Friday, March 28:

We took the train to Harajuku, Charee wanted to do some shopping on Takeshita Street. Today was our last day anyway, and shopping was planned. I couldn't stomach girl shopping, so headed back to Shibuya for my own shopping (Tower Records = 4 jp cd's!). After that we went to Akihabara, famous for denki denki (electronics) shops. I was sure that Mrs M said that that was the place to get yukata and kokeshi dolls. However after walking around a bit we realised that that was not the case; having asked directions to the kokeshi dolls, it was actually Asakusa we needed to be at! So we headed over there, back to Senso-ji, where there are alot of tourist shops. We got the yukata, kokeshi dolls etc, plus a new bag (for Y1050!) to carry all the new omiyage (gifts). That took most of the day. We had to meet Tsudoi after work, around 9pm, so we headed back to Ikebukuro and hung around there until he finished. Then we all went to a small smoky izakaya in Ikebukuro. Charee got a bit sick from too much ika (squid) -- I knew that stuff was bad!

Saturday, March 29:

We got up to have our last breakfast with Tsudoi before he left for work. Then we had a couple of hours to pack up everything and clear off to the airport. I thought our flight was at 6pm but it turned out to be 8:20pm (!!). We didn"t have anything to do (with all our luggage), so we decided to go to the airport early (about 4 hrs early!). We took the Narita Express, using our JR Passes for the last time (sob sob). I was taking the Star Wars travel guitar Tsudoi had gotten me, so it was a bit much lugging all our bags. However, the guitar was a magic gift, as when we were waiting to board the plane, we got VIP entry into the plane before everyone else as we had to talk to the crew about where to stow the guitar (apparently there was some contention as whether to put it in the overhead locker or special cupboard onboard). Turned out the overhead locker was fine. It was a bit odd sitting in there with no-one else onboard, with the rest of the crew scurring around making final preparations before the other passengers boarded! Anyhoo, we finally got underway, and the flight was uneventful besides a bit bumpy. We arrived about 20mins early on Sunday morning, but had to sit on the runway waiting for another plane to leave our dock, our 20mins lead time was gone. To make matters worse, Channel 7 was filming "Border Security" (tv show) in Customs, which caused huge delays there. It took us about 90mins to get through (and finally meet my waiting parents who were wondering where the heck we were!).

So that ends our trip to Japan. Overall, not a bad little adventure, we did a diverse range of things and were content to come home and see our kitties (tho changed our minds now, we want to go back!!). It was good to see my bro Tsudoi and a few other old faces while we were there (tho there were some other faces I would have liked to see).  Nowe we have to wade through the 700+ pics we took!  I'll let you know when they're available for viewing...

A few travel tips for the future:

• bring a small towel - we only had to use our own towels once, most of the places we stayed provided them, and a big towel takes up alot of space in ye olde backepacke
• less shirts, more socks in cold climate
• bring small shower gel/shampoo - most places provide, so can refill when they become available
• double-bag all bathroom liquids
• don't bring umbrellas - we bought cheap ($10) umbrellas in Aus, only to find they were being sold for Y150-Y500, about half the price in Japan (Charee came home with 3!)
• good comfy walking shoes are imperative - give yourself time to break them in before leaving!