Back to Japan.
There is nothing quite like unbearable humidity to let you know you’re back in Asia but even so I stick by what I said before, Japan is an utterly beautiful country. I was going over some old ground on this return trip but it was still fresh and exciting which left me with the post trip blues on my return and the desperate urge to start planning where to go next (watch this space).
It was good to arrive back in Osaka and the initial shock of the Japanese transport system first time meant that all the stress was left at the airport (in London I might add). Into Dōtonbori and the Glico man for some Takoyaki, one slight concern for all things Japanese though is when it comes to food (and other things) everything is individually wrapped which can extremely irritating and now that we live in these green conscious times is such a waste and completely unnecessary. A brief stint around the castle the next morning and then headed back off to the amazing Seiwa, to my surprise even after 5 weeks the countryside has turned into as many shades of lush green as I know how to count absolutely stunning, not long till I realized why everything was able to grow so rapidly… Rain. Apparently June is the rainy season in Japan I think I will agree with that statement as it rained a lot, in Seiwa surrounded by all the mountains it actually looked like one of those text book weather cycle diagrams you saw during science class at school. Reluctantly the decision was made to revisit Ise but don’t get me wrong it was an amazing place in it own right personally I felt a slight anti-climax when we discovered you are not allowed to even see what it was you were there to see in the first place, the grounds and forest walk are worth it though even in the torrential rain. Rounding the trip off we took a boat trip around Toba and took in the view along with the many pearl rafts of Mikimoto which incidentally is where the first ever cultured pearl was created. One last word however, thursday night… what a great night and party! To the Beatles loving Guitar player your version of Stairway to heaven and spanish guitar was brilliant even after copious amounts of green tea liqueur… thanks.
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