1. The banking system in Japan is antiquated. The only ATMs which accept foreign cards are those in 7-Elevens and post offices. The latter are closed in the evening and at weekends. If you forget to withdraw cash on a Friday, you will have a tedious hike around town in the pouring rain looking for a 7-Eleven so you can pay your hotel bill. The hotel of course only accepts cash.
2. Planetarium type shows in scarily intellectual Tokyo science museums are a great place for a sneaky nap.
3. The Japanese take Disneyland VERY seriously. Never have I seen so many grown people dressed like Minnie Mouse.
4. Since we have been away, restaurant menus have become perplexingly complicated with sections called small plates, intermediate plates, big plates and so on. Makes ordering confusing.
5. You can get alcoholic ginger beer. I wonder if Enid Blyton would approve?
6. When all the magazines and newspapers are in your own language, there’s more to read than you can possibly manage. After months of word deprivation, it’s lovely.
Welcome home *grins happily*
Wow! You guys are back, 9 months over. Wow! That went really fast.
I thought Japan was technologically super advanced!
wow, well done, i’ve been following your adventures on a daily bases and enjoyed it very much. welcome back home.
we’re about to start our travel adventure in november and it’s a very stressful period for us, arranging everything, selling car, deciding should we rent our house…
too many things to do and take care of.
best
Have just discovered alcoholic ginger beer – fairly sure Enid Blyton wouldn’t approve but it is very yummy
And welcome back!