Daisuke and I spent a couple of hours together at Aeon mall where we grabbed lunch from the supermarket and some groceries to take back to New Zealand. After lunch, it was time for him to rest before the night flight home. I wandered around Narita a little, taking shelter away from the rain in […]

Above:  Narita village with the fair in full swing. I had breakfast in town. I had done most of what I wanted in Narita so spent the morning in bed checking commercial flights back to Auckland and also attending to emails, admin and bills. There weren’t any real viable flight alternatives. I checked out just […]

After a breakfast of pastries, I checked-out and left my bag at the hotel reception. I began my exploration of the Narita area by walking to Narita-san, the temple nearby. It was actually a very nice temple for something that was so accessible and un-promoted. I remember the alleyway from about 15 years ago where […]

I woke early this morning without an alarm. The sun was out way before 0600 I reckon. It’s nice to wake naturally, with assistance from sunlight from the outside. This wasn’t the case in wet gloomy Tokyo with natural light further obscured by neighbouring buildings. I made the most of the onsen once more before […]

Hakone area After a day of shopping and pounding the pavements of the city, I left Tokyo. It was another early start with the alarm for 0600 for a shower, breakfast and packing up after 5 nights at the Tsukiji Business Ban Hotel. I left at 0700 and got to Shinjuku Station rather quickly but […]