Post 551 Japan 2023
Japan Tokyo bus.
What a surprise to find that when we drew the curtains in the morning we could see Fuji on the horizon.
The buffet breakfast was a good combination of western and Japanese style. I played it safe and stuck to western style.
Japan Day 1
Just some rough notes to jog the memory.
Flights uneventful.
Cattle class not conducive to sleep
ships Singapore
A 380 everywhere
entry to Japan visit Japan website less that successful did need a QR code from somewhere.
first night tea around the corner from hotel good ramen curry
Woke to realise could see Fuji out the window
stuck with western food at Buffet breakfast.
bus trip to see giant bronze buddha
get closer to Fuji
drove along the forshore of surf beach
Buddha is impressive avenue of cherry blossom trees not in flower near by. Don't get cherries. Flowered even earlier than normal this year.
Lunch larger services area. Vendor style machine to order lunch interesting. My meal ended up too hot to eat. steamed pork dumpling instead. iccream
Starbucks in front of Fuji view
need to look at trip itinerary to see where but caught small bullet train ride to our hotel
again following the guides instructions found nice resutean for tea. Didn't take visa or Mastercard so paid cash. Now need ATM found fee charging ATM at 7/11 now have single 10000 yen note $100 not what I wanted 🙁
today breakfast 7 bus 8
The giant Buddha
The first stop on our tour was this Giant Bronze Buddha. The Buddha has has a chequered past. It was originally wooded in side a temple but both got blown and washed away by typhoons rebuilt and blown away again. After several iterations of wood bronze inside and outside we now have this giant Buddha outside. For a few yen it was possible to go inside.
Giant Bronze Buddha.
Ann at the giant buddha.
Tokyo
Driving around we got closer to and better views of Fuji.
Just before this shot we drove past one of Japans surf beaches and yes there were people in the water with surf boards.
Fuji
Our lunch stop was closer to the Fuji and we got some nice views even if there was a Starbucks in the foreground.
Lunch was interesting in the you ordered through a vending machine style interface with pictures an Japanese writing. Needless to say we didn't get it correct and my meal was too spicy for me. Luckily I found a steamed bun which was much more palatable.
It is also fortunate that meals in Japan don't cost the earth. My wasted lunch was just less than 1000 yen or 10 Aussie dollars.
Bullet Train
Just so we could say we had been on the bullet train Trip a Deal organised a one stop trip on this iconic fast (300 Km/hr) train.
I was surprised to realise just how many of these trains there are. In the few minutes we were waiting on the platform for our train two trains ran express through the station.