Thursday:
This day has been predesignated as shopping day so we head off to the shops. On the way Jo sees a crab in a window (dont think Ive mentioned this but every resteraunt has models of its food on display, the sort of plastic replicas your children get for their play kitchen that bear no resemblance to real food) and he immediatley wants to eat crab and tells me this for the next hour. We eat bread from a local convenience store and I quite enjoy sharing mine with the local pigeons (Jo really doesnt like them, I think he needs to watch The Birds). After wandering around a few shops, buying nothing, we decide to do some wandering in the old quater of Kyoto and stumble upon a zen temple and decide to go and look around (sign said photo's allowed so we did). There are many small shrines and temples here in Kyoto but this is quite a big temple, a tranquil oasis from the heaving city. I think I missed out telling you about the shinto temple we visited in Nagasaki Jo and I decided they where like pre industrial fairgrounds with lots of little attractions and things to do as you walk around from clapping and bowing cleansing rituals to feeding stone dogs, spinning rocks, washing hands and throwing rocks onto the tops of pillars (I think Jo still has his lucky washed coin) without a guide you could easily miss them. On the way back we had a good meal in a cafe like place where you could help yourself to extra rice, Jo had fish and I pork with a half runny omlet thing that tasted better than it sounds. We went to poundland (100 en shop which with tax was 105 en) It was much better value than everywhere else. If we brought you a pressie it was probably from there.

A time to mend

I bought an old leather jacket a few months back it looked ok had no rips was missing a few buttons so I thought this is ok I can buy some buttons get them sewn on and I will have a jacket to replace my existing one (Ive had it so long and it was old when I got it but its is comfortable). My mum said she would sew the buttons on but she ended up sending it to a shop where they did it at a £1 per button. So I now have my jacket but its not really been cared for and the leather has become dried our with age so I have started treating it with leather balm. This is a slow restoration process, you apply a little balm and work it into the leather but it seems that the closer I look the more that I can see where Ive missed bits or where it needs extra work. As I was doing this I allowed my mind to wander a little. To me restoring this Jacket is very similar to what God wants to do with each of our lives. Not only does he want to mend the parts of us that are broken but he also wants to care for our daily needs. As we become more willing to listen to him he will speak words of healing and restoration. The bits that no one else sees (inside the cuffs) he pays particular attention too as he knows thats where most of the wearing down happens. I know that everyone who reads this will have something in thier lives that needs repairing and pray that my heavenly Father will start his restoration job for you now.

Wednesday:
On the advice of Yukimi and Keyoka we decide that the only place to see real Japan and samurai is at the movie studio so we take a short train journey to ego mura we spend several hours there looking at a recreated Japanese town, had our photographs taken with samurai and watch a short play about a samurai and his teacher who encounter ninja and an evil wizard and a demon. The Samurai is put under a spell by the wizard and attacks his master. The master kills the wizard and the samurai is freed and together they vanquish the demon (the dialogue was in japanese but the way in which it was done was so it could be understood without understanding the language). A bit later we see how a movie scene is put together, it was quite funny, twists in the plot and more ninja. The director talks through the all the fights and shows how the bad guy dies in the end pointing out all the movie secrets and tricks, When the scene is completed it is then run through in its entirety with cameras rolling the bad guy kills the good guy and everyone laughs. They have a massive collection of power ranger (full size) statues here, Jo is decidedly unhappy at me wanting to be photographed with them and more reluctant to have his pictures taken with one. When we leave we eventually find our way back to the small train station then back to kyoto for a quick nap before going out for a meal (thanks grandma).

Tuesday:
We met up with the girls for the last time to say goodbye. After exchanging gifts at the platform it was quite sad leaving as they waved goodbye to us on the platform. Train Journey was Nagasaki - Hakata - shinOsaka - Kyoto and took about 6 hours. We arrive at Kyoto, the train station was just as busy as any other city station we had encountered and multistory. We where getting used to navigating these micro-cities and where able to find the touris information office in about 15 minutes and we arranged 3 nights accomodation (this was more expensive than Nagasaki, Jo was not happy about the cost, but I had anticipated it would be more and it was within budget). The ryokan is only accross the road from the tourist information office and we are pointed in its direction. The staff here are friendly and this is more like a hotel than our previous ryokan experience. It must be at least 3* accomodation but to save a few yen we opt to share washing and toilet facilities. After a quick settle into the room we decide to do some sightseeing, in the dark. After a four mile walk (it felt like more) we found a traditional noodle bar to sit at and eat (everything has meat in it so Jo eats rice and my rice). After eating we head back to the hotel only to find, when we are almost back, that jo has left his bag at the noodle bar; it was waiting for us when we returned to the bar, I think he learned his lesson as all future meals included a ritual of him tieing his bag to his leg.

Monday:
Before Jo and I meet up with Yuki and Keyo we walked to the site of the martyrs and whilst he was trying to write his postcards he made friends with a kindergarten group and provided the children and eventually the teachers, at the insistance of the children, with entertainment for about 20 minutes (it was a slightly surreal cross cultural exchange). We meet the girls near the train station, buy lunch from the supermarket, and go to the estuary for a picnic. It was amazing to see birds of prey flying with childrens kites. After we had eaten we went to Dejima. This was an Island that was constructed to maintain trade with the East India trading company whilst keeping christianity out of Japan; Here there where a few excavations and a number of reconstructed buildings. Later we had a meal at the shopping centre and I wnt back to the buissnessman hotel we had booked for this night and Jo went off with the girls for the evening and returned sometime later he had been to a kareoke bar.

Sunday:
We have a day out with Yukimi and Keyoka. We go to see cherry blossms at the site below the atomic bomb blast, I wonder if it is still radioactive today. Then to Nagasaki peace park, here there is a fountain with jets that form a pair of angels wings and a fair few statues given to the city by other countries as well as the more famous one of the seated man pointing upwards. We have a small picnic here then go off to the oldest church in Japan.
We arrange to meet again at lunch time the following day.

Transition

I have continued to enjoy CO2 with Chris, we both get a lot out of this. I would encourage anyone to try it. We discussed this recently and Chris was saying that even if you didnt want to believe or listen to God then you could still do the SACHET part with a friend, I completly agree and am convinced your relationship with that friend would be deepened and strengthened.
We had a great meeting at Moggerhanger park a few weeks back followd by a road trip to Nottingham to meet some believers from around the country to share a lunch and what God is doing in our little parts of the world. It was good to hear about parts of the bigger picture but also to be encouraged that others are hearing from God in a similar way.
I can almost feel a gentle breeze. In my mind its a tad bigger.

Saturday:
We check out of the ryokan and head to Nagasaki. At Tokyo station (after another 30 minures local train journey, a quick stop at shinjuku to find the park closed) we book our trains, we dont get a reserved seat for the trip to Osaka but the non reserved seats are fine. The journey id Tokyo-Shin Osaka-Hakata-Nagasaki. At some point we worked out that only Jo's phone worked but it would accept my sim card so we made the switch and eventually worked out how to phone Yukimi and arrange to meet her at 6:30 pm at Nagasaki station, 8.5 hours train journeyswith no time for mistakes between changes. We arrive at Nagasaki and while waiting for Yukimi I book two nights in a local ryokan. We are met by Keyoka (Yukimi's friend) and soon after Yukimi arrives and we walk to the ryokan to drop off the bags. On the way we are met by the ryokan owner and her dog and are shown the way to our room. Yukimi pours the tea and we discuss going uot for food. I want to try yakatori so Keyo makes a phone call and it is arranged that we will eat with her parents at thier friends restaurant. This was a most wonderful experience, following introductions to Keyoes parentsand her mums friend we go in and sit down to eat (we are introduced to the chef as we find our seats). I cannot sit in a formal position and am assured that sitting informally is good. There where too many courses to remember but highlights are tempura vegetables (aubegine; sweet potatoe and one stuffed with cheese) Yakatori (chargrilled pork, chicken diaphragm , chicken crop, chicken livers) sashimi, a very big fish eye. Keyoe's dad is a dispending chemist and likes rock music especially the Beatles. He tells me about the Japanese respect for the fish which is why all parts are eaten. Keyoes mum and friend both liked princess Diana. Keyoe' dad tells me about the bottle keep system they have when he is brought his bottle of shoshi ( a strong alcohol that is mixed with iced water). This meal I think will be the highlight of the trip for me, I am sure that nothing will be able to top this.

Friday:
It was a long flight I watched boy in the striped pjamas, bit of a sad ending. We arrived at Narita airporton friday morning, no problems getting through the various controls and asked our way to the JR endorsement office where we where issued with our train passes and given reserved tickets for a journey to Ikebukaro station. It was a bit difficult to find the train but after asking for directions (this is becoming a theme that will be repeated) we found the train and our seats. I thought at the time that this was kind and probably what they did for each new arrival but after reading the details on the tickets it seems that we are allowed to reserve as many times as we want to for our train journeys throuought Japan. We got as far as Tokyo and Jo wanted to get off so we had our first sights of this very very big city. We managed eventually to negotiate our way out of the station. It has many floors and miles of walkways. Once outside we walked around the corner and had our first meal, two bowls of noodles, this was a strangeexperience. The shop assistant helped us bewildered tourists by showing us the vending machine and where to put the money. Once chosen and the buttons pressed it produced a ticket that she then took. After showing us our seats she brought us some foul green tea and iced water then a little later two large bowls of noodles. A Very Strange first meal. After eating we decided to re-negotiate the train station to try and find our way to the ryokan that we had booked in England. We went in and out of the maze of train stations, there are so many differnt lines here. We eventually found a JR train to Ikebukaro station, standing room only like most of our short term journeys. It was about 30 minutes from Tokyo station 2mins/stop. Another complex train station to negotiate, we found our way out, Jo assuring me that it was the West kanji, we headed off in the wrong direction so back to the stationto find the correct exit. Once found it wasnt too difficult to negotiate the web map provided from thier website and we arrived 15 minutes to 3 so waited before checking in. Showered and changed into yukata we slep the rest of the day and night; I use the word slept loosely, in all Japanese style rooms you are given a thin mattress on the floor with a small pillow that I think is filled with lentils.

Thursday:
Up at 6am, on train before 7:30. Arrived at airport at 9:30 and into departure lounge by 11. Jo was hungry so has gone looking for food. He says I need to be able to say more Japanese than "yes" and "coffee". Im not sure why. Have said I will learn a few more words. Jo had spent half his time in the baggage drop queue chatting to some Japanese girls, he was happy that they understood him.This is a good start.