Japan

Lesley and Caroline were lucky enough to be invited to attend a conference in Japan by colleagues. They flew from Heathrow to Tokyo Haneda airport, taking a bullet train to Kyoto on September 1st. After a week in Kyoto with colleagues from Japan and business associates from the USA, they travelled back to Tokyo - narrowly avoiding a major typhoon.

Box making

Seki shows us his work station
Team photo
Tokyo evening

After a visit to the new factory building, we take a long train ride back to central Tokyo. We had been recommended the Oriental…
Shopping street

We had planned to have a drink at the Park Hyat (Lost in Translation) and did some window shopping on the way to the undergorund
Bike shop

Build your own bike
Trunk Hotel

Trunk hotel looked nice so we went in for a drink
Trunk Bar

It was so nice that we stayed for dinner and had a great meal - including avocado tempura
Wednesday morning

Roof terrace in daylight - our last full day in Japan and we are wondering why we bought raincoats for the trip
Street view

We will miss the crossings in Japan, not least for their different sounds
Tokyo view

Skytree is so tall that it's almost impossible to fit it all in a photo. When we visit, it is the tallest tower in the world at 63…
Skytree

Very close but seems far away...on our way to the station to visit washi shops on our free day. There are many, but Tokyo is vast,…
Life

Good supermarket below the Skytree - "thank you for coming to life" (is that intentional?)
Washi shop

Our first visit to a paper shop - lots of beautiful things inside (cards, stationery, brushes and decorative papers)
Flags

Reminders of the Rugby World Cup everywhere - starting a couple of weeks later
Ozu Washi

This shop was established as a paper wholesale store called "Ozuya" in Nihombashi in 1653. There is a paper museum as well as a fa…
Papermaking.jpg
Paper wedding gown

The Ozu museum shows anything can be made from paper
Washi

So many beautiful papers. In this shop there are free samples to test out with brushes and ink.
Tenmatsu Nihonbashi

Spotted a traditional tempura restaurant by the river - not a tourist in sight
Cooked to order

We paid at the door and were seated upstairs, so that we could watch the preparation. It cost something like £10 for a generous lu…
Tempura

We each had dipping sauce and condiments as well as rice and tea. The first out was asparagus. It was only now on our last day tha…