Ueno Zoo, Tokyo

Ah, lunch. Luvverly!

Subuya Crossing

Back in Tokyo, which seems much busier by comparison after Kyoto. By popular request we had to revisit the Pokemon Center, followed by a mooch around the downtown district. Lots of neon, careering cyclists, and people. Subuya crossing (not done justice by the pic above, which only shows 3 of the 8 crossings) is reputably one of the busiest in the world.
By far the noisist and brightest sights are the Pachinko centres, huge buildings full of people playing a strange slot-machine like game, using small silver balls instead of coins to get around gambling laws. We watched for ages trying to figure out the aim of the game, and are still none the wiser.
Boys v. happy after we found a Sega Centre, with 8 floors of video games.

Pampered pets

We're starting to see glimpses of surrealness now. Found a shop dedicated to dog clothes. It included wooly hats, spiderman costumes, Lee jeans and lumberjack shirts, and even a traditional doggy kimono!
We've seen dogs being carried in baby slings, pushed in prams, and Kim spotted a women in the park feeding her dog with chopsticks (in between her own mouthfuls. Eurgh).

Skype

We're loving Skype: calls from Japan to UK landlines for 1p per minute!? Especially as LloydsTSB have a stoopid automated fraud protection thingy that automatically blocks my cards if they're used abroad.
And the most useful non-communication feature of the iPhone so far has been the built-in compass (I'd mistakenly assumed it needed a phone or wi-fi connection to work, but no). Kim has now taken on the role of map-reader.

Nara

Well the typhoon passed by uneventfully (which was a bit disappointing) and we've had mostly sunshine since. Spent two days exploring more of Kyoto, which is a very chilled city. Went to the mountains outside Kyoto yesterday to visit a monkey sanctuary where the monkeys roam free around you. If you want to feed them you have to go inside a hut, where the monkeys are free and you're the ones behind bars.
Today we were in Nara, at the world's largest wooden building which housed one of the world's largest bronze statues (Buddha). The surrounding park had deer (considered messengers of the Gods) roaming free, and more feeding opportunities.
We're still waiting for the 'surreal' Japan experience we were warned about. So far everything's been fairly easy and relatively familiar. Train and road signs are subtitled in English, and we've not eaten anything too odd yet (Kim and I braved the raw octopus in a food hall and I've discovered a liking for eel). They even drive on the left.
Ee tiki mas!

Kyoto

After a few days in Tokyo the jetlag is wearing off. We took a Bullet train to Kyoto (Ned got upset because the scenery didn't blur enough!) and have walked straight into a Typhoon warning. It's due tomorrow morning and Kyoto is going to be the epicentre. Can't decide if it'll be scary or an adventure - either way Annie's banned me from going out.
Whereas Tokyo was a city in a familiar sense, Kyoto has retained much more of the traditional feel, with lots of women in kimono's and streets of old wooden houses. Walked around today and explored a few of the many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.
It's rained a fair bit, but is still warm and we've bought umbrellas each (very Japanese). Wi-fi is still hard to find (surprisingly) but I've managed to track one down to an Irish bar here.....

Tokyo

Made the flight by the skin of our teeth, having been up all night packing the flat up. Found a hotel ok, with traditional style rattan mats and futon beds. Boys not sure about the communal naked hot tub, but after a long flight I welcomed it.
Tokyo isn't as busy as we expected and seems very calm. For a techno-nation wifi access is hard to find, am sending this from the Apple Store. Haven't seen too much yet, only 2nd day. Proper 'touristing' starts tomorrow.