Part 3 - Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday saw me with another free day. I employed the services of Noboru and Tasuku to show me around some of the sights of Tokyo. The first stop was the Tokyo SkyTree. Look wise the Skytree is very much like the Sky Tower in Auckland but slightly bigger. We went to the top 350m above the city and this gave me an insight into just how massive the city is. We then headed to a tepenyaki type place for lunch where we had fried Sobs noodles and a Japanese pizza. They are always eating here but the majority of the people are very skinny it’s amazing. After this we went to a Japanese Temple. This was an amazing experience and the place was very pretty and spiritual. Attached were some Japanese Gardens which were also very pretty and were even better in real life compared to on the movies. After the temple we went to Ueno where we went to the Zoo. At the Zoo I got to see 2 animals I have never seen before; Panda Bears and Polar Bears. This was awesome. After wondering around the Zoo we went to get some dinner. We found a street side pub type place where we proceeded to consume a number of beers.

Thursday saw me travel to Yamanashi Prefecture. This was an hour and a half to the west of Tokyo out near Mt Fuji. Out there I would be meeting Amemyia and his family. Amemyia came to Wellington this year. He was extremely friendly and his family were extremely inviting as the welcomed me into their home. They provided me with lunch before we proceeded to travel up Mt Fuji. It was cloudy as we drove up the mountain but once we got to the top it has cleared enough to provide a stunning view. The highlight of the trip was everyone laughing at me for wearing jandals while it was only 3 or 4 degrees. It is amazing mountain and the view was something like I had never seen before. We then went to the Hotel I would be staying at that night. It was a traditional Japanese hotel where the bed would be the floor. It also had a hot spring which was very relaxing. Dinner that night was with 8 or 9 of the referees from Yamanashi. Again this was a very humbling experience and they all asked heaps of questions and wanted to know every bit of advice I had. This has been the part of the trip that has surprised me the most. Everyone is so kind and friendly. After that it was off to bed/the floor.