Japan
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- Category: Blog Friday - Steve
Japan, so similar, but also so different. This morning the lovely lady in the coffee shop (after making our 15cm thick toast) gave the children a present each of her pet stag beetles.
I wish we could have kept them, but sadly we handed them back. Stag beetles seem wildly popular, with every doorstep having a small tank full of them, which people are only too keen to show you. I hope the idea of stag beetles as the ideal summer pet catches on in the UK.
We are in a thermal resort, where the spring water is piping hot. The streets are full of people off for their evening soak in the neighbourhood public bath. We have bought an osen ticket, allowing us to test out a range steaming Japanese baths. We like the outdoor ones best.
It is now only two weeks before we head back to London. While we love Japan, after nine months of travel, we cannot help but start thinking about home. The children are all excited about getting back and even school in September is looked on enthusiastically. Eve is planning her getting home party and the friends she wants to invite. They are all looking forward to routine and the familiar – the same bed every night! Knowing where the shops are!
With so little time left you cannot help but reflect on the mixed feelings of nine months travelling with your closest family; the good, the bad and the shouty. However I don’t think we’ll be properly able to reflect until we get over what I expect to be a fair amount of culture shock.
