Originally published on 7th January 2016
An early start, a big breakfast and then off to the station. Sim, Maki, Lancy, Chelsea, Finn, Mya and I all squeezed into the car, with all our luggage. I was really sad to be leaving. We had reconnected with Koori-Chan, who works with Maki and made friends with Masato-San, who also works with Maki. Mya was very upset to be leaving the girls, and I was terribly sad to say goodbye to Maki, again. We had also really enjoyed our time with Sim. He is a wonderfully kind and gentle person, and he and Mya liked to joke around together.
The Shinkansen entrance of the station is being remodelled, so the parking and drop off areas are all messed up. We got out, got the luggage and there were some tears…… My heart definitely resides partly in Kyoto.
On to the Shinkansen, emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted. Our last train trip for this trip, so I was slightly sad about that too. I managed to take some great photos of Fuji-San while flying past at 285kms an hour.
We got to Shinagawa at lunchtime, grabbed a Starbucks, and then got on the Yamanote line train to Akihabara. We hung around while trying to procure lockers for our luggage, finally shoved everything into lockers and went to get some lunch.
Akihabara, or Akiba, is Electric Town. Nerd Central, Geek Paradise…. We had spent a lot of time here last time we were in Tokyo, so we decided to spend a few nights here. We went to a market, specialising in second hand manga and anime stuff. Then to Don Quixote, a large department store, that stocks all kind of stuff. We then went to find our apartment, not to difficult, and then back to retrieve our bags. By now I was shattered. I had a quick nap, while the kids perused the manga in the room. There were literally hundreds and hundreds of them.
We then walked back to the station to head back to Shibuya. We all wanted to eat at Genki Sushi again. We waited for sometime for a seat, and then pigged out……
Soooo cool. This time we sat on the wall, so the conveyors were three levels high. Much yummy sushi was consumed. Then a bit of shopping and home to bed.