Day 17 - Last Day (Tokyo)

16th February, 2003 - It was a squeezy night last night... not much room to move. But the big (sad) day has come. It's time to go home. But not before some last minute shopping in Shinjuku. I had books to buy!...Lots of books from Kinokuniya.

Actually the last day was a bit of a lost day... I'm not sure if it was tiredness or the feeling of loss that that the end had come. We didn't really have the energy to do much, and our base around Shinagawa didn't have that much to do.

That and the weather turned against us. The train ride out to Narita was slow, dark, and cold... the faint snow falling over sodden fields a stark goodbye gift from Japan.

At Narita... putting on a brave face to go home...

Helped out by a good serving of beer... and last minute omiyage (gift) shopping at the duty free shop... The shopping area in Narita was (at the time) great. I was like a kid in a candy store. Everything was new, and exciting - and it was just a matter of how much money, and how much space. A word of warning - I was disappointed in the duty free section after you go through immigration... buy gifts outside and leave cigarettes/alcohol/perfumes only to inside.

The end is nigh. Have tickets - must travel. Overall - a fairly easy airport to get around in. My only one complaint is that the shopping area is up the escalators... which you can't take your cart on. Pain in the posterior!

Back in Australia...

But was it all a dream?... If it was, it was a very good one.

So ended my first trip to Japan, and our first trip overseas together. It was a tiring trip, and a fairly expensive one (even though we tried to do cheaply). We saw a lot of Tokyo, and perhaps next time we can be more selective about what we like and don't like. I'd definitely want to see more shops and cultural areas (Harajuku was nice, but had only time for a coffee there). Also wanted to try a day trip to either Hakone or Nikko... and T-chan wanted to go to Tokyo Disneyland (whilst our son is younger than 4 and free!).

What I didn't know is that in less than 8 months I would be back again, under very different circumstances. But thats a different story... that I will tell shortly. But now I need a rest.

Whew!