Cruising along the river

After my short walk through the Ueno shopping area, I hopped the train over to Asakusa. I wanted to see the sculpture on Asahi building again but there was something different this time. Hmm what wasもっと詳しく
Tokyo's best tower (IMO)

After my river cruise I got off at Hinode Pier, just a short walk from Tokyo Tower. I passed the Hamamatsucho World Trade Centre, where I was when I was at Seaside Top so I knew I was getting close.もっと詳しく
aww Hachi

Got to Shibuya Station and met my mate then as we were on our way to get sushi we passed the statue of Hachi the dog who waited outside the station for over 9 years for his master who had passed.
Shibuya Scramble

The Shibuya Scramble wasn't as busy as when I was here a few days ago. It was cool watching it from the 2nd floor of Starbucks though.
Shibuya sushi

Agasei took me to a place where the sushi is ordered electronically and delivered to your seats on a sort of train system. It was really great fun choosing the dishes using the touchscreen. It's soもっと詳しく
Neon lights, city bright

A positive of iPhone maps giving us wrong directions is the chance to see Shinjuku lit up.
A long walk for a cocktail

Thanks to the crap iPhone map feature compared to my far superior Google maps (yes, I am an android snob) we ended up walking around in circles looking for some gay bars, or rather lesbian barsもっと詳しく
quick coffee stop

So today I was to be meeting my friend Agasei again for a lunch buffet a Hapuna Shinagawa Prince Hotel. We would be joined by Aiko, 7 years on since our last meeting and a lady called Pinky who I haveもっと詳しく
Buffet at the Prince Hotel

I had never been to a lunch buffet with such quality food. I'm used to just the warm up stuff back home. Agasei told me it's usually very hard to get a reservation for this place but because Aiko knewもっと詳しく
Coffee stop 2

After our lunch we were heading to Roppongi Hills to see a cafe decorated with art by a famous artist. Murikama (I may be wrong with the spelling). On the way we were too busy talking and laughingもっと詳しく
More food?

After our coffee and pancakes Agasei had chosen a place for us to have a drink. It was supposed to be happy hour but they said they don't do happy hour on Sundays, also it was dead in there so we wentもっと詳しく
En Route to Fuji

So I had agreed to meet Sayaka at Tokyo Station near the bus depot at 7am ready for our business at 7:20. My intention was to get up at 5 so I wouldn't have to rush but my alarm didn't go off. Iもっと詳しく
bus to 5th station

Fujii 5th station

We arrived at 5th Station and Already Sayaka was feeling tired and we hadn't even started our climb. The view of Fuji was amazing with the sun shining.
7th station

We decided upon the Yoshida trail, which is the more popular route. I think we chose this route because we thought there would be lots of people if something should go wrong, but not many people wereもっと詳しく
8th station

8th station hut

We finally got up to our accommodation for the night. Sayaka had a headache and I was worried she was getting altitude sickness. We sat down for dinner, Katsu curry which was delicious after hikingもっと詳しく
Summit of Mount Fuji

We set off for the summit at 2AM with our headlamps. Thankfully Sayaka's headache had gone. Seems like a good meal and sleep is what she needed. Myself, on the other hand, didn't feel too great forもっと詳しく
Subashiri Trail

For out descent we chose the Subashiri Trail because as Sayaka said "it's faster so that means it's easier." Well... it wasn't too bad to begin with. It was like walking down steep sand dunes. Theもっと詳しく
A New Face

We decided the easiest way to get back to Tokyo from the Subashiri Trail was to get a bus to Gotemba then another bus straight to Shinjuku. We got chatting to a nice Canadian lad called Adrian who hadもっと詳しく
Late lunch with a new friend

When we arrived at Shinjuku, Adrian told us that he had a 9 hour wait until his bus and was going to explore the city so he suggested we had a bite to eat together before we all went our separateもっと詳しく
Boarding the Shinkansen

So, after my Mount Fuji climb, my thighs were so sore and my body ached that I just wanted to stay in bed. I managed to motivate myself and get up at 5 to get ready for a trip to Kyoto. Once I was atもっと詳しく
Arashiyama Bamboo Path

I got off the Shinkansen at Kyoto station then changed train to the San-In line to Arashiyama. I took a quick walk through the bamboo grove and then onto the monkey park. Unfortunately, I didn't getもっと詳しく
Golden Pavillion

I decided to be lazy and take a taxi from Arashiyama to Kinkaku-ji. It was actually my first time in a Japanese taxi on my own so I was a little bit worried. My fare came to just over ¥2000 for a 20もっと詳しく
Nijo Castle

I got the bus from Kinkaku-ji to Nijo Castle. It was the first time I had used a bus on this trip. I did use one on my last trip but this one was easier to navigate as it told you which stops (inもっと詳しく