Last Day

Final full day in Japan and it seemed appropriate to spend it looking in shops.
After a visit to the Nihon-bashi bridge - a sort of two story bridge where they've built a road on top of an old bridge.
Then we split up with one of us going over to Ikebukuro to visit some traditional craft shops and the other going to see the shiny new things on display in the Sony Building in Ginza.
Met up in Ginza for a bit of last minute shopping.
Now all that's left is trying to work out how to fit everything into two cases.

Tower Power

Back in Tokyo (by the bullet) and checked into the hotel which was thankfully completely straightforward.
Took the train over to Meguro and visited the world's only Parasitological Museum also known as 'The Wonderful World Of Worms'.
Went over to the Roppongi area and up the Tokyo Tower - an almost exact copy of that french one but just slightly bigger (and more stripey).
Came back to the hotel on the train during rush hour which wasn't anywhere near as bad as expected - you could breathe if not move very much and we managed to get off at the right stop.

Johnnie, Johnnie

Took our only organised guide trip with the whole trip with Johnnie Hillwalker (aka Hajime Hirooka) a man able to wear a hat, jumper, shirt, t-shirt and coat on possibly the hottest day of the year.
He took us around some of the backstreets of Kyoto, through some shrines, temples and peoples houses, we passed the home of Nintendo and he explained a lot of things that may make trying to understand Japan a little easier. We liked Johnnie, he gave us stuff.
Realised we could have spent a lot longer in Kyoto but we've got to catch the train to Tokyo tomorrow (bullet style).

Gold

Spent the morning by taking a bus to the Kinkakuji area of Kyoto to see the Kinkakuji Temple, an unassuming giant floating gold building.
Then another bus ride to Nijo castle where the floorboards are tuned to sound like nightingales and some to sound like floorboards.

Bamboo

Came down the mountain and walked around the Arashiyama area, through the impressive bamboo forest and up to the Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple and associated shops.

Monkeyland

Fantastic - real monkeys. Took the train out to Arishiyama, walked straight past the Train and Piano Museum and up the Iwatayama mountain. Got a little concerned as we climbed to see various signs, starting out with 'Don't feed the monkeys', then 'Make sure your bags are closed', then 'Don't look the monkeys in the eye', by this stage we still hadn't seen any monkeys but we could hear sounds in trees above. 20 minutes of climbing later we were too tired to run if they attacked. Got to the rest stop and monkey feeding area and finally saw the monkeys.
Lots of monkeys.
Turns out that there are fences to keep the humans in, while the monkeys roam free in a kind of Planet of the Apes style switch. Except at the top where monkeys and humans can mix freely and share ideas and snacks.

Kyoto - good and bad

Bullet train sped us to Kyoto in no time.
Got to the hotel and found that the travel agent has messed up the booking and they didn't have a reservation for us. Also the hotel was fully booked. All in all, not a good experience.

The picture is of the Kyoto Tower Hotel where we're not.

Found another hotel a little further out thanks to the helpful people in the Tourist Information Centre. This one is better in that it does have internet access.

Got settled in the hotel and then went back to the station to look at the view from the 12th floor sky garden and get some food. Found the famous ramen restuarant Dai-Ichi Asahiramen, turns out it's about as big as our front room. Tucked into a bowl of noddles, pork and beansprouts - really tasty. Basically their fish and chips.