Amy Arrives

Helllooo,

This week my cousin arrives and I am super excited. We are two peas in a pod (we only have a month between us) and she is my partner in crime. So we are can reek havoc on Japan together, I'm joking.

Before 

Before was mostly just general house keeping activities, as I knew the likelihood of me getting any work or admin done once Amy arrived was next to none. So I did the expenses for the first week in Japan, boring but it had to be done. And I went to the the bus station to buy a ticket for the bus to pick up Amy. However I did go out to explore Utsunomiya a little more, but nothing important to report, apart from I found a discount store where you can buy really cheap drinks. For example a Coke Zero (Japan doesn't have diet coke) was 60p whereas in the UK it would be around £1.50. I also discovered the gym at the hotel and I have decided to make the most of it while it is free and I'm going to be dragging Amy with me, I'm not sure whether she'll be pleased or not. ;) 

After 

Amy arrived very early in the morning on Thursday, which meant I had to get an even earlier bus to the airport about 2 hours away, so I got the bus a 6! I missed Breakfast :(. After waiting around for what seemed like ages, she came through the custom doors and I was able to snap a sneaky pic, which is probably not to flattering, oh well. She had hired a portable Wi-Fi and bought a JR pass so we had to collect those before returning and trying to keep her awake the whole day. I warn you; if you do get a JR pass the queue to collect it can be long so leave plenty of time.

Friday she was a little more awake so we ventured out to the shops in Utsunomiya, I didn't take her to any new shopping places however we managed to do 4 so that was quite impressive. We also went to the shrine opposite Parco which is up resting at the top of 70 steep steps. It's quite small but it was nice and quiet and the views were beautiful. Whilst in Parco we went down to the basement and discovered these large photo booths, so we thought we would give them a go. Entertaining to say the least, you take photos and it basically airbrushes your face and makes your eyes bigger; which must be the aspiration in Japan. Then you exit the booth and go to the customisation station, which of course is all in Japanese. It could be seen as wasting money but, the stories and laughs Amy and I got out of it are invaluable.

This weekend we are going to Nagano so stay tuned

Maria xx