23 December 08

As we had the morning free before our train home, Nick arranged to go and visit the Tateyama family, who are friends of his friend Alison, who introduced him to them when they were in Kyoto last month. He is an architect, and designed their lovely home, which is in a quiet street opposite a porn cinema. I was surprised by how raunchy the posters outside were, and could imagine difficult questions from inquisitive children, although with communal bathing the norm, perhaps they are a lot less self conscious about the naked body.

They have a five year old son, Eito, who at first seemed shy but soon opened up. He was very good with Emily, and didn't seem jealous of all the attention she got. He even played with her and gave her one of his old musical books.

We made our excuses and set off for Sanjo, where Starbucks seemed the best bet for a comfortable place to give Emily her lunch and a much-needed nap. We struck lucky and got a large squishy sofa, from which we could watch a fun run along the riverside outside with the participants drssed as Santa.

Running short of time, we walked back to the hotel via some pleasant streets around Gion, the old geisha district. Our load was too heavy to also walk to the station, so we took a taxi and arrived in good time for the service back to Tokyo. On board, Emily would not sleep again, and after a while she got very upset. We had to tak it in turns to play with her in the area between carriages. Again, we were blessed with excellent views of Fuji-san at sunset. It looks so alluring from the shinkansen that I am desperate to make the ascent, preferably in winter, though I am sure I am not physically capable (yet).