviously there had either been some severe staff shortages or another severe f**k up as the queue for the check-in was enormous.  People stuck in the queue were in an earlier flight - so they then all got moved to the front, meaning that the queue then didn't move for about 40 minutes.  By the time we had checked in, we only had enough time to grab a bun for breakfast from Starbucks and head to the gate when we were hoping for a more relaxed time!

Huge ebi in Nagoya

However, we did get our flight.  It was late leaving, but it made up time on the way over.  To be honest it was lovely to leave the UK - don't think I've ever been so happy to get away from the place.  We got to Frankfurt to discover our onward connection was at the far end of the airport, so we had a bus journey and then a very very long walk to get to the gate.  It was only 15 minutes from arrival to boarding.  The long haul flight was fine, my wonderful husband had bought us Premium Economy seats and I'm so glad he did.  We were in the bulk head aisle - which meant that we could completely stretch out our legs and we had a huge shelf on which to dump all our stuff.  Fantastic.  The food was also better than expected - better than I've had in a long time on a flight.

All three of us tried to get some sleep.  I managed about 10 minutes, as did Matt, but Tom got a good 4 hours.  The rest of the time was spent watching films / TV / listening to music etc.  Why oh why can't I sleep on flights?  I get so annoyed when I look round, it always seems that everyone on the flight is asleep except me.

Even Soffie needed caffeine

We were a little bit late arriving into Nagoya, and as we had to go through immigration and collect our baggage here, we ended up missing our connection to Fukuoka.  Not a problem thought, it meant that we got dinner vouchers for 3,000 Yen, so went to find lunch, which had to be large ebi of course.  We then got the next flight to Fukuoka.  By the time we had arrived, picked up our luggage again, got the subway to Hakata and found the apartment it was 3pm so we could check in.

We were absolutely trashed by the time we got to the apartment.  It is a shoebox, but that's what I was expecting.  We had to unpack immediately otherwise we wouldn't have been able to move around the place.  Think it is safe to say we won't be cooking here.  Although there is a kitchen, there don't seem to be any plates to eat off!  In fact, I'm not sure the person who rents this place out has thought about how to live here:  we have a washing machine, but no airer - so how do we dry anything?  We ended up having to go to a 100 Yen shop to pick up all the bits and pieces she hasn't included.

Hakata Ramen

We all had showers, changed into clean clothes and then went for an explore of the area.  We found the big Yodobashi Camera - which is a mega store full of electronics, has a 100 Yen store, big toy shop, restaurants etc etc.  We then went to Hakata Station and wondered around to try to get a feel for the place.  We ended up in a Ramen shop for tea.  By this time Tom was looking quite pale, so we decided to go home.  He went straight to bed.  Matt and I then tried to stay up until 9pm, it was a massive struggle but we got there eventually and then tipped ourselves happily into bed.