Sightseeing in Tokyo turned out to be quite a mission – never before had we been in a country where English was not spoken, or more importantly, written. 
Tokyo underground station was a massive underground network of spaghetti train lines and Japanese writing – within a few minutes we were completely lost. Roads had no names and maps were all incomprehensible. Despite spending most of the day being a bit confused, we did manage to get to the 45th floor of 
the Tokyo Government Metropolitan Offices for some amazing (and free!) views over the city. We then found Shinjuku-Gyoen park where we had a picnic and hit it lucky with the end of the cherry blossom season. The park was a welcome escape from the city in our sleepy state, with perfectly manicured trees, lawns, winding paths, and best of all cherry blossom trees with their petals falling like snow. Rach went off to take photos and later found Gaz having a nap under a tree covered in petals!
Our second day in Tokyo and we had a bad nights sleep thanks to our room being next to the hostel shower, some screaming kids next door, and walls that were as thin as paper…. because they were paper! We started off the day getting thoroughly lost AGAIN trying to find a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet, and in the end gave up and unashamedly ate Big Mac’s in McDonalds! We headed to the Sony Building to marvel at all the tecchy displays – the big HD screens were amazing! We took a stroll through the Ginza district which was swarming with business men in black suits and trendy young things in knee high socks, high heels and mini dogs for accessories. Tired out we headed back for our first Japanese bath, something we came to love over the coming weeks. It involves first washing yourself with soap and a little shower whilst sitting on a stool, throwing bowls of warm water over yourself and lastly soaking in a little hot tub – brilliant! We moved rooms that night in hope of a better nights sleep, but were not in luck as we were kept awake by two girls talking loudly outside and taking showers at 1am...
We picked up our JR Rail passes the following day and headed onwards to Nikko. Rush hour in Tokyo on the underground was a bit of a squeeze with all our bags; we realised posting all the souvenirs home that we had bought in Asia would have been a good idea in hindsight! We then got to travel on the Shinkhansen (bullet train) – travelling at 200mph was quite something! Even more exciting was standing on the platform when one went past at full pelt – it made a massive ‘whooomph’ and we nearly got sucked in!
Nikko turned out to be in a fantastic mountainous setting and it was a lovely sunny spring day. We had lunch at the wonderful Hippari Dako, a great little place tucked away run by a mother and daughter, with walls covered with notes from travellers and the ramen noodles were delicious. Rather full and pleased we set off to explore all the temples – there was a red bridge, perfectly manicured gardens with carp ponds, torii bridges, ornate temples and best of all was the gorgeous cherry blossom that fell all around us soundlessly. We took endless photos, everything was so lush and full of life after Cambodia, then headed back for another Japanese bath in our superb hostel in the mountains.
The next day was a long and frustrating travel day... ah well, they can't all be perfect. We discovered four things 1) you cannot get money out of an ATM in Japan… 9 ATMs and a lot of fretting later we discovered you need to get money out of a post office, 2) all the trains get booked up during the Golden 
Week holiday… we had to wait 3 hours for a train, 3) do not turn your back on a train… we missed our train because we turned around for a few seconds to buy a drink, and 4) umbrellas that cost a fiver do not last long! We arrived in rainy Inuyama much later than expected but were determined to make something of the day, so an insane 30 minutes ensued as we legged it around everything before it closed for the day. It was worth it though as we got to see great views from Japan’s oldest castle. The Japanese baths that night were a godsend, although the paper walls were not – Gaz got up in the night to tell off a loud group of Japanese men drunk on sake.
After our brief visit to Inuyama we headed onto Takayama. The train ride there was really scenic, crossing rivers and gorges and winding up through the mountains. On arriving we walked alongside the riverside market, where gnarled old farmers were selling vegetables and we had a fantastic time cramming all the free samples into our mouths – we didn’t know what we were eating so some of it was delicious, other samples were pretty horrendous! We think Gaz inadvertently ate dried baby seahorses at one point! 
We walked through the town centre which was lined with traditional dark wood buildings, door hangings, bonsai trees and sake breweries. On the way we stopped to eat sticks of hida beef, the local delicacy. In the afternoon we borrowed tiny fold away bikes from the hostel, they looked ridiculous and Gaz fell off promptly trying to do a wheelie (!), but it was a brilliant way to see more of the town. By late afternoon we had cycled to some temples up the hill which looked amazing in the soft lighting, and best of all we had them all to ourselves. We took some comedy photos in the gardens of us messing around!....
The following day we set off to find the remote village of Ainokura in the mountains, famous for its 'Gassho-style' houses. It was a bit of a trek to get to but it was worth it. We arrived to find thatched farmhouses nestled in the mountains with trickling mountain streams and rice fields – wow! We were staying 2 nights in one of the UN World Heritage status thatched houses called Goyomon. The sweet lady welcomed us in and we sat around the fire drinking Japanese tea. 
We spent the afternoon exploring the village and walked up the mountain for great panoramic views. In the evening the owner cooked up a fantastic meal for us and the other guests, with grilled fish on the fire and then 14 different dishes to try such as mountain vegetables in tempura batter. Our eyes nearly popped out when we saw the others eat the fish whole, including the head, yikes! We made two great friends, Maru and Konopi, who were sake brewers, could speak a little English and taught us how to write our names in Japanese. Everyone drank sake round the fire late into the evening. 
The following day we were served another of these meals for breakfast. Very impressive but fish soup and cold stir fried vegetables at that time in the morning were no substitute for cereal and toast. Cue lots of face pulling from Rach who ate mainly rice! We decided to hike into the mountains, but with no map and no English spoken by the locals we had to make it up along the way. Needless to say we got rather lost, hiked into another valley and after about 12 miles finally made it back to the village. It was however a lovely day, with warm sunshine, not a person in sight and we managed to walk as high as the snow line. It was nice pottering around the village in the still of the evening watching farmers tend their fields and the sunset on the snowcapped mountains as a backdrop.
We made our great descent back out of the mountains the following day, and on the way stopped in the World Heritage status village of Shirakawa-go, which was very much like Ainokura but on a much larger and more touristy scale. It was still very beautiful, with rice paddies, little waterwheels, carp in ponds and tulips blooming everywhere. A kind lady let us dump our bags in her farmhouse for a few hours while we explored on foot, which was VERY welcome for our sore backs!
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