Ian Rambles
When I booked Ryokan Kangetsu the fact that it was out of central Tokyo felt like an advantage - when we arrived with jetlagged children in tow I was less sure. Dealing with a new culture, organising transport and jollying along the boys, who really wanted to be tucked up in bed, made our first few hours in Japan rather a chore.

Once settled in and rested however the world looked much better. We wandered the surrounding streets looking for breakfast and found that Japanese businesses opened much later than we expected. The bakers, signed "Boulangerie", offered a range of pastries which we thought we recognised - until we tasted the selection we bought and discovered an entirely unexpected range of flavours!

A trip into central Tokyo could have been better planned! I picked the central station as our destination - which proved to be in the heart of the big business skyscraper district at lunchtime and away from interesting areas. Jet lag, lunching office staff and the heat got to us so we headed back to the Hostel quite quickly.

On our second day in Japan I left Fi to her own resources and took the boys to Namja Town. I'd discovered this online. It promised a sureal exoerience and exotic ice cream flavours! It delivered both.

A few yen admission gave us entry to a warren of small rooms spread over two or three floors with machines and shops based on cult Japanese computer game characters. There was lots of pink and crowds of Japanese girls and the games weren't ones the boys recognised - and being entirely in Japanese they couldn't discover their attractions.

Buried in the centre there is Ice Cream World - almost the only area signed in English. This has a huge range of exotic flavours - and we were here to sample some of them. We tried octopus ( inoffensive and hardly fishy) and garlic ( could have done with rather more garlic ) - as well as some more conventional flavours.

Fiona's Journal
Monday July 28th
Our flight was uneventful and, since flying is still something of a novelty to us, we rather enjoyed it. We had individual screens (on the back of the seat in front) and headsets with a good selection of films to watch and some computer games for the boys. I watched “The Bridges of Madison County” which I had not seen before and really enjoyed it. There was a steady stream of meals and drinks and snacks, all in dinky little packaging, which kept us occupied and we have certainly eaten worse in the last two months. In fact my only complaint is the seating which is too small and too close together for real comfort, especially if you're sitting next to Arthur but at least he makes a comfy cushion!

We landed at Narita Airport about 5.30pm, retrieved our bags and loaded them onto a trolley which was brilliantly designed to go down escalators and we were received through customs in no time and with great courtesy. The airport is easy to navigate because all the signs are in English as well as Japanese script and all the staff seem to speak some English so we are cushioned from the language barrier for a while. We picked up our JR Passes from the Japanese Rail desk and head for the station. Harry and George are, by now, almost asleep on their feet since it is now about 3.00am by their Seattle time clock and they have been awake since 7.30am. They can barely prevent their legs buckling under the weight of their backpacks and it does not help that the temperature hear is still 35 degrees Celsius and it's incredibly humid. Every time we stop for a moment to consult a map or read a notice board George sinks to the floor and dozes off and Harry props his backpack on the nearest handy rail or ledge and catnaps standing up. We manage to get ourselves onto the right train for Tokyo city (which is quite a way from the airport) and George immediately falls asleep across two seats. Two pretty little Japanese girls come up the carriage to look at him and giggle!

We are booked into a ryokan, Japanese Inn, in the outer suburbs of Tokyo so we must change trains at Tokyo Central and again at Kamata. This proves pretty complicated and we are clearly looking a bit helpless because, from the heaving mass of Japanese commuters a kind Samaritan comes up to offer help. He speaks a little English and leads us to the right platform and then accompanies us all the way to our next station (which I hope was on his way anyway but I'm not sure) where he directs us safely onto our final train before heading on his own way. Arriving at our destination of Chidoricho station we once again are struggling with the directions to the ryokan Kangetsu when a young man comes to our aid and walks with us the quarter mile to our door. We are so grateful or the kindness of strangers.

Tuesday July 29th
This is traditional Japanese accommodation so we have all slept on futons on the floor with a thin, lightweight version of a duvet over us and been very comfortable. The floor covering is tatami mats and you remove your shoes as you enter the room in a small area of tiled floor which is some 4 inches lower than the rest of the floor. Simple slip-on sandals are provided though not in Arthur and Ian's sizes, as are really nice cotton kimono's. The boys have a room on the 4th floor and Ian and I are on the first floor and the rooms are small and very simple but, with no furniture, they don't feel cramped. Part of the art of living with an extremely high population density, I suppose.

There is a very pretty little outdoor area, of stone pathways between rocks and small trees and running water, that links the various blocks of rooms with the reception area and the communal facilities such as the laundry and the quiet room with its little library and massage chair. Thus there is no clear distinction between indoors and outdoors and that adds to a feeling of, not exactly spaciousness but “uncramptness” at least.

Iced green tea is available free all the time and we are acquiring a taste for this already. In this heat and humidity it is wonderfully refreshing. We still need the occasional cup of strong coffee as well though and this we have to pay for but is very good and also very good value at 150 yen, about 75p.

This morning we explored the local streets and bought a random selection of interesting looking cakes and savouries for our breakfast. It is good fun buying food without the remotest idea of what anything is and unable to read the labels or ask the questions. We got some surprises amongst the things we bought but by sharing around everyone found something to their liking. Then we caught the train back into the centre of Tokyo, reversing the part of last night's journey that had seemed so daunting. It all seemed pretty simple in the light of day and no longer burdoned by luggage and well slept!

We found ourselves in the heart of the business area of the city and once more engulfed in streams of business men in their uniform of charcoal or black suit trousers and open-necked white shirt with a subtle stripe or check and highly polished shoes. There were a few women amongst them but it was striking, how few there were. They wore the same uniform really except with a grey or black skirt instead of trousers and they all wore stockings or tights despite the fact that it is a wiltingly humid 35 degrees in the city. We seem to have hit the universal lunch time for city workers so every cafe and restaurant is heaving, with queues out the door, despite the fact that there seem to be hundreds of them. Many of the restaurants had detailed actual-size models of each dish on the menu, displayed in their windows with its price, which we thought could be pretty handy. We could then order by pointing at something we liked the look of, or even by taking a picture of it on our mobile phone, while outside the restaurant and then showing it to the waitress once we were seated! And incidentally, there must be a whole industry in plastic meal making of which I was previously unaware. Anyway, we didn't eat in Tokyo because it was too crowded and we didn't stay very long because it was just to hot.

In the evening we found a tiny restaurant just a couple of streets from our ryokan. The woman who served us was just lovely and spoke quite good English. She quickly deduced that we are complete novices as far as Japanese cuisine goes and suggested we should have a sort of mixed barbecue meal. This involves using a circular gas barbecue, that is sunk into the centre of each table, to cook ourselves small pieces of various meats and fish and peppers and eat them with various other dishes including sticky rice and soup. It was delicious and also great fun and we were made to feel so welcome, although I think all the other half dozen diners there were local regulars. The woman congratulated me on having three fine sons and then told me proudly that she has four, all grown up! When we left she and her husband, who was the chef, bowed as out of the door.

I am really charmed by the Japanese style of old fashioned courtesy we are encountering and it is also very comforting to discover that, without any knowledge of the language at all, a smile and a little bow will get you a long way as a greeting, a thank you, an apology or a farewell.

The heavens opened as we headed back to the ryokan nd we were saturated in warm rain which was wonderful after the sticky humidity of the day. Then I thought I should try out the “Ladys” (sic) outdoor communal bath, on the roof of the inn, and I had a lovely leisurely and very hot soak in the huge, natural stone, bath tub under the stars. No one else appeared so it wasn't exactly the social event of Japanese tradition but, as an inhibited Brit, it suited me fine!

Arthur's Log:
The Flight.
We took the bus to the airport and almost had a problem.
The girl at check in said we needed proof that we are going to fly out of Japan, not stay there for ever. But we weren't due to pick up our flight tickets (aka the proof we needed) untill we were in Japan. So we ended up buying some expensive wifi so we could show her out online bookings.

We entered the departure lounge in Seattle Airport and on one of the big screens it had "Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to shut down" I was so amused i took a picture of it.
For those who don't know, Seattle is home to Microsoft. Seeing its error out here made me snigger and I wasn't the only one. I started a trend which ended up with about 6 people behind me taking photos aswell.

I am writing the 27th and 28th as one day because time is a bit screwed. We go back 6 hours slowly but half way we jump 24 hours forward as we cross the international dateline.

On the plane there was a little tv in the back of every chair, which had movies for the flight. But just before take off they gave the most cheesy safety briefing I have ever ever seen. I almost thought they were taking the piss on purpose.

I didn't sleep the whole time and my brain thought it was four in the morning when we arrived so spending a hour and a bit on the underground at five am was surreal and not very pleasant. Via many a frendly person we arrived at the hostel and got some sleep.

28th
Today i got up earlier than I have in years, (not counting if i'm ill) It was about 5am but it felt like I had just hade a really good lie in. Took the train into central Tokyo and the first thing I noticed was 99% of people are Japanese. I know that seems a thick thing to say, but it really hit me, being on a underground train with nothing but Japanese people.

In central Tokyo there was nothing but office blocks, it was hard even to get some coffee. Its totally bland and has barely any history from the feel of it.

29th
Mum stayed at the hostel to catch up on the washing but we had other plans. In a huuuuuge shopping center called "Sunshine City" is a surreal area called "Namja Town". Inside, in a large shop called "Ice Cream City". they have zilions of little tubs of ice cream in every flavor you can think of, and some you can't. I looked through the main cabinet. Choc, caramel, vanila and it went on but by the end of my search I was looking at curry, garlic, octopus. I tried the octopus and and garlic.