My mum came back to Japan, for the second time, with my aunty Chris, her older sister. My dad was quite clear on the fact that he wasn't prepared to eat any more raw fish, drink green tea, and most importantly spend half a day inside an airplane. Whilst mum said she was coming over more to see me, than Japan. My aunty Chris was both equally looking forward to seeing me, and quite excited and quite nervous as to what Japan would have in store for her. (Mum was obviously a seasoned Japanophile by then).
I met them in Tokyo, and we arrived just in time to see the cherry blossoms in Tokyo in full bloom. We were all so lucky as it made Tokyo so much more charming! The weather had been perfect while the blossoms were blooming around the Kanto(Tokyo) area, so they were probably in very good condition this year. I told my mum and aunty Chris to bring some warm clothes because usually at that time the weather is still quite chilly, especially in Yamagata. But they were so lucky! Pretty much throughout the entire time they were in Japan, the weather was glorious.
We spent a few days in Tokyo, and did all the things you're supposed to do in Tokyo (my goodness I know that city well now), we went to Sensouji Temple, and a found a MASSIVE pair of reed sandals that were reportedly from Murayama City - in Yamagata hanging on one of the large gates of the temple.
We visited Rokugi-garden, a traditional Japanese garden which both my guests really enjoyed, went on a boat ride along the Sumida river, and went on an illuminated Ferris Wheel at night. I can't really say that boat ride is the one of the nicest boat rides you can go on, but particularly whilst the Blossoms were in bloom, it was nice to see them glittering in the sun in rows along the river.
We also went to Kawagoe, which is a little way out of Tokyo, but was a charming little historically-mainted town. I'd been to Kawagoe before when I went to visit a friend, but being able to speak more of the language and read more meant I could get a bit more out of the place this time. We tried to walk a bit further up to see 'a castle' that the map was advertising, only to be extremely disappointed that it was 'under repair'. Not wanting to wasted a second waiting for buses and such, as soon as we realised the castle was VOID, I quickly noticed a bus coming our way, and then noticed that the bus stop was a little back behind us. Shouting 'A BUS IS COMING, RUN!' to my bewildered dear mum and aunt, I legged it for the bus. It was a small old fashioned looking 'tourist-route' bus with a group of old ladies sitting at the back, and two gentlemen.
Luckily the bus stopped for me, and I ran on with eyes that said more than I could have said in such a short space of time which was basically 'Please mr bus driver, don't drive off without my dear mum and aunty, leaving them stranded in a country where all they can say is 'Hello' and 'Thank you' and even then they get those confused sometimes'). I made a bit of joke to the old ladies who were chuckling at me being out of breath, cheering to my mum and aunt in Japanese 'Come on! Run Run!'). Always the charmer in any language, once my mum and aunt had successfully made it on to the bus, we were off, and the old ladies seemed rather excited that I could speak Japanese to them. We chatted about alsorts and they told me with fervour about where they had come from, and where they had been that day. Rather unusually for Japanese people - because I spoke Japanese they seemed to assume I could read Japanese fluent, thrusting me copies of their Japanese brochures on the temples they visited (which always have incredibly rare and unusual chinese characters and words).
That bus journey was so fun - perhaps because of the size of the bus, there was a rather cheerful and bustling atmosphere aboard. Everyone got off the bus smiling and glowing - and I thought I even saw a little smile from the bus driver too. Afterwards, my mum and aunt asked me why the people on the bus were so interested and eager to talk to you. Not trying to sound special or anything, I guess for them it was a nice opportunity to speak to someone they could understand, and learn some first hand experience of what a foreigner thought of their country, and get a first hand impression of my own country. True internationalization at its best eh? I'm going to find it slightly hard to give up the ol' ambassador role (An honour from the Queen here I come!!!!)
Our last night was spent on the top floor of the New York Bar, listening to some top class Jazz, and sipping on some good drinks in a classy environment - they'd a good variety of what Tokyo had to offer. Next it was time for the REAL japan experience.
