The beds on the floor were far more comfortable than we expected and despite having to wake up at 6am, we had a good sleep. 

Morning prayers were at 7am so I had time to quickly wash using the Onsen, a traditional Japanese public bathing house. You must be completely naked to use the onsen and first wash yourself in the shower before soaking in the bath. You then get out, was yourself as normal and then get back in to relax. At minus 2 degrees it was freezing outside and onsen warmed my body so much it kept me warm for a good 2 hours after. 

We then went to morning prayers where we listened to the chanting of the monks and the sound of cymbals and a singing bowl. We were invited to do a shoko by the monks where you bow and burn incense as a tribute to our ancestors and to receive the smoke which will purify us. It can possibly be compared to taking holy communion. 

After was the fire ceremony, we had to go to a different temple outside to see this. Yesterday we had written our wishes onto some sticks which in this ceremony, the monks would burn. Again they chanted the Heart sutra and the main monk burned piles of wood. It started small and then the flames began to get higher and higher. He then placed all of our wishes onto the fire and we saw them burn in the flames. After we all had time to respect the fire and to pull the smoke onto our bodies to purify ourselves. It was such a wonderfully calm and meditative experience. 

Breakfast was served after in our special dining room and I’m sad to say that it wasn’t to my taste. Seaweed, yam and miso soup for breakfast wasn’t well received but it looked amazing! I ate a few bits of rice and then unfortunately, we had to leave. It was time to catch our train back to Tokyo. 

We went along again the same way we came up, down the funicular and back on the old fashioned train line until we reached Osaka and boarded the Skinkansen back to Tokyo. 

Once we arrived back in Tokyo we quickly dropped our bags at the hotel and then headed to Shibuya. Shibuya is similar to Times Square of New York or Picadilly Circus of London but better! It is famous for its crossroads which you may have seen on TV. There are five different ways to cross and there are around 1000 people crossing at one time. I expected it to be overwhelmingly busy and pushy but it all seemed so calm and orderly. The Japanese adverts were plastered all over buildings and making a lot of noise. We went over to Starbucks to the second floor where we could get and aerial view of the people crossing. 

We then went for dinner. Tokyo is famous for its themed restaurants with varying experiences and it took us a while to chose but we finally settled on Alcatraz E.R, a medical prison themed restaurant, supposedly with zombies. All the food and drink was themed such as brain juice and blood transfusion. What we failed to realise is that these restaurants all have an element of Kawaii meaning “cute” and there is a lot of sexualisation. So there was also condom juice and sperm juice and dildo pussy juice. Not quite an experience I wanted to have with my parents, brothers and sister-in-law….. it was what we would call type 2 fun, the kind of fun you can laugh about after!! 

Half way through our drinks, all the lights turned off and there was a crazy show with weird music, screaming and hard naked people dressed up with masks running around with baseball bats. We decided it was probably best to finish our drinks and head somewhere else for dinner!! I’m glad I’ve crossed it off my bucket list but I’m probably not going to be going there again! 

We decided instead to have some normality for dinner so we went to a sushi restaurant where your food was delivered via monorail. You had to que for your seat and then you were given a card with a barcode and taken to your “table” which were in rows and looked similar to the slot machines. It reminded me a lot of Pokemon when you’re in Pokemon tower playing on the slots!! You had a screen in front of you and you were able to order anything you wanted and it would arrive on a rail in front of you! It was an incredible experience and I ate a lot until I was full and the whole thing only cost £8!! 

By the time we had finished dinner we were exhausted and it was time to head home to bed. What a strange day! Waking up in the serenity of a Buddhist holy place, to being lost in the craziness of Tokyo all in 24 hours! 

So I haven’t made much noise on this site for a long time. I suppose it has become mostly about travel and sadly there hasn’t been much of that going on my life right now. 

But that’s all about to change! I’m currently sat in Mumbai airport waiting for a flight to Goa. 

So watch this space because the first post of the trip is about to come.