A packed week was enjoyed by Nick and Sam, including Ryokan, hotels, visits to friends, Fireworks, a fish market and a Matsuri.
Landed in Tokyo and were met, somewhat jet lagged and taken to our hotel. After a short period to recuperate we made our way to Shinjuku. Progress was slowed as Nick had forgotten how cash orientated Japan was. It proved extremely difficult to obtain cash and it took visits to 5 banks to find one that would give a cash advance against a Visa card - my cash card would not work in Japan at all.
Following this we made our way to Tsutsujigaoka and were met by Yumi who proudly showed us her new bookshop and the building they had built to house it. There then followed a real highlight of the trip which was a visit to Sam's Kaneko Hoikuen (nursery) during which he was mobbed with Japanese children. We spent the evening with the Hamanakas, sitting on their roof drinking beer, eating a meal and chatting. Sam and Shunsuke went and bought fireworks at the local 100¥ store and had great fun letting them off on the local field.
We travelled to Sendai by Shinkansen and checked in to our next hotel. That afternoon I gave my talk at Tohoku Medical School followed by a reception at the conference centre. Having ventured a little Japanese in my talk I was pushed up on stage and asked to say a few words to the attendees in Japanese (well Japlish!).
Awoke late due to the jet lag and went off to give my talk, rehearsing my Japanese introduction with my guide. This was followed by a great sushi meal with the AstraZeneca team and then spent the afternoon shopping. Later on Sam and I went out in search of the local delicacy of Gyutan, eventually plucking the courage to enter a small restaurant and order in Japanese.
Another great day! AZ had provided a guide - Yoshida san - for the day. We visited Matsushima Bay (one of the 3 best views in Japan) and home of Bassho (inventor of the haiku) followed by a local temple and dramatic waterfall. Finally we had the privilege of staying in an excellent Ryokan based in an onsen in Akiu.
After struggling a little with sushi, raw(ish) egg and rice for breakfast we got back to Sendai for the Shinkansen to Tokyo. We spent a happy few hours in Akihabara (Tokyo's electric town), purchasing a really cute little digital camera before heading off for Tsutsujigaoka. After spending the afternoon bowling, we went to the local matsuri in the evening. Sam met a reformed yakusa and everyone was extremely friendly. Most remarkably, we got photos of Sam with his former classmates from 10 years ago.
Last day in Japan and we certainly packed it in. We all got up at 6.30 and got the train into Tokyo to visit Tsukiji fish market ( a sort of Japanese Billingsgate) followed by more sushi for breakfast. We then headed off for a nearby ornamental park from where we got a river boat to Asakusa - one of the most famous Toyo temple complexes. The grand finale of the day was the spectacular fireworks in Chofu - >1,000,000 spectators and 90 minutes of fireworks. With great sadness and greatly exhausted, we bid the Hamanaka's farewell at Tsutsujigaoka station and took the last train back into Shinjuku and on to Shinagawa and our hotel.