Tokyo is big and brassy and has lots of shopping areas most famous of which is Ginza, with its classy department stores. There are huge shopping areas around the large train stations - these include Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro and Akihabara - the great shopping place for all things electrical.

At Tokyo, we had dinner with Takeshi, Keiko and their lovely daughters Aya and Sae at their home.


We also had lunch with Masumi at Ginza Isomura, a restaurant specialising in Kushiage - all varieties of meat and vegetables deep fried on bamboo skewers.


We visited the newly opened Ghibli Museum, the showplace for Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of many famous animation movies including Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away.


Shin-Yokohama has a unique Raumen (noodles) museum. We went to the museum for dinner with our friend, Ayako. We tried two different stalls and our vote goes to the Sapporo (Hokkaido) style.

Akihabara - for all things electrical and the latest gadgets...


Yokohama - a modern city and port


At Shin-Yokohama Station - a shop using a vintage car for its display. Note NSW (Australia) number plate on car.

The Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum introduces interesting features of raumen noodles in a replica of an old downtown. It features many raumen stalls specially invited from all over Japan so that you can try raumen dishes from different regions.