Wednesday 9th – Thursday 17th April 2008
My friend and her just-about-pre-teen daughter arrived. Tim kindly collected them from the airport so they didn't have to negotiate the train and Shinjuku station.
Rhiannon's back at school but there's plenty of time for the two girls to play together in the afternoons / evenings. Rhiannon just adores having an older girl around and E plays very patiently with her. For the duration, we've put them into the same bedroom, so little sleep is had by Rhiannon. But it's only for a week.
We did the usual trips:
Asakusa; where for the first time, I noticed this stunning mikoshi in the Metro station. A mikoshi is a portable shrine that's carried through the streets during the numerous festivals. 
A trip to a sushi conveyor belt restaurant. Rhiannon is dreadful in these places – she grabs everything she likes the look of but never eats them. So now I've given up getting my own dishes and eat the ones she rejects. But not the red salmon egg ones, they are disgusting! Very pretty, but not for me. It's like eating fishy eyeballs.
We also went to Fuji-san. There was a lot of snow on the mountain although the roads were clear. As you can see the girls had a lot of fun. And posed everywhere in true Japanese fashion.
Another trip to Meiji Jingu and Yoygi Park where Rhiannon noticed thousands of tadpoles in the manmade lake, just waiting to be caught. It's funny how things we take for granted in our family are considered extremely odd by others. E was very squeamish about catching the wriggly creatures and had never done this before. But she wasn't about to be outdone by a six year old and soon got into it.
We finished off their brief visit with dinner at the fabulous Jidaiya restaurant where we introduced them to the joys of cooking your own suki-yaki.
