Day 8: And so home

After a reasonable breakfast on the plane, we arrived in Cairns pretty much on time at 4:45am. It was a long walk from the International Terminal to Domestic check-in, but we managed a short break to relax before boarding.

A fantastic though hectic week, seeing the major sites on the bottom of Honshu Island. Now to relax.

Reflections on the Japan Experience
We had a ball. Everything that Chris had so carefully planned was executed with precision and we really enjoyed every moment. We thought that we would reflect on some of the quirky and interesting things that we found in Japan and some of the things that we won't miss. 

So to the quirky great or interesting things.

• Cherry blossoms
• Shinkansen. The most amazingly comfortable fast and efficient way to travel. We especially liked the brand new Hokuriku Shinkansen that was launched on Chris' birthday and which we rode from Toyama to Tokyo.
• Luggage transfer service. Pay 3000 yen ( about $30) and 2 suitcases get transferred from one hotel to another and there they are waiting for you.
• Wandering the garden alone in Kanazawa before breakfast. That one could do this and be so alone in such a beautiful place was phenomenal.
• Plastic food. It is everywhere. Every restaurant has displays of their meals in the window totally made in plastic
• Deer ambushing tourists coming out of the ferry terminal on Miyajima waiting to eat their tourist maps which they quite successfully managed to do on a regular basis
• Learning how to say no worries in Japanese - it translates loosely to "Monday night". And in case you need to know , I love you translates loosely as "I see my shoes"
• Weird and wonderful ice cream flavours... only in Japan would they think of green tea and sweet potato ice-cream. And there are other weird flavours in food like wasabi peanuts and even wasabi kit kat which we refrained from trying. The green tea flavoured kit kat was nice
• The small cakes and pastries - absolute works of art, and every area seems to have their local specialties.
• Hand wiping towels before every meal.
• Very stylish linen room service breakfast in Kyoto.
• The sheer scale of many of the shrine and temple sites
• The way that Shinto and Buddhism slip so nicely into everyday secular life in Japan.
• Cube cars... everything from the micro sized to the truck sized is cube shaped.
• High speed trains, and the ease of getting around.
• Vending machines everywhere!
• Signs in both English and Japanese.

So to the things we wont miss

• Heated toilet seats. Yep.. you heard correctly. Everywhere there are electric toilets that have pre warmed seats and they also have built in bidets with privacy sounds to cover your natural sounds!!!!
• Rush hour at railway stations especially Tokyo and Kyoto. People everywhere. Running the gauntlet was a life threatening exercise
• Walking 1.5km across the length of Tokyo railway station from north to south.
• Rude Japanese. Yes it sounds like a contradiction in a country so renowned for politeness but rude Japanese commuters have to be seen to be believed. They knee cap you to get on to the train, and while as a tourist I can understand being ignored by school aged young men and women we were both horrified that a woman old enough to be our mother was left to stand on a crowded train while school aged and uni aged young people sat and then when the offending youngsters left, another lot jumped into the seat and continued to leave the woman standing! Liz also suffered a foot spiking by a very rude commuter who was stabbing people with his umbrella in a an attempt to push past on the escalators at 11pm coming back from Disneyland
• Terminal 3 at Narita. A LONG hike with luggage from terminal 2 station and no airbridges. Who walks onto the tarmac these days at an international airport??
• The lack of garbage bins especially at railway stations
• The cold.... who ordered SNOW and rain and wind on this springtime holiday? Although it was pretty.
• The lack of "whisper technology" It was very difficult in Hiroshima, Kyoto and Tokyo to hear when there were 40 plus people in the group and the guide had a very challenging command of English. This was heightened in the Float Museum in Takayama where we were presented with a very old fashioned cassette tape player with the English commentary about the floats and the festivals.
• Stairs.
• Smoking in restaurants... YUCK!!!

Overall it was a fabulous holiday: one we will both treasure forever and a lovely way to celebrate Chris' 60th birthday. And so ends the "birthday month". We are home. Bella is pleased. Thanks for sharing the journey with us in the blog.