On Thursday 19th September 3 friends from the UK arrived in Japan: Del, Colin and Jenny. It wasn't a good start - Del missed his plane having only left East London 2 hours before his flight was due to take off and the Heathrow train was delayed for 30 minutes, Silly boy! Luckly for him BA have 2 flights to Japan per day so he got the next flight in 2 hours, all other carriers dirrect to Japan have only one flight per day, Luckly boy!
They all arrived safely albeit a little late and due to not following the detailed direction and map to my apartment. After a bit of a rest we went to the local Okanomiyaki restaurant.
Friday we headed off to Fuji-Q Highland. I've meanted this in previous report, it is a theme park at the base of Mt.Fuji and has beautiful views on a nice day. Unfortunately for us at about 1pm it started raining so they closed all the big rides, boo! We did manage to get in one big ride before the rain and kept ourselves amused on the other rides. We traveled by a rental Nissan Skyline 250GT and with exception for the very Japanese AT gearbox it was an awesome car, should give Merc and BMW a good run for their money when Nissan introduces Infinity to West Europe.
Saturday 20th was a highlight of their trip for me as we went to watch Sumo. We arrived at about 1:30pm and it wasn't so busy as early in the day it is the small fry. By late afternoon it was very busy and there was a really good atmosphere. There were many matches and some of them were a bit boring or over too quick. However some were really gripping and exciting, particularly when the crowd got excited. I am were glad I finally got to experience this - last time I was in Japan my first atempt I was ill so couldn't go and second time all the tickets had sold out.
Afterwards we walked to Asakusa, then got various metro trains to Shinjuku and ate in a restaurant on the 8th floor of Odakyu department store. Was a little expensive and portions were small but to taste was awesome - one of the best steaks I've had. After that is was back to Hon-Atsugi and onto a little karaoke. Planned to go for only a hour or 2 but ended up staying for 3 hours. The problem always is people are initially shy but as you get into it it is great fun and you don't want to leave!
Sunday we got up very late and headed into Machida, nothing particularly interesting.
They all arrived safely albeit a little late and due to not following the detailed direction and map to my apartment. After a bit of a rest we went to the local Okanomiyaki restaurant.
Friday we headed off to Fuji-Q Highland. I've meanted this in previous report, it is a theme park at the base of Mt.Fuji and has beautiful views on a nice day. Unfortunately for us at about 1pm it started raining so they closed all the big rides, boo! We did manage to get in one big ride before the rain and kept ourselves amused on the other rides. We traveled by a rental Nissan Skyline 250GT and with exception for the very Japanese AT gearbox it was an awesome car, should give Merc and BMW a good run for their money when Nissan introduces Infinity to West Europe.
Saturday 20th was a highlight of their trip for me as we went to watch Sumo. We arrived at about 1:30pm and it wasn't so busy as early in the day it is the small fry. By late afternoon it was very busy and there was a really good atmosphere. There were many matches and some of them were a bit boring or over too quick. However some were really gripping and exciting, particularly when the crowd got excited. I am were glad I finally got to experience this - last time I was in Japan my first atempt I was ill so couldn't go and second time all the tickets had sold out.
Afterwards we walked to Asakusa, then got various metro trains to Shinjuku and ate in a restaurant on the 8th floor of Odakyu department store. Was a little expensive and portions were small but to taste was awesome - one of the best steaks I've had. After that is was back to Hon-Atsugi and onto a little karaoke. Planned to go for only a hour or 2 but ended up staying for 3 hours. The problem always is people are initially shy but as you get into it it is great fun and you don't want to leave!
Sunday we got up very late and headed into Machida, nothing particularly interesting.
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