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We left Kyoto this morning and have arrived back in Tokyo. The shinkansen was bumpier than I expected, but managed not to spill my bento box lunch. Took a snap of Tokyo station. Not sure we saw the outside of it on our last visit. We're staying at the Mercure Hibiya (another deal I got through...

No we didn't. Should we have? I'm not a coffee drinker so Starbucks isn't on my radar, I just liked how they'd styled it to fit in with the street.

What's that? More temples and autumn leaves? Yes please! Another day in Kyoto, another day where my feet feel like they're falling off. Worth it though. We were stopped a couple of times by students practicing their English. One asked what my favourite animal was and giggled when I said cows...

We have been doing a LOT of walking. But like you say, the walks are quite enjoyable.

More temples and more beautiful maple trees with wonderful colours. And wonderful tourists to share the beauty with... Haha. Can't complain really, we're all doing the same thing. We started at Shinnyodo temple, then wandered down the Philosopher's Path to Eikando temple and Nanzen-ji. And yes...

A short update while we wait for our shabu shabu broth to warm up... I forgot how crowded and uncomfortable Kyoto buses can be. Kyoto clearly has it in for me, I had to go hunt for some hayfever meds. Fingers crossed they kick in tomorrow once I've had a couple more. But the maple trees and...

We left Osaka for Kyoto today and checked out some temples and gorgeous autumn colours. First one was Sanjūsangendō Temple which houses 1000 statues of Buddha. We couldn't take photos inside, but I found an image online, it was just amazing. Each Buddha has a different name and slightly...

Today was Universal Studios. We really wanted to see Nintendo World, with the Wizarding World a close second. I wasn't as excited about the latter, despite being a big HP fan, but we'd been before in Orlando. We got up early as I'd read that they open the gates early sometimes and we wanted to...

I think I'm a day behind. So yesterday we explored a bit more of Kanazawa, by visiting the Higashi Chaya district. It was really cool seeing the older buildings. We also visited the gold leaf museum which was quite interesting. We then popped over to see the Nomura residence, an older style...

More pics from today! The last one is the station. Looked really cool lit up.

This morning we left Nagano for Kanazawa, and the Dormy Inn is right by the station so we were able to drop our bags off easily. We then found the loop bus stop to head over to the Nishi-Chaya district. We wanted to see the weapons museum. The loop bus was great, it uses IC cards so we could...

Our visit to the snow monkey park was amazing! The guide spun a tale about how back in the day the monkeys were a nuisance to an onsen so they funnelled hot spring water into the mountains so the monkeys could bathe away from the onsen for humans. I don't know if that's true, but it's a good...

Yes, I guess I'm being kind. But it's clean at least? Definitely agree on the air con, it only seems to blow hot air, but our window doesn't open so that didn't help us. I've stayed in worse places so maybe my sense of terrible is skewed. I'm likely to choose a different hotel if I ever came...

Realised I forgot to mention our hotel for Nagano. I did look for Dormy Inn, but given the fireworks festival, it was understandably booked out. So instead I found Hotel Abest Naganoekimae. It's literally across the road from the station and there's a Family Mart downstairs. It's a bit (a lot?)...

The lighting inside wasn't the greatest but I adjusted the photo to give the colours a bit more oomph so you can tell what they are. There was also a messenger bag option.

And the first proper autumn colours for the trip!

We left Ikebukuro early this morning to make it to Tokyo station with enough time to find the JR East ticket booth to collect our shinkansen tickets. Mission accomplished, we grabbed a quick bite for breakfast then found our platform. I spotted Mt Fuji from the train as we left the city! It was...

Another huge day, my feet are certainly telling me so. We started in Shibuya, ticking off the Nintendo store. I was sorely tempted by a Luigi bag, but I don't need more bags! We crossed at the scramble, saw Hachiko as we exited the station (we got a proper photo on our last trip). On our...

Oh, another thing Dormy Inn does which we're enjoying is the complimentary things. Such as a Yakult drink in the morning, some sports drinks/juice in the baths, ice cream/blocks after you've had a bath, ramen in the evening. There's even washing machines you can use for free (dryer is 500yen I...

We spent the day wandering through Ikebukuro, looking at shops, trying yummy foods, finding interesting vending machines, and watching people play crane and arcade games. Essentially, just revelling in all things Tokyo.