17th May - Matsumoto to Narita airport

Breakfast today was similar to yesterday's and again very tasty. We had our bags all packed and ready for the 9am shuttle into the train station. The rest of the morning was spent on trains - firstly to Nagano and then a connection to Ueno, Tokyo. 

A quiet beverage on our last train

Our plan here was to drop the bags in a locker and walk to the kitchenware street we know so well from previous trips. Shops line each side of the road for a number of blocks, all selling kitchen items of every description. However, firstly it took a while to find an empty large-sized locker. After finding one, we stacked the bags in, and made very careful note of its location within the huge train station, including photographing the locker. We think this is exactly the same block of lockers we struggled to re-find on a previous trip, so this year we took extra care to work out how to retrace our steps. We set off on the 15 minute walk to Kappabashi Street. Unfortunately, it was bucketing down. We still decided to walk instead of finding a bus, and though we got rather wet, our coats and umbrellas dealt with most of the rain.

It was fun being back. It's an amazing area. The specialisation is epic, for example there's a shop that basically sells only the stands that restaurants have outside that have a copy of their menu. There must have been 50 variations. Lots of other people were clearly enjoying being here too. Maybe it's become a tourist destination in its own right since we were here a number of years ago or maybe is just a good spot to visit on a rainy day. It was bustling. We hoped to pick up a few items and were happy with what we found, though were a little stymied by those shops which only accepted cash. We were down to our our last $6 equivalent. It was a bit of a rush to walk back to the train station, but thankfully the rain had stopped. Happily reunited with our bags we caught a train for the 5-minute ride to Tokyo station.

Our last train of the trip, the 1 hour ride to Narita airport was very smooth and we both fell asleep for a bit. With the last of the rice paddies disappearing into the distance, it was a little sad to farewell the Japanese landscape, but it was with some relief that we arrived at the airport with plenty of time in hand.

An incredibly smooth pathway through check-in, bag drop (where our cabin bags were weighed to ensure they were under 7kg), security and immigration, we could put our feet up to relax for an hour. Phew.What an adventure it has been!

I thought it might be interesting to write up the things that have really stood out to us on this trip. 

Things that have been wonderful:

• how welcoming, helpful, friendly and polite the Japanese are
• the design, attention to detail and ambience of the large gardens
• the serenity of the teahouses
• the overall cleanliness of everything, everywhere
• the flowering plants established throughout both urban and rural areas, especially azaleas
• the cool kei cars
• the food has been delicious (especially the noodles) and having such a choice of snacks and full meals (which can be heated on-site) at any of the 7-Eleven, Lawson or Family Mart shops which  are located every 200m or so - it makes finding food very easy
• vending machines also appear every 100m or so, dispensing a wide variety of hot and cold drinks and sometimes ice-blocks, all for very little cost
• learning more about Japanese history and culture and adding it to our growing knowledge and appreciation of cultures other than our own

Things that confound me:

• the baffling toilets with all the bells, whistles, chimes, air vents, variable pressure and volume systems, automatic lighting, seat raising/lowering/flushing and more. Most distressing is when you can't identify the flush button! The potential solution is to press everything and run ....
• Having to wait at pedestrian crossings for the green walk signal even though there is not a car in sight in either direction. 

Things that I won't miss:

• Except for the odd one in a train station, there are no rubbish bins anywhere, including outside convenience stores. The expectation is that everyone takes their rubbish home. If you buy an ice-block or takeaway coffee, you will end up carrying the wrapper or cardboard cup all day until you get home. You can only eat it immediately outside the shop, i.e. standing within 1m under the building overhang, or eat it inside your vehicle. It is a big faux pas to eat or drink while walking.
• Changing from outdoor shoes into indoor slippers at the entrance to all accommodation, most public buildings and also at the entrance to changing rooms within shops. Also changing from indoor slippers to bathroom slippers at the entrance to the toilet and then back to indoor slippers upon exiting. The latter can be the distance of 0.3m (or less).

It's unfair of me to complain about any of the observations above though. They are designed for the orderly procession of life and, though foreign to us, have been entrenched in Japanese culture for a very long time. 

And my thoughts...

I agree with all Karen's positives, but I'd move the electronic toilets to the positive list. I like the warm seats, and the fact that you end up properly clean. In fact I'm going to look at getting one in NZ!

I'm a bit sick of the shoe palaver too, but for me a big bugbear has been having to duck when moving from one space to another inside accommodation, castles and other historic buildings. In all the older places that means every doorway, and all the points in larger rooms where shoji screens can be used to divide it. And then in the middle of rooms they have hanging lights, also below my head height. I've only hit my head hard once, lightly a few times, and felt the lintels brush my hair countless times. It will take me a week or so to get back to standing up straight.

The futons I quite like, though some have been pretty solid. Not so keen on them being at ground level - it's easier to get in and out of an NZ-style bed.

Japan's a fascinating country. It's so different from the rest of Asia in so many ways - cleaner, quieter, more modern (in some things, yet the underlying philosophies are thoroughly Asian. Despite all the time we've spent here now, we still find surprises.

Overall Numbers:

• 18 days
• 32 trains
• 23 buses (mostly free on our JR train pass)
• 2 ferries
• 1 ropeway
• 212.3km walked (average 11.8km/day)

We're looking forward to a final beef udon noodle dinner on our ZipAir flight as we head to San Francisco!