Month: October 2025

Japan – 30th October 2025

Travel

Alarms go off at 5:30, wrenching us both out of a deep and restful slumber. We’re all packed so just a quick shower and set off to try and find our taxi, on the mysterious B3 floor, which no lifts have mentioned yet.

I’m trying to get into the car when the driver asks, “your flight is at 10:10am from terminal 2, correct?” Not correct, I must be sleepier than I thought, and on closer inspection his sign is for someone completely different, “Mr & Mrs Latham”, sort of close-ish?

Our car is just behind, a very sleek looking electric BMW with the most polite driver. I didn’t book the taxi, but offer up a silent thank you as we settle back, sip ice cold water and doze the 30 minutes to Haneda.

When I tried to change our seats online the website wouldn’t let me, full flight, and we’re not together. I’ve got an extra legroom seat, but Trix is wedged in the middle between two randoms. She’s still mildly scarred from the teenage boy leaning on her as he slept on the way out and I’d promised that she could have an aisle seat. Remembering Zoes trip back from Hong Kong, 25 years ago, when she was wedged like that, I’m determined to shuffle the plane around, somehow.

“The flight is full, it is very difficult, I will send a message to the plane crew and maybe they can help”, hmm. No upgrades either, it really is totally full. I’m assuming “very difficult” is a polite way of saying “impossible”.

The queue for security is insane, there is a man at the back with a sign declaring “End of the line”, he’s walking backwards as more and more people join it. “Sumimasen, is there another security gate?” Worth asking. He nods vigorously, “hai hai, over there” smiling and pointing in the opposite direction.

Zero queue, grinning at each other we waltz through and head towards the lounge. It seems that premium economy on Japan Airlines has more perks than you get on BA, no complaints from us. We find a tranquil table and load up on beef curry and rice, we’re still in Japan after all!

The queue for coffee is really long, that’s the excuse I use for having a glass of champagne, “it’s only 9pm in London!”, then I notice another machine, oh well!

From getting out of the taxi to sitting in the lounge took 25 minutes, I think that’s a new personal best.

Time to board and we go and have a word with the staff, I have a trump card to play and I really hope it works.

“I have a medical condition, and I need to be next to my 14 year old daughter”, I can hear some of that being repeated amongst a load of words I don’t understand, a few times. “It is very difficult, the flight is full”, I’m not budging, “Can you move some people around? This is very important”. We wait.

The only other time I’ve used that line was at Glastonbury, we were in a one in / one out area with no toilets, the queue to get back in was huge. I felt bad for asking the security guard if I could use the staff area, but, nothing I said wasn’t true, even if I didn’t strictly need to drink all those pints of cider…

Eventually we’re called back to the desk and yes, they’ve put us together, phew. Some of the pre-flight tension eases and we find our seats and faff around making ourselves comfortable (which includes putting on the provided slippers, a nice touch).

Trix is very happy with the setup, lots of compartments, bluetooth connection for her headphones. She wraps herself up in a blanket and settles back with one of her new manga books. Only 14 hours to go…

Japan – 29th October 2025

Travel

Last day!

Both had one of those too hot / too cold sleeps, but we’re in good spirits as we head down for an early breakfast. Just as well, by the time we leave the queue is gigantic.

We don’t need to leave until 10 so I get a bodyweight workout in, it’s pretty horrible but the view over the city is a nice distraction.

After a bit of confusion around trains, tubes, stations (so many of all of them, and then do you want the local? Rapid? Rapid express?) we get to the Dawn Avatar Cafe in Kanda (not Canada, which is how we both read it).

It’s a really lovely idea, sort of an experiment which seems to be gaining traction. There are physical humans there, but also robots remotely controlled by people with some sort of disability which means they can’t leave their home.

Our table robot is controlled by a lovely girl who had a heart attack two years ago and now can’t move around much. We chat about our trip and order food and drinks. These are served by another girl controlled robot and we pose for photos. 

The idea is that there are jobs that can be done remotely that don’t fall into the standard office worker mould, and as robotic technology improves the types of job could expand.

Occasionally her English isn’t expansive enough and she falls back to a live translation that shows up on the iPad at the end of the table, so even language isn’t really a barrier here.

We stay about an hour and leave with a pleasant warm feeling, apart from anything else we had a really nice interaction with our waitress, a total stranger who is house bound.

They’re opening one in Denmark, we hope it catches on, surely it must alleviate loneliness as well as endowing purpose.

Feeling like we aught to make the most of our last afternoon here, but also flagging a bit from doing so much over the last couple of weeks, we head to a laid back district (Shimokitazawa) and duck into a cafe to read our books and relax for a while.

Trix is running low on reading material, and we’re still having no joy finding translated manga, but finally do! It’s not Spy Family but is on her list. We also find a book that sounds perfect for the 7-Eleven addict in the family (honestly she can spot one from about half a mile away), she declines to buy it though.

“Oh look, a shop for puppies”, we finally get Billy some presents, it takes a while to select a toy that he won’t disembowel within minutes.

If you ever need a patterned 80s woolly jumper, or brown trousers, this is the place to head to. It’s fun nosing around the vintage shops, until we get thirsty and happen across a cafe/bar with a spare sofa, the perfect recharging station.

I could have stayed there drinking Brooklyn lager reading my book for the rest of the day, but we’ve got a planned stop at “Happy happy kiddie land” or something similarly nightmarish. We also need to pack before supper. Reluctantly (for me) we’re back on a train heading to Shinjuku, thankfully only 10 minutes away.

I bail out and leave Trix to it, heading back to the hotel to watch the sunset and Mount Fuji instead.

It’s our last night and we’re surrounded by restaurants and bars, but with a 14 and 1/2 hour flight tomorrow, we play it safe and go for katsu curry, this time I remember not to choose a scary spice level!

Japan – 28th October 2025

Travel

Both quite restrained at breakfast, we’d leapt out of bed before 7 to beat the rush (and still had to queue a bit). I decided to treat myself to some baguette with butter and chocolate spread with my coffee, I’ll be living on dust and air when I get home to offset all this indulgence. Right now I’m just enjoying it and ignoring my waistline.

It only rains for half of the 20 minute walk to the station, we’ve got plenty of time so take shelter in the fish market for a bit. As tempting as it is to get a bag of sashimi for the journey, we press on and look for less smelly fare in the massive shopping area before we go through the barrier to the Shinkansen.

We love how organised the station and platforms are, none of the usual UK experience: “The train might be here, potentially when the timetable says it will be, and maybe on this platform, but seat reservations? Who knows! How could anyone know?! We might even just remove them all at the last minute, have a great journey!”

I knew we’d be travelling through the Japanese alps today, but didn’t think we’d actually get to see any of them. Passing through Itoigawa we could see distant snowy peaks on one side, and a choppy misty sea on the other, like Craighouse on the Isle of Jura, but more.

Suddenly I can smell food, glancing at my watch I see that it is indeed lunchtime, a shade after 12. One old guy just has a tray of thin pale sausages, they smell pretty good.

I gambled that there would be a trolley service so I wouldn’t need to drink warm beer, it’s practically required to have a couple on the train. £1.67 for a deliciously cold Sapporo, happy happy.

I’m not sure if my crisps are crab or beaver flavour (or both), Trix says they smell like cat food. She’s not totally wrong (but they taste great).

The 3 hours pass in a warm and pleasant haze, rain and clouds replaced by a bright blue sky.

Suddenly we’re in the swirling ordered chaos of Tokyo JR station, “blimey, I feel like a country bumpkin!”, Trix just laughs at me and steers the way to the Chujo line, the other end of which our hotel (and hopefully a ready room) awaits.

After the quiet low rise city of Kanazawa (our room was on the top floor of one of the tall buildings, floor 6), Shinjuku is just … bonkers. Lights, skyscrapers, music, people … people everywhere. We find the hotel and just looking up at the building makes us dizzy. The reception is on the 18th floor, our room is near the top, the 37th.

Floor to ceiling windows with a view all the way to the mountains beyond the basin where Tokyo nestles. We’re both a bit overwhelmed, and have a little sit down before venturing back out into the mayhem to find somewhere to sit and have a drink before today’s main event. 

Sumo! Not an actual match as it’s the wrong time of year, more of a family friendly exhibition sort of thing.

Before that we have a little snack and pick up some cats in shark costumes, as requested by Zoe (for friends kids, because…how could you not?)

We start off with a mini sumo wrestler meal (in reality they have two meals a day, but each one is 5,000 calories!), then after a funny warm up from the MC (and a geisha dance) we meet the opponents.

Both are retired, but only in the last year, and are late 20s to early 30s, probably a normal age for a sportsperson? Asanokuma looks exactly what you’d expect: big, fat and strong. He’s 160kg, but says he put on 40kg after retiring, very unusual! The other chap, Asanobori, is a mere 120kg, and it’s clear from all the extra skin flapping around that he’s lost what the other guy gained. There are no weight classes in Sumo, so being heavier is usually an advantage (unless you’re very quick and nimble).

The whole thing is very funny, helped along with plenty of beers (and ginger ales) and a lot of cheering and shouting. We’re talked through demonstrations of a few moves (both allowed and illegal), with the wrestlers playing up to the crowd, being silly and shit talking each other, WWF style.

Then 3 matches, over quickly but you really get an idea of how hard it is to stay on your feet, and to stay inside the tiny ring. They’re both sweating with the effort, which makes Trix even more horrified as their glistening bare buttocks are slapped repeatedly.

Both feeling happily weary we navigate our way back to the hotel on the underground, grateful that (apart from breakfast) we don’t have anything planned until 11am tomorrow.

Japan – 27th October 2025

Travel

Accidentally turned my alarm off and we didn’t wake up till 7:20, oops! Must have needed the rest, but we’re worried that there will be a huge queue for breakfast, they were very specific about it when we checked in.

Short wait and, wow, the most extensive buffet we’ve been presented with yet, might even top the Grand Josun hotel in Busan! The cake station gives me sugar shakes just looking at it.

“This trip is essentially a food tour, isn’t it?” I look over the table at Trix, “yes of course, what else would it be?”

Sounds like a good reason to try everything then!

Epic breakfast, need to sit down for a while before venturing out for a run (and to wait for the rain to ease off a bit, half hoping it doesn’t and I can legitimately get back into bed and read, which is precisely what Trix has planned for this morning).

After much procrastination, and a break in the weather, I find the route along a river that’ll take me all the way to the beach. No roads to cross, hardly any people, sun warming my back, I settle into a nice pace and think about everything and nothing.

Standing on the beach looking out over the Japan sea I realise that the next stop is North Korea, 520 miles away. It sounds far until you remember that they have nuclear weapons and that’s about the same distance as London to Zermatt.

Heading back I notice a swirl of shadows above me, yesterday we saw a sign saying “beware of the kites”, hopefully I don’t look hopeless enough for these birds of prey to keep such a close eye on me.

Back at the hotel Trix assures me that she’s done some sketching and washed her hair, and absolutely has not been dozing in bed the whole time. I believe her, we’re both ready for some lunch, but I could so easily curl up for a little snooze too.

Handily the main fish market is about 3 minutes walk away, we do a circuit with a couple of stops for fried chicken and beer, seafood dumplings, and a pork bao bun.

Neither of are in the mood for fish intestines or sea urchin, so we select some salmon and tuna maki rolls and a spider crab (and a beer), then find a spot to stand at a plywood board lined with people eating all sorts of things.

I read that Kanazawa has the best sushi in Japan, and eating raw fish in the local fish market is a pretty special experience.

We can hear the rain easing off and slowly walk through the active geisha district to the gold leaf museum, it’s not all about food after all.

We learn that it’s made from an alloy of gold, silver and copper, and is beaten to 1/1000 of a millimetre. Also it’s edible because it doesn’t break down in your body, chemically stable to be precise. So maybe it is really all about food.

It’s tea and cake time, but we settle for ice cream and matcha jelly, decorated with gold leaf.

As we wander off in search of a bar to sit and relax for a bit (this girl has been trained well), Trix looks sideways at me, “hold on, if gold doesn’t break down in your body, then that means you have sparkly poo?”, laughing I say “yeah, I figured I wouldn’t tell you that as we were eating it!”

The bar is perfect for a bit of a break, big enough that we can sit and read our books without feeling awkward, the fact they have their own brewery and serve up sample trays is obviously a happy bonus for one of us.

We could so easily have gone back to the hotel for a snooze, but! It’s only 4:40pm, so we find the (preserved) Samurai district, which is really quite atmospheric as the sun goes down, the streets empty out, and we’re transported hundreds of years back in time (or to an episode of Demon Slayer, depending on your perspective!)

It is absolutely time for supper now, so we find the nearest ramen place.  After a brief scuffle with the push button, 1000 yen notes only, ordering machine, we finally present our tickets to the man behind the counter and settle down to wait for delicious things to be cooked.

We’ve been walking everywhere here as it’s really quite a small city, but half a mile from the hotel it starts raining again and we realise we left our umbrellas behind. Nothing for it but to duck into the nearest 7-Eleven for some bedtime treats and wait for the rain to stop.

Happy to be back in the room before 7pm, some quiet time before a day of travelling tomorrow.

Japan – 26th October 2025

Travel
Steps: 13,372
Train journeys: 3
Hours on trains: 4
Hours walking in the rain: 1

Ended up being a bit of a late night, so both a bit sluggish this morning, no running today. Trix is sad to leave her window.

I had a full English breakfast, Japanese style, because … why not, it’s a holiday! Roast beef, sausages, very wet scrambled eggs, cloud bread and fatty bacon.

We had 3 trains to get today, and had a little pile of tickets each, mostly understandable, but it wasn’t totally clear how to navigate the turnstiles. I asked the station chap he said “stack them, all together, ok!”, ok… let’s see, we were both pretty sceptical. Turns out the machine separates them, processes each one individually, and stamps, marks, or keeps them depending on where you are and how far through the journey you’ve come. Impressed, we set off to find provisions.

First leg of the journey was a bullet train to Kyoto, we settled in and I asked Trix what the best thing about Hiroshima was, “Shin! He was great!”. He was. In the context of a thing or place, “shin” means new (like Shinkansen – new trail line), for a name it can be made of up different kanji characters, I can’t remember which ones he said his was, but some of these and they all fit: humility, heart, belief, true. He was given the name by his parents and grandparents because of how they felt after the bomb, at first he felt he had a heavy responsibility, but he grew into it, and is one of the most positive people I’ve met.

The train alternates between tunnel and daylight, it’s relaxing and mesmerising. The tunnels are quiet and dark, then popping into daylight, smoothly gliding through a valley, over villages, temples, rivers, pointy tree covered hills on all sides, then plunging back through the next mountain. If I hadn’t had 3 coffees I’d be dozing in my comfortable reclining seat.

We look at the map of Kanazawa, our destination for today, there are beaches, and we wonder whether to just take a walk along one of them for a change of scene. We looked at each other simultaneously, “a beach walk without puppies?”

It does seem wrong, “we’re definitely not obsessing about our dog” Trix laughs.

We change at Kyoto for the Thunderbird Express 21, I’m excited, “do you you think it’ll be as cool as it sounds?”, she just raises an eyebrow, “I’m pretty sure you’re going to be disappointed, it’s just a standard JR train”.

I thought it had a certain something, sort of like an insect, Trix said “it looks pretty goofy”, which I thought was a bit mean.

Time for lunch, and it’s only as I’m opening my yakitori bento box that I realise this is unlikely to be the sort of yakitori I would usually order… hmmmm. Just as well I like chicken skin, and …. cartilage. There are some other bits that I don’t recognise, but “ah well at least it’s just chicken eh?”. Luckily I’ve got a beer, and everything goes well with beer.

I don’t know why we even thought about a beach, it’s a grey drizzly sort of a day. The clouds seem to have got tangled up in the hills, very green alongside the edge of a huge lake. Puffy green bamboo forests, wooden houses, rice fields.

Trundling along gently, making each other laugh by being silly, the packet of “finger wiper” that came with my lunch has Trix in stitches. Feels like the camper van trip: we’ve gone slightly deranged, in a good way.

It’s only lightly raining as we walk to the hotel, but by the time we leave it’s properly pouring. We do a lap of the castle, narrowly miss a giant hornet being chased by a worried looking groundskeeper with a big net on a stick. Trix is apprehensive about heading further into the forest, “I’m sure he caught it, I saw him stamping on something just now”, though it almost certainly went a different way (I keep that to myself).


Wandering around the Katamachi area looking for food, but it’s weirdly quiet then we realise it’s Sunday evening, oops. Trix spots a place down a side street, “oh that place, nice looking things on skewers?” Yes. We sit at the counter, just the job.

Wasn’t quite enough though, and we spot a barbecue place on the way back to the hotel, “cheeky grilled beef and rice?”, obviously.

As per our standard routine, we find a 7-Eleven and meander back to the room, time for hotel pyjamas and a bit of a chill before an early night, all that sitting around is weirdly tiring.

Double chin coming along nicely!





Japan – 25th October 2025

Travel
Steps: 17,493
eBike miles: 6.47
Oysters: 8
Oyster regret level: medium

Got myself up and out before 7 this morning, and using the magic of the Strava heat map feature found a runnable trail up and over a nearby hill. Unexpectedly there was the remains of a WW2 anti aircraft battlment nestled on the ridge, then further along a peace pagoda containing ashes from the Buddha. This pretty much set the scene for the rest of the day; horrible memories contrasting with feelings of hope and forgiveness.

We were both looking forward to the hotel breakfast, the one in Osaka was fine, but basic. Trix was rather taken by a cheese and bacon bread roll / cake, whilst I was very happy with my western and Japanese mix. Can’t turn down octopus for breakfast!

The robot tray shelves moving around the restaurant had cat faces, which made happy noises and stopped when you tapped them on the nose, very endearing and must make it easier for the staff to clear tables – everyone was willingly loading them up with dirty plates.

Bit overcast and neither of us was particularly in the mood for museums or temples, so we had a slow meander trying to find volume 14 of Spy Family in English, a sort of treasure hunt through the cities bookshops. The last one we tried was almost a winner, volume 13! But no more, luckily it was time for a little bit of lunch, and what luck, an okonomiyaki restaurant just where we needed it!

“Savoury pancake” is the translation, but really it’s a pile of omelette, meat, cabbage and beansprouts layered and cooked on a hot plate. With an optional (essential) topping of local oysters. Super tasty but not all that nice to look at, so I’l spare you the photo.

The rain started just before our cycle tour did, but despite knowing the forecast and being told to bring waterproofs, we just rolled our eyes, shrugged at each other, “we’re from England, this is standard, it’s fine”.

Our little eBikes were just the job for weaving through pedestrians as we did a circuit of the central part of the city, with Shin stopping us every now and then to explain why the fairly innocuous thing in front of us was actually genuinely interesting.

This tree for example, it was in the blast zone, you can see the scorched trunk. There are 159 of these, and most of them lean in towards the hypocenter (the point on the earths surface directly below the actual explosion, which was about 600 meters up), because the damaged side grows more slowly than the relatively unscathed side.

“This tree is a bomb survivor, and it has a special plaque, look!” Shin was very chatty and bubbly, you almost forgot that his mother was an in utero survivor, but died of lymphoma when she was 61.

Shin did a little poll after a while, “How are you all feeling? What’s your emotion?”

Unanimously we said “sad”. Hard not to be, and he expected that, then showed us lots more hopeful things, like the flame that will burn until all nuclear weapons have been destroyed, and facts like Japan hasn’t been in another war since WW2, and that the more friends you make around the world, the less likely you will want to drop a bomb on that country.

The rain had stopped by the time the tour ended, and it was way past our supper time. Time to get a tram, another bomb survivor (they had parts of the network up and running 3 days afterwards, driven by 14 year old girls).

We wanted yakiniku (barbecue) but both of our stomachs protested loudly when they heard how long the queue was. Udon it was, great bowls of hot broth warmed and sedated us nicely.

We’re heading to Kanazawa tomorrow, it’s going to be a bit of effort with 3 different trains (and a short bus ride), so we’ve taken some expert advice and … had most of our luggage sent on to Tokyo, where we’ll meet it in a few days. Just feels so wrong, but it’s so normal, and so easy. Just popped downstairs to the front desk, quick chat, a phone call, bit of form faffing (them not me), and all sorted. £30 seems pretty reasonable, well it won’t if it doesn’t turn up, fingers crossed!

Japan – 24th October 2025

Travel
Steps: 7, 017
Miles kayaked: 3.86
Hours on trains: 2.5

Decided I was allowed a day off running today and had a lovely lie in until 6:30, ok maybe 7. Packing was easy at least, we’ve only been getting out what we need for each hotel, although we do seem to have accumulated enough extra stuff to warrant buying another suitcase before we head home.

Healthy breakfast, of course (you can ignore the fried chicken part, it was completely offset by a huge mound of salad and vegetables!), then we just needed to drag ourselves and our cases through rush hour Osaka to the mainline station in time for the 10:01 Shinkansen to Hiroshima.

This time we remembered to stock up on onigiri and water before we got on the train, it was only a 90 minute journey but gotta keep those energy levels up!

Actually the real reason was that we didn’t have much time after arriving to drop our bags and get ourselves down to near Miyajima island for the main activity of the day. Trix was grumbling about getting a taxi and thankfully we found the hotel really quickly and were back on a train platform with loads of time in our pockets.

Leaving the station at Maezora the exit gate flashed red and made a slightly unhappy sound when I scanned my IC card. I figured that it can’t be anything important or it wouldn’t have let me through, but of course as everyone and everything here is so polite it was telling me that I didn’t have enough money to complete my trip.

Ooops.  A young schoolboy caught Trixs attention, and with his courtesy (and google translate) he helped us charge up our cards at the machine, and re-scan them (to happy green bleeps).

“Is this a group activity?” Trix asks as we walk the short distance to Paddle Park, she wasn’t keen on the idea of sea kayaking at all, I’m not sure what answer will make her feel better.  “Um, yeah, I think so”, I actually had no idea.

It was just us and the guide, a super friendly and kind guy who owns the place. He got us all kitted up, we carried two canoes down to the sea and we were off, none of that health and safety nonsense.

The weather couldn’t have been better, bright blue cloudless sky, slight breeze, calm water. Trix was at the front of our two person canoe and set a strong rhythm, “Wow you’re fast” the guide calls over, I’ve got sweat in my eyes but just keep paddling, this can be my exercise for the day.

The O-Torii is huge, over 16 meters of wooden shrine rising up from where it sits on the seabed (it’s so heavy it’s not even buried in the seabed, can’t have been easy to balance 60 tons just right). No surprise that it’s a UNESCO world heritage site, and is as beautiful as it is impressive. 

We can see throngs of tourists on the shore, but it’s just us bobbing around out here, taking a few moments to rest our arms and admire the view.

“Do you want to go to the busy tourist beach with all the souvenir shops?” Kuboto-san calls, we wobble our heads and shrug, international sign language for “not really”.

“There is a local beach over there, it’s quiet and we can get a drink and some food”, that sounds much more like it. We beach the vessels and only slightly damp settle ourselves around a table set in a shady wood with views over the bay, small local deer wander around, thankfully they don’t seem to be the biting kind.

“Oh look Trix, I can get a beer and they do fried chicken, I think we earned a little snack?”, she grins at me and, well, we didn’t really have lunch, and supper is a long way off. Maybe it’ll come with a bit of green garnish.

The paddle back is easy, “downhill, we’ve got the tide with us”, sea bass jump nearby, sprats flicker through the surface as we weave through an oyster farm, the platforms made of bamboo.

“Oyster season started on the 21st, Trix do you like oysters?”, I can hear a noncommittal sort of noise in front of me and we all laugh, “Have them as a topping on okonomiyaki later!”. I’m looking forward to trying the local speciality (savoury pancakes) but not today, Friday is katsu curry day!

Kuboto-san opened his business in 1996, so he’s been doing this for nearly 30 years. Annoyingly he looked younger than me despite being 56! In the off season he surfs over on the other side, in the Japan Sea, or heads to Hokkaido to ski. He’s calm, gentle and seems genuinely content. Hiroshima has a large international community… just saying….

We just catch a local train back to town and finally actually check into our hotel. Our room is lovely, on a corner of the 16th floor, calm and quiet. We’re only here for 2 nights so there isn’t much point in unpacking much, so we have a brief chill and head downstairs to the hotel bar.

It’s definitely time for another beer, and Trix needs to catch up on some sketching, everyone’s happy.

Not hard to find a good spot for supper, it even comes with salad (sort of, just cabbage really, but it is green!).

Little wander around after eating and back to the room to wind down before bed (with ice cream, and beer, it’s only 7:30pm…).

Japan – 23rd October 2025

Travel

“Salad for breakfast, yeah?” I raise an eyebrow at Trix, she rolls her eyes and gives me the “yeah of course, that’s what I was planning anyway” look.

“Also bacon and pancakes. Yeah?” was the actual counter. Fair enough, I’m planning on also having hash browns, eggs and a croissant.

We find the location for our sushi making class, almost, and must be looking at lost as we feel when our instructor appears out of a building that looks nothing like what we were searching for. Turns out we’re the only ones there, in a (relatively) spacious kitchen with lots of lovely looking food laid out in front of us.

Our teacher speaks excellent English, with an endearing version of “back and forth” when cutting things (“back and horses” is how it sounds).

We make dashi from kombu (seaweed) and dried bonito shavings, tamagoyaki (omelette from egg, dashi, sugar and soy sauce), a tuna, cucumber, lettuce and crab stick maki roll, a pressed sort of sushi, and finally nigiri with an assortment of fish that appears from a large fridge in the corner.

Despite the breakfast my stomach’s been rumbling since the omelette, so when we sit down to eat our creations I’m very happy.

Trix’s creation is unsurprisingly neater and better presented than mine, arranged in proper rows, the pieces in descending size order. Very aesthetically pleasing, compared to my jumble of fish and rice.

No matter, it tastes amazing and I’m treated to an extra raw scallop nigiri as Trix isn’t so keen after de-shelling so many on Jura (they pulsate disturbingly when you pry them off their home…)

We wobble off about 12:30 and find a nice looking cafe for a sit down and coffee / milkshake, before the main event of the afternoon. 

Cup Noodle museum! One of us is more excited than the other, but it’s all good. Custom pot noodles made, smiley faces, and we start wandering back towards Ikeda station, when… 

It’s sunny! The sky is blue! It’s not raining! There is a big hill….right there! Ok maybe a mile away, uphill, but…

I park Trix outside the botanical gardens, a peaceful spot surrounded by well kept trees and shrubs, some gardeners pottering around in the afternoon warmth. We made a firm agreement that I’d be back within 50 minutes.

Up up up. Jeans and fashion trainers, non running rucksack, cotton t-shirt, as badly equipped as I could possibly be, I hiked and ran through the dense forest as fast as I could. I knew there would be a view somewhere, the sun dribbling in through the foliage was enough to have me sweating within minutes. Up up up…

I found it! Near the top of the hill was a platform raised high enough to peek over the tree tops. All of Osaka laid out in front of me, the view I wanted yesterday in Kobe but the weather decided otherwise. Lovely.

Happy I carried on and managed to loop back down a different route, placing each foot carefully so I didn’t slip on the piles of leaves and tip into the dark canyon beside me.

“That was quick”, Trix looked up as I appeared at the rendezvous point with 20 minutes to spare. Next stop, Rikuros, both ready for some cake.

The walk to Ikeda transported us both to another Studio Ghibli film, either (or both) of “The cat returns” or “Kikis delivery service”; quiet clean streets, buildings that could have been built yesterday or 50 years ago, uniformed school children and old men on bikes. We felt like we lived there until we remembered we were oh so obviously tourists.

Our Osaka train and tube skills kicked in and it was a smooth journey back to Namba station, popping out at precisely the right exit to join the long queue outside the instagram friendly wobbly cake shop.

When you buy a freshly baked cheesecake, that is a warm jiggly mound of sweetness and air, do you put it in the fridge to have after supper? Of course not!

Trix was tired and sore, her injuries have taken a toll; falling on the wet cobbles in Nara park bruised her tailbone, deer bites on her arms and legs, full of snot and tickly cough. She opted for instant ramen while I was determined to get something more interesting in Kuromon market.

It was mostly closed, but one stall happily served me Wagyu beef skewers, gyoza and beer, using their “Supervised by Michelin restaurants” sign to charge me an eye watering amount of yen.

Not exactly full I meandered until I found a yakitori bar, much more like it. Skewers of freshly grilled bits of chicken and ice cold Sapporo. Sorted.

Back to the hotel, fold up the laundry (which Trix kindly supervised the cleaning of), think about packing, another beer, and making plans for the journey to Hiroshima tomorrow.

Happy and tired.

Japan – 22nd October 2025

Travel
Steps: 18,000
Hours on trains: 3
Octopus balls eaten: 0

Managed to drag myself up and out by 6:30 for a run around Osaka castle, bit misty and drizzly but lovely to get the legs moving, especially before the streets get too busy and I can cross roads London-style without feeling too guilty (the locals are very strict about waiting for the green man to light up).

Curry for breakfast again, we’ve promised each other that tomorrow we’ll use the salad bar, so we get at least a few nutrients that might possibly be missing from meat and rice!

Last night we had a breakthrough with how to navigate trains and tubes here, so instead of a convoluted tube journey we walked for 10 minutes and got the direct train to Nara, felt like a major win. Disconcertingly the train goes up and over a (small) mountain, feels so very wrong to be on a train that goes uphill.

I wanted to see the temple housing a 14 meter bronze Buddha, Trix was more interested in the deer. I had a vague notion that they were protected and you could buy biscuits to give them, I had no idea there would be 13,000 of the cute creatures, and that they had the process of getting food from tourists absolutely nailed.

They’d gather around the food vendors waiting for someone to buy some, and then nibble anything they could get their little mouths around, hoping for something edible. Trix had her bottom bitten and one of the soft toys hanging off her bag got a thorough chewing before I wrestled it away. For such small animals (the size of a large dog, mostly) they can be surprisingly intimidating, so we stashed the food and rushed off to the temple.

Tōdai-ji was first opened in the year 752 (!), and apparently is the world’s largest wooden structure, though that didn’t really matter, what we noticed was how calm we both felt inside, looking up at the massive statue inside, I could have stayed there for hours.

Wandering through the park afterwards Trix figured out that the best deer strategy was to find one that looked a bit lonely, bow to it, and then when it bowed in return, reward it with a biscuit. Quite incredible how well they know the procedure, made us both very happy.

After all this feeding we were starting to feel undernourished, so nipped into a local cafe slightly away from the tourist places. Calm and gentle, perfect. Hamburger and rice (and beer) for me, tea and nuts for Trix, then back to the station with 3.5 miles in our legs.

Back to the hotel to chill, or… add another hour to the train journey and go to Kobe for an early supper?

I mean, Kobe, home of Wagyu beef, could we really turn down the opportunity? Course not.

It was a bit early by the time we got there, so had a pleasant wander around the port area and stuck our heads into the Maritime museum for a bit (not very exciting, but nice to get out of the drizzle).

Kobe did not disappoint, the food was amazing (the restaurant wasn’t as good as Jumbos in Tokyo, but half the price, so …), we didn’t overcook it and could have carried on eating for ages.

Now we really did need to get back to the hotel, thankfully the train line passes mercifully close by and (with a pit stop at the local Lawsons for beer and snacks) within 90 minutes we’re back chilling on our sofa and planning tomorrow.

Oh, as we got off the train Trix noticed the grab handles are little deer, a very Japanese detail.