What I Learned

 My trip was really good. I think just getting away from this house and the day-to-day problems and situations was good for me.

I learned a lot about the history of the area and the people there. Having someone who could translate really makes a big difference; there are some English signs and information, but of course, the Japanese has a lot more detail. At two museums, there was information about two different poets that I want to check out. The history of the area is rather fascinating. I'm hoping that I can find more information on that area. This is part of my study. I want to keep learning as I think it helps my brain!

Another thing I learned about was travelling in Japan. This is only the second time I've travelled in Japan. I had a budget for the trip, Hannah paid for the hotels, I paid for the food and museum tickets. Most of the museums were 400 or 500 yen each, so not that expensive. I thought about buying a ticket online that would give us access to 5 places for one price, but I realised that we wouldn't have time to visit all the places on that ticket, plus it wasn't that much cheaper. If we had visited all the places listed, it would have been just 100 yen more than the one ticket. A good lesson learnt, sometimes things that look cheaper aren't! Another thing was the cost of food. We got breakfast and dinner from the convenience stores, and for lunch, we ate out. It still cost a lot more than I thought. One thing I'll have to consider when we go to Tokyo later this year. 

Using the parcel courier service was a good decision. It cost about 5,000 yen altogether, about £24, but so worth it. The buses we used were packed, plus the step up and down were rather high. I know I couldn't have lifted the suitcase; Hannah might have been able to, but it would have been a struggle. I'm going to use that service when we go to Tokyo, not having a suitcase on packed transport really helps!

I also learned a lot about my body. I'm not that fit, but I was able to push myself to walk and go to all the different places. Most days, we did over 10,000 steps. By the end of the 4 days, I thought I was going to pass out from the pain in my legs and lower back. But I made it, I do need to get more exercise in before going to Tokyo because walking there is going to be hell, not just the walking but the heat and humidity as well!

The past week I've been trying to get out into the garden, so between rain and wind storms, I've had a go at weeding and tidying up. Also, Mikey finally got rid of the old car. It's been sitting in the driveway for a year; it's good that it's gone!

Today, Mikey and David managed to tidy up the front part of the storage area. I took a little video, ignore Mikey swearing at me! I do!

A few photos from last week. On the way to the supermarket, we went past a temple that had beautiful cherry blossoms and carp streamers out!

Very beautiful, but I think with the storms we've had the past few days, most have blown down already.

I've been trying to write this for the past couple of hours, but I keep getting interrupted. I'll try to post again tomorrow!

Mojiko And Shimonoseki Trip Part Eight

 I can't believe it's taken eight posts to write about a four-day trip. 

One more museum and Shinomoseki Station.

The next museum was the Yamaguchi Bank Museum. Downstairs was the original bank area, with the old teller windows.

Outside of the bank

Why were there cows heads on the building?

The outside was really beautiful and very Western in its architecture.

The old teller counter

The vaults, why was one so high?

The second floor had the history of the bank, money and a little bit about Yamaguchi. We couldn't take photos in there.

After that, we went up to the roof garden. Again, beautiful views of the Strait and the ships passing by.

I took a few photos.

Hannah watching the sea!

We decided to get the bus to Shinomoseki station after this. 

The bus was really packed, I was so happy that we didn't have our suitcase with us, as I think it would be hard to get on and off this bus!

Welcome to Shinomoseki

The shopping mall next to the station.

We had a couple of hours before we had to get the train, so we had a look around the mall.  

We found a Daiso store, the 100 yen store. Part of the store had the Threeppy store inside. Threepy is part of the Daiso group of stores, three refers to the fact that goods start at 300 yen, about £2, ppy stands for happy. There were so many lovely things there.

We bought a few things! I know I'm in my 60s, but I'm still a sucker for cute goods. I only bought myself one thing, a lovely notebook! Hannah got a makeup bag and a pen case.

This is what we bought.

This was the display, Hannah had to drag me away from it!

We had a little wander around. Nice mall, but not a lot of information maps, we got lost a bit!

We decided to have a little bit of lunch; neither of us was really hungry, but I know that if I don't eat something regularly, I get lightheaded. The train journey was over 2 hours, I didn't want to get dizzy on the train!

We went to Saizeriya for lunch. It's an Italian chain restaurant. It was very busy and noisy, but alright! We shared a pizza and some hash potatoes. Hannah got dessert, tiramisu.

Lunch

We then made our way to the station.

Where you go to get the platforms, there were signs indicating which trains were bound for Kyushu. That felt a bit strange.

There were orange trains, near us, the trains are red!

We had to change at Kokura. The station there was massive, there's also a castle and a manga museum. I'd love to go for a day trip!

Near Kokura station, looks like a shrine on the roof.

After Kokura, we had a long ride, about 2 hours! But we got back alright, and Mikey picked us up from the station.

A couple of little videos from the train.

I really enjoyed this trip, but it was hard on me, I ached all over when I got home!

Tomorrow I'll explain what I learned on this trip and a little catch-up on what's been happening this past week!

Mojiko And Shinomoseki Trip Part Seven

 This has turned into a saga!

I hope I'm not boring everyone!

After the shrine, we got the bus to the area near the hotel.

We had a 2 oclock reservation for afternoon tea at the Former British Consulate.

Hannah wanted to eat takoyaki, which are ball-shaped snacks made of a flour-based dough cooked in a special mould, with tako, octopus, filling. She found a store that sells them at the wharf next to the hotel.

We had a wander around the wharf, bought the takoyaki and sat facing the sea to eat them.

You can see Mojiko on the opposite side. Here you can see a lot of ships going through the Strait.

Entrance to the wharf

Takoyaki

With the mascot of the area

The view from upstairs.

After that, it was almost time for afternoon tea. The tea shop is upstairs, downstairs is a little museum.

The Former British Consulate.

The street next to the Former British Consulate

The Union Jack and Peter Rabbit.

The museum was free to enter. Rather small but interesting.

Portrait of The Queen

The consul-general's desk.

Cute teapot

Peter Rabbit's family and friends, Peter's father is a pie!

I was surprised to find a portrait of  The Queen and the chair with the inscription ER on it, as the consulate closed in 1940!

We went upstairs to the tea room, very nicely laid out, lovely quiet feeling.

The little room off the main room where we had our tea.

The view.

A tea cosy over the teapot.

The cakes to go with the tea.

Of course, scones!

And other cakes.

We spent about an hour there, just eating and talking! It was really nice. Even though it didn't look like much, we were stuffed after.

On the way out, I saw this, the first time in Japan to see the toilets referred to as WC.

After we had finished, it was time to check into our hotel for the night.

Our hotel for the last night.

I didn't take any photos of the room!

We rested for a while, then went for a walk to see a London Bus that has become a popular photo place.

London Bus

We also saw some lovely manholes.

Pokemon manhole

We had an early night. We were both exhausted, just one more day left, and we wanted to make the most of it!

We had breakfast at the hotel on the last day. We ordered the Japanese Set Breakfast.

The view from the hotel restaurant

Japanese Set Breakfast.

The breakfast was very filling!

There was fish cooked in mirin, a type of sweet sake that is used in cooking, Japanese rolled omelette. On the dish with the squares were a variety of different dishes. Hokkaido potato salad with mentaiko, a type of fish roe, spinach with a sesame dressing and whale flakes, fugu, pufferfish, which is very popular in this area, deep fried tofu with mushroom sauce and a few other things that I forgot to write down. Even though it doesn't look like a lot, it was very filling!

Just as we got back to our room, our suitcase arrived. We changed and got ready for our last day!

At checkout, we asked to send our suitcase home. We paid COD for that, as I wasn't sure if we had enough money left!

Across the road from the hotel was a building that Hannah wanted to check out. The building was the Former Akita Shokai Building, which was an office and residence for Akita Shokai. The building was completed in 1915 and blends Japanese and Western architectural styles. The building features a tower rising from the roof and a traditional Japanese garden and teahouse on the roof. Unfortunately, the teahouse was closed as the heavy rains had made the roof unstable.

Former Akita Shokai building.

You can just glimpse the garden on the roof.

On the way to the building, we passed these cute post boxes.

Cute.

Inside the building was a museum of how people, especially those with money, lived.

Lunch box

The silver thing was a washing machine.

A famous Japanese poet

The camera that was used to take the photo.

Hannah said that this poet was in the school textbooks. The photo was the last one taken of her. It was taken the day before she died, at just 26 years old.

I really thought I could finish today, but there are still a few things to write about but I'm making too many mistakes now!

One more post, plus a catch-up on the past week!