Moving on this morning from our fab Ryokan in Kanazawa (pronounced 'can-at-zah-wah')...met a few fellow travellers therein; one young woman from Ukraine who has been here for 3 years ... her mum was over visiting for the first time in those years, and an English man ...the first we have met and spoken to.
Bus to the station and an hour and 15 minute journey, on a local train ... the train seats reverse here ... just swing over ... the back that is... grab the yellow handle and shove...amazing .. saves turning the train around and most people can sit facing forward. Wow! so simple.
We arrived in Toyoma ...we expected it to be colder...being a little further north but it is suddenly 19 °C although pretty windy ... over dressed. We are close to the mountains now so looking forward to train rides in mountain gorges and the famed 'Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route'. More of this as it happens.
Have a look at the fish waiting outside this station restaurant.
Today is washing day and sorting out luggage forwarding services so we are not encumbered on the above route and perhaps some nice seafood as we are close to the coast and good fishing ... no we'll leave that to the professionals.
We did visit a glass museum, the internal architecture of which was stunning and the glass sculptures on the top floor by an American artist called Dale Chilhuly were great, the glass the colour of bright, tropical fish, vibrant ... you might have seen some by him in Kew Gardens. 
Sweet visit to a cafe ... no choice just the one dish, curry ...delicious.
Picking up from left luggage we bussed/walked to our hotel ...small but perfectly formed ... and they are doing our laundry for free, gratis and for nothing.
Something which doesn't happen in the UK is children walking home on their own ...wherever you go (big cities too) there are children as young
as 4 or 5 on their way to or from school presumably.. it's quite a shock for us to see children walking across 6 lane intersections quite nonchalantly, with no accompanying adult ... of course the traffic is very obedient here and everybody obeys the lights without exception. Except for the odd English! (no pics ...might seem weird taking them!). ((of the children ... not the english))
While on the subject, of children, that is; I was both bemused and charmed by a child I had sat next to on the subway back in Tokyo, as I sat she pulled her coat away from my seat to allow me to sit down (it really wasn't a problem) so we turned our heads and smiled at each other.... when she alighted some stops away she turned and did a quite deep bow to me. I'm still mystified by this level of politeness, mystified and charmed.
We did an onsen and went for a great meal in a sushi restaurant ...it was fab here are some pics.
Back home...it turns out we are staying in an hotel in a 'red light district' now ...my fault I booked it ...inadvertently. More evident at night!
....oops ...sorry that's Karen by the hotel lobby door.
Anyway blog and bed
Night, night
Well I thought it was night, night ... I must say I had wondered..well we are in an earthquake zone ...when suddenly Karen's phone started buzzing loudly and an american voice said there will soon be an earthquake....the building is still wobbling as i speak ..quite unsettling. This area did have a major earthquake earlier this year, I think it was ... you can see odd bits of reconstruction in this city at ground level. Well there's a thing.
Hope this it ...
Night, night.
This featured blog entry was written by xopher from the blog Six weeks in Japan.
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