Last days in Japan

After a few months delay I have finally arrived in Madrid! It was a long journey from Tokyo but I am glad that I have arrived!

Let's start at the very beginning!

My last week in Japan was great. We had Japanese New Years which is quite subdued, unlike in Australia. New Years eve we all ate a meal together and then the next morning we ate a special new years breakfast which included sake (haha), fish cakes, egg roll things, fish, chestnuts among other things. I didn't eat much though as I really don't particularly like the taste, but it's a really nice tradition to have I think. Each bit of food represents something that people need for the coming year, i think its like good health and strength etc.

A few days after New Years, my aunt, uncle, cousin and I went to Hastumode, which is the first temple visit of the New Year. Funniliy enough we never made it to Hastumode because we spent a long time at a gallery in Tokyo. At the gallery we saw traditional Japanese New Years performances (drumming and dancing etc). Another reason we didn't make it to Hastumode was because my cousin and I decided to brave the New Years sales and went to Harajuku. Let me tell you, the Japanese really know how to have a sale! Everything was so cheap! I bought so many things! 2 pairs of shoes for around $20, heaps of accessories for around $15, clothes, bags and much much more. I don't think I spent more than $100 the whole day. But be warned. If you ever go to Harajuku during New Years, be prepared to fight your way through a crowd. It was SO busy. It must have taken us over 30 minutes to get from one end of the street to the other, and it wasn't even a very long street! But it was worth it to get some bargains. My cousin and I then went to Shinjuku for dinner, where we had a really nice 3 course meal!

The next few days I just finished up my shopping. I usually went by bicycle (which just by the way is very scary! People ride into oncoming traffic, and they don't care if any cars are around) to the main shops which is about a 10 minute ride. My cousin or myself would bring cakes or some kind of sweet home to eat for afternoon tea. I also went to the post office a few times as I had to send some packages back home to Australia because I had way too much luggage.

I left Tokyo on Friday 7th January for Madrid. At the airport I couldnt stop crying because I just didnt want to leave my family. I still miss them heaps. I cried before I went though the gates and pretty much during the first 4 hours of my flight to London. By the time I reached London I was absolutely exhausted. But on a side not, can I just say that British Airways was quite good. I made sure I ordered vegetarian meals because I hate plane meat and fish. Food was flentiful and I was also lucky enough to get 3 seats to myself the whole way to London. Good stuff...

I am still sad that I'm not in Japan anymore, but luckily I'm going back at the end of the year so its all good!