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** Share an umbrella with an old lady who is amazed at John's stature and finds us the right bus stop.
** Share an umbrella with an old lady who is amazed at John's stature and finds us the right bus stop.
** Get to 'Fuji Hakone' ryokan in <s>Moto-Hakone</s> Sengokuhara (having discovered in time that there are two ryokan with the same name).
** Get to 'Fuji Hakone' ryokan in <s>Moto-Hakone</s> Sengokuhara (having discovered in time that there are two ryokan with the same name).
** Eat horse mackerel and tempura everything at a restaurant around the corner.
** Eat horse mackerel and tempura everything at a restaurant around the corner (we never had lunch).
* Mon 19th:
* Mon 19th:
** Breakfast at the ryokan with slightly underdone toast.
** Breakfast at the ryokan with slightly underdone toast.
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** Head to the castle, narrowly missing a Funky Monkey Babys concert. Wander round the castle, eating octopus balls and jaywalking like crazy.
** Head to the castle, narrowly missing a Funky Monkey Babys concert. Wander round the castle, eating octopus balls and jaywalking like crazy.
** Look at the centre of Osaka. Light shopping and a Ferris wheel ride.
** Look at the centre of Osaka. Light shopping and a Ferris wheel ride.
** Phil stays in the hotel and sleeps off jet lag. Everyone else goes around the corner to a sushi restaurant.
** Phil stays in the hotel and sleeps off jet lag. Everyone else goes around the corner to a sushi restaurant (John's favourite sushi of the trip).
* Tue 20th:
* Tue 20th:
** Breakfast at Mielparque.
** Breakfast at Mielparque.
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** Drink the waters of Kiyomizudera.
** Drink the waters of Kiyomizudera.
** Temple fatigue.
** Temple fatigue.
** Lunch in a trendy cafe in Kyoto.
** Lunch in a trendy café in Kyoto.
*** More like a restaurant over a shop, and it was on the main temple approach road
*** More like a restaurant over a shop, and it was on the main temple approach road
* Eat ice-cream and cake in the awesome station again.
* Eat ice-cream and cake in the awesome station again.
** Most too tired for dinner, but John, Lmm, and Emma go to a ramen noodle café.  Emma gets the most vegetarian option -- a pork soup which "only tastes of meat a little".
* Wed 21st:
* Wed 21st:
** Breakfast at Mielparque again.
** Breakfast at Mielparque again.
** Take a slightly odd (but JR powered and involving a boat) route to Osaka aquarium, and spend all morning there.
** Take a slightly odd (but JR powered and involving a boat) route to Osaka aquarium, and spend all morning there.
** Lunch in Osaka station - our first taste of Okonomiyaki
** Lunch in Osaka station - our first taste of Okonomiyaki.
** Buy bentos for train
** Buy bentos for train.
** Train towards Fujiyama for most of the afternoon, and then a bus to K's House.
** Train towards Fujiyama for most of the afternoon, and then a bus to K's House.  Most people don't eat their bentos until after we arrive.
** Both K's House and the bar around the corner turn out to be full of gaijin.
** Both K's House and the bar around the corner turn out to be full of gaijin.
* Thu 22nd:
* Thu 22nd:
** Train to Fujikyu Highlands almost in time for opening. Some consternation over dropping off bags.
** Train to Fujikyu Highlands almost in time for opening. Some consternation over dropping off bags.
** Rather large lunch at Fujikyu. The Q in its name turns out to be appropriate & not much gets done in the afternoon.
** Diverse lunches at Fujikyu. The Q in its name turns out to be appropriate & not much gets done in the afternoon.
** Leave just in time for the train to Tokyo.
** Leave just in time for the train to Tokyo.
** What did we do for dinner? Was that the restaurant with the buzzers?
** Restaurant with the buzzers as recommended by the hostel keeper.  John discovers the pit beneath the table the hard way.
* Fri 23rd:
* Fri 23rd:
** Get up unsure of what to do. Decide to see kabuki.
** Get up unsure of what to do. Decide to see kabuki.
** Route march through the government building district to Tokyo Towers. Glimpse it as we rush past to the National Theatre.
** Route march through the government building district to Tokyo Tower.
** Kabuki continues forever and ever
** Breakfast at a trendy café with plastic-wrapped cake.
** Wander around Shinjuku in the evening. Take forever to find dinner
** Glimpse tower as we rush past to the National Theatre.
** Dan hits the gay bars. Lmm goes to the cinema, sees the Eureka Seven film.
** See http://www.kabuki21.com/kumagai.php. Lunch during the first interval. Dan had croquette sandwiches. Kabuki continues forever and ever.
** Wander around Shinjuku in the evening. Take forever to find the worst of most worlds in a fondue place for dinner.
** Dan hits the gay bars, namely Advocates, and then gets taken on to Dragon, which has gaijin barmen in undies.
** Lmm goes to the cinema, sees the Eureka Seven film.
** Everyone else goes back to the hostel and Emma builds an unassailable lead in the Königsrufen averages for the trip.
* Sat 24th:
* Sat 24th:
** Go to the anime fair. It turns out not to actually contain much
** Breakfast takeaway from Mister Donut.
** Lmm sees the awesome pretty cure stage show. Everyone else discovers the maritime museum to be closed
** Go to the anime fair. It turns out not to actually contain much.
** Science museum. Asimo walks a bit
** Lmm sees the awesome Pretty Cure stage show. Everyone else discovers the maritime museum to be closed.
** Evening trip to Akihabara, I think?
** Science museum. Asimo walks a bit. Send messages with a working model of Internet. Varied physicist simulations.
** Pay museum prices for a buffet lunch, which we are determined to get our money's worth of.
** Take in a disappointing anime in the museum's planetarium.
** Evening trip to Akihabara. Much consternation as we keep getting split up.
** Dinner at a Chinese place, with greater-than-usual linguistic hurdles and multiple erroneous drinks orders.
** Mickey, Dan, Phil, and Emma go to the local onsen, round the corner from the ryokan.
*** Average age is lower than Dan expects.
*** The "electric bath" feels like having pins and needles where one should not have pins and needles.
*** Mickey rediscovers Galileo's Principle by getting in and out of the electric bath very quickly.
* Sun 25th:
* Sun 25th:
** Laundry in the morning
** John is ill and stays in bed.
** Laundry in the morning.
** John breakfasts alone at Mister Donut again and feels a bit better.
** Wander around the temple in Asakusa. Lmm buys a suitcase.
** Wander around the temple in Asakusa. Lmm buys a suitcase.
** Head out to the suburbs for Mike's ''cafe''. It turns out to require tickets.
** Head out to the suburbs for Mike's ''café''. It turns out to require advance tickets.
** Eat okonomiyaki at a place that actually uses the hot plate
** Eat okonomiyaki at a place that actually uses the hot plate.  Phil and John accidentally order chicken gristle.
** Harajuku. Walk around the park a bit, and the fancy shops.
** Harajuku. Walk around the park a bit, and the fancy shops. Both turn out to be largely devoid of cosplayers, but there are one or two.
** Lmm and Mike head back to Akihabara. Mike insists Lmm direct him where to buy his porn. Lmm runs away as soon as possible, and finds a ''cafe''.
** Dan sees a costume show in the Evangelion shop.
** Lmm and Mike head back to Akihabara. Mike insists Lmm direct him where to buy his porn. Lmm runs away as soon as possible, and finds [http://filles.jp/ a ''café''].
** John goes back to bed, braving a vending machine noodle bar with apparent success.
** Other people try to see Shinjuku Gyoen, but it is already closed, so we instead see everything from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building tower.
** In the evening we meet a girl from Chicago. She and Lmm arrange to go to the fish market.
** In the evening we meet a girl from Chicago. She and Lmm arrange to go to the fish market.
* Mon 26th:
* Mon 26th:
** Lmm gets up ungodly early. The girl does not. Lmm watches some anime and goes back to sleep.
** Lmm gets up ungodly early. The girl does not. Lmm watches some anime and goes back to sleep.
** Some packing and the like in the morning. Decide we want to go to Osaka today, probably on the 15:30 or 16:30 shinkansen.
** Some packing and the like in the morning. Decide we want to go to Osaka today, probably on the 15:30 or 16:30 shinkansen.
** Breakfast in the temple district
** Turns out the drum museum around the corner is closed, but Emma buys shoes.
** Did we do anything else in the morning?
** Wander round the market stalls in the temple district, eating ice-cream and sweet bread.
** Head back to akihabara for lunch and a little last shopping
** Breakfast in a street that turns out to be full of cafés.  Dan thanks the food server effusively.
** Fail to say goodbye properly to Emma
** Head back to Akihabara for lunch and a little last shopping. Decide to split up this time and everyone has a better time.
** MELON BREAD
** Fail to say goodbye properly to Emma.
** Catch the train to Osaka as planned
** MELON BREAD, and assorted other deliciousness from the bakery in Akihabara station.
** Eat at a cafe in Osaka station. Everyone has carbonara. Exciting frozen drinks.
** Catch the train to Osaka as planned.
** Eat at a café in Osaka station. Everyone but Dan has carbonara. Exciting frozen drinks.
** Discover we have 18 beds between the six of us at the Smile Hotel.
* Tue 27th:
* Tue 27th:
** Early plane to Yakushima
** Breakfast at the Smile Hotel.
** Discover no-one can drive
** Early plane to Yakushima.
** Discover no-one has the ryokan's address
** Discover no-one can drive.
** Get bus passes, and bus, and eventually get to ryokan
** Discover no-one has the ryokan's address.
** Go to Senpiro's waterfall. Walk down the mountain
** Get bus passes, and bus, and eventually get to ryokan.
** Onsen
** Go to Senpiro's waterfall. Some photography. Walk down the mountain talking loudly about twenty questions.
** Exceedingly traditional japanese dinner at the guesthouse
** Onsen.
** Exceedingly traditional Japanese dinner at the ryokan.
* Wed 28th:
* Wed 28th:
** Traditional Japanese breakfast at the guesthouse
** Traditional Japanese breakfast at the ryokan.
** By bus to the place of trees
** By bus to Shiragani Unsuikyo.
** 5 hours of hiking
** 5 hours of hiking, eating snacks along the way which roughly constitute lunch.
** Bus back, booking jetfoil on the way
** Climb a mountain for http://hpmor.com/chapter/81.
** Dinner at the restaurant opposite the guesthouse
** Bus back, booking jetfoil on the way. Also a little souvenir shopping just outside Miyanoura.
** Dinner at the restaurant opposite the ryokan.
* Thur 29th:
* Thur 29th:
** Traditional Japanese breakfast
** Traditional Japanese breakfast
** Catch the jetfoil
** Bus to Miyanoura and catch the jetfoil. A little more souvenir shopping at the ferry terminal.
** Lunch at the Steak & Hamburg in Kagoshima
** Lunch at the Steak & Hamburg in Kagoshima.
** Train it up to Fukuoka
** Train it up to Fukuoka.
** Check into hotel, then visit canal city
** Check into hotel, then visit Canal City.
** Watch a dude with some impressive diabolo skillz
** Watch a dude with some impressive diabolo skillz.
** Watch a japanese schoolgirl acquire chocolate
** Dan nearly buys a watch.
** Back to the hotel as the shops shut
** Everyone else watches a japanese schoolgirl acquire a few dozen bars of chocolate for at least 6000円.
** Mickey acquires two figurines for 2500円
** Dinner at our third okonomiyaki place where the hotplate sees extensive use and melon soda is discovered to be better than reports suggested (not hard).
** Back to the hotel as the shops shut.
* Fri 30th:
* Fri 30th:
** Morning shinkansen
** Morning shinkansen.
** Gets us to Hiroshima at some point
** Gets us to Hiroshima at some point.
** Visit the memorial and museum
** Visit the memorial and museum.
** Late lunch in this underground place, with bartering and cocktails
** John buys a suitcase.
** Lmm runs off to catch the pretty cure all stars movie
** Late lunch in this underground place, with bartering (between ourselves) and cocktails. John discovers there may in fact be drinks worth paying money for.
** Evening karaoke
** Lmm runs off to catch the pretty cure all stars movie.
** Fail to find a mahjong club for 3
** Evening karaoke. Ben orders much sake, which is worth it as it arrives in traditional bottles with the little ceramic cups.
** A little drinking at a bar. Ben orders much plum wine
** Dinner is snacks in the karaoke place followed by cakes from the exciting cake shop nearby.
** Fail to find a mahjong club for 3.
** A little drinking at a bar. Ben orders much plum wine. John is almost tempted into alcoholism.
* Sat 31st:
* Sat 31st:
** Himeji on the way, but only for an hour or so
** Himeji on the way, but only for an hour or so.
** Back to the ryokan
** Back to the ryokan.
** Dinner in that place on the 4th floor near the ryokan, I think
** Dinner in that place on the 4th floor near the ryokan, (with the buzzers).
** Back to Akihabara one last time
** Back to Akihabara one last time. John succumbs to temptation and joins the figurine crowd.
** John and Lmm have a protracted and entirely superfluous negotiation over exchange of mass and volume in suitcases.
** Dan sees Kappabashi Kitchenware Town Street when it is closed.
** Dan goes on to a ''club'' in Asakusa (in the temple district, near the amusement park).
* Sun 1st:
* Sun 1st:
** All but Ben and Lmm fly home in the morning
** All but Ben and Lmm fly home in the morning.
** Fertility festival in Kawasaki. It is full of american tourists, and we can't get any lollies
*** Breakfast in a café in the airport, after a lot of looking for the best option and finding they are all much the same.
* Fertility festival in Kawasaki. It is full of American tourists, and we can't get any lollies.
** Early lunch at a traditional japanese noodle bar. We watch some baseball.
** Early lunch at a traditional japanese noodle bar. We watch some baseball.
** Watch the parade. Haha, penis.
** Watch the parade. Haha, penis.
** Ben heads to book his ferry ticket
** Ben heads to book his ferry ticket.
** Lmm makes a brief ticket to Akihabara, locates (but does not enter, as it is not yet open) the infamous LittleBSD cafe, then goes to Shinjuku and watches the Strike Witches movie.
** Lmm makes a brief ticket to Akihabara, locates (but does not enter, as it is not yet open) the infamous LittleBSD ''café'', then goes to Shinjuku and watches the Strike Witches movie.