11 July 2010

As it was our last chance for a family day together for a month, we went to Zushi. After a night's sleep I felt more or less recovered from Fuji, and surprisingly my legs didn't really ache all that much. It was cloudy, though naturally for Japanese summer it was still very muggy and high 20s. We arrived late morning and walked straight to the beach where we wasted no time in getting our costumes on and going in the sea. It is very shallow there and the water was almost bath-warm for quite a way out. The beach was busy, with lots of toned young men, bikini-clad totty, and many tattoos on show (normally a rarity in Japan thanks to their association with the criminal class).

Emily spent quite a while in the sea with one or other of us.

Just as we sat down to eat our picnic it began to rain so we had to eat under our sole umbrella. At least that kept us safe from the unwelcome attentions of the black kites gliding overhead; we saw several stooping dives to relieve unsuspecting victims of their food. Emily got upset, probably because yet again she was overdue for a poo, and we decided to call it a day earlier than planned. By the station, Starbucks shares its concession with a branch of Chaya, so we were able to combine good coffee with one of their mouthwatering cake confections each before riding back to Tokyo.