There was no rush to get up this morning. We had no real plans for our last day, so spent the first bit fully packing our bags which we would leave at the hotel for most of the day. Having stashed them at reception, we headed out into Tokyo for the last time. Another lovely day, about 18 degrees and the sun shining.
We headed towards the temple area near us, looking in all kinds of shops on the way. The secondhand kimono shops continue to astound us. Anything down to $10, and some even down to $5 despite some being brand new with the cotton that keeps them in shape while on display still in them.
Our hotel was in Asakusa, an area with a fantastic road of kitchen shops. We spent quite some time looking in them, not to buy but just because they were fascinating. The speciality is amazing. There's shops for brushes, for biscuit or food moulds, for menus, for banners, for restaurant tables and so on.
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| Store fronts (closed because of the Golden Week holiday) decorated with ukiyo-e paintings |
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| These bikes all appear to have yellow stickers attached - parking coupons? Virtually all of the bikes have high handlebars and are older style and used for slow riding along the footpaths |
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| Store stocking all types of signage for setting up a business |
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| Kitchenware store |
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| Kitchen knives, incredibly fierce looking and expensive, left for whales, right for tuna |
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| More signage |
Around midday we felt the need for our last Tokyo meal, and chose to wait for ramen at a little place that seemed popular. We were a little restricted in our choice due to our dwindling cash supplies, as we didn't want to use an ATM again, but had a good ramen each.
We finally ran out of steam around 3pm, so decided to head off early to the airport, and spend any extra time there just relaxing. Retraced our steps to the hotel, collected our packs and walked to the train station. An hour and half on the train, it was our last chance for people watching. There were large numbers of school children (some clearly live quite a distance from their chosen school), typically carrying very large and heavy school backpacks. They all looked very smart in their uniforms, which are usually in naval cadet style. These are apparently modelled on scaled-down sailor suits worn by children from royal European families in the Meiji period. This style has therefore remained virtually unchanged since the mid-1800s.
Arriving at the airport with plenty of time to spare we used the last of our money on our last meal in Japan - a udon noodle ramen, and the very last few coins on a can of cold Asahi beer. Both seemed a very fitting way to say sayonara to Japan.
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| Our last ramen |
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| Farewell to Japan (and yes, we both need haircuts) |
We have very much enjoyed our trip here, and are sad to be leaving. After spending a total of 9 weeks here (5 in 2019 and 4 this year) we feel as though we've got a pretty good feel for the country. And, after walking an average 15km every day for the last 30 odd days, we think we've covered a fair amount of territory.
Our flight left on time at 9.25pm, and a tasty dinner was served a few hours. We then tried to sleep but neither of us succeeded very well.
