Biwako Grand Hotel Otsu

... was more like a library not a museum .....very few displays, just alot of Japanese comic books.

Stopped at another Starbucks. Not sure how Jordan can drink so many Frappucinnos in one day.

Caught the bullet train back to Tokyo. Saw Mount Fuji .... unfortunately no picture as I was to far away from the window.

Got back into Tokyo at 5 pm and went straight to the hotel. Took the subway to an area called Shibuya ... the ...

... complex in the centre of Kyoto. We food a small restaurant where we had pork cutlets with cabbage, rice and miso soup. It was very tasty and delicious. After lunch Yuki headed back to Osaka to spend sometime with his family this weekend. He works in Tokyo suring the week and comes home on the weekends. We won't being seen him again on the trip. He was very kind to us and spent alot of time ...

... The statues are made with Japanese cypress. The temple hall is constructed in 1266 is about 120 metres long.

- Daigoji Sanboin - built in 1115, its garden is designated as a special historic spot and place of scenic beauty (the garden is beautiful).

All the temples and garden had beautiful trees and ponds. The trees had leaves of many vivid colours. The red and yellow leaved trees were incredible.

Kyoto, Kinki, Japan agi-al

Right, it was time to head onwards on our journey around Japan. We had already paid for our rail pass - you have to pay for it outside of Japan - so we headed to Tokyo station to get it validated and recieve our actual pass. The pass entitles us to free travel on all trains in Japan except the fastest types of bullet train so it is good value given the high cost of rail travel in Japan. Our destination was Kyoto which is 580 Km away from Tokyo to the south ...

... a real night out of going out for dinner. However, in Japan you can't really do it. Going out for dinner means seating, choosing, eating and get out (all in the space of 1hr). So we took a little time over the menu and went for the one with the quality Kobe Beef steak - I think you get 200gm which is pretty dismal for us..But what a beautiful meal and presented exquisitely (we took photo's of each course). First we had a cold soup, followed by scallops and fish, followed by ...

... banalit, ktore sa mi v tu chvilu zdali neuveritelne dolezite a kvoli ktorym som nevidel ako sa ten chlap skrabal na zadku. Momentik, len si odskocim a hned budeme pokracovat... ... Tak som zase tu. Celym tym dlhym uvodom som si len chcel pre buducnost pripomenut, ze sa mi casom vo vztahu ku Kyotu dostalo trochu nadhladu. Takze mozem s cistym svedomim vyhlasit, ze Kyoto je svojou atmosferou, vedlajsimi ulickami so starobylymi domami a ...

... a beautiful view of the mountains to one side, or the lake to the other. We arrived too early to check in, so after our free pickup from the station we decided to walk around and have some lunch. What we didn't realise is that the entire area appears to be upmarket resorts, strip joints and love hotels down to the lake! I could see that we'd have to cross a large area in order to reach residential zone which is more likely to have food either not from an expensive ...

... the really busy bladeruner part of town it was pretty sweet. it was halloween that night so i celebrated wih a few scotches before walking the streets quite drunk looking for a bar i eventually found one and partyed hard with the locals. everyone in japan is so nice and many of the young people speak english. the next day i wiped off my hang over and went to the national muesuem where they had a tokugowa (samurai) exibition very sweet. than i ...

... worst soda ever, I won't drink that rubbish". Dealing with sarcasm was a problem for James and a beady scowl greeted my repost of "The Pepsi challenge must have been a piece of **** for you then". He was in Kyoto to learn Japanese and had been here for 3 months. Emmigration is his eventual goal but the experience of a friend who married a local has warned him off any "Now you are my wife" scenarios. Apparently when you divorce a Japanese chick you have to divorce the whole ...

... portion speaking 3 or 4 languages. and everyone knows that i`m gettin the shaft by the head of the program, bein used here and there, so everyone goes out of their way to make sure i`m comfortable. the music staff is incredible. the coordinator is 39, the next oldest is 29, michelle and i are both 24, and then everyone else 21 and under. it`s such a riot to work with these people everyday. and the kids are so stinkin adorable. i had a girlfriend for the first two weeks of camp ...