Big in Japan - Alphaville (Part I)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjGl-pq4RxQ

It would seem that the conundrum of where to take our valued readership on the next couple of Sunday outings was solved for us by the recent goings on in the Far East. Not really a sporting type, with a body mass equal to 16 stone of Swarfega, the Olympic Games have been very much enjoyed, on a sporadic level, with the determination and dedication of the competitors to their particular disciplines being right ‘off the scale’!

So why not join Alphaville and become “Big in Japan” and don’t let your friends and families miss out.

Having already spent the first 3 weeks of Spring 2007 in South Korea, and having had a very good time of it, travelling from the DMZ in the north the full length of the country it was time to board the ferry from Busan to Fukuoka, Japan, capital city of the most southerly of the 5 main islands, to rendezvous with my shipmate Jim the Medic as being something of a glutton for punishment. On such adventures there is but a single rule  which amounts to doing whatever you please on any given day and if that fits with the other party then all well and good! In the first instance it worked as we

headed by ferry again to

mainly for the endemics and

finding more than an adequate hotel (the white building just right of centre) and getting straight into

The Traditional Stuff
(when in Rome)

Some Forest where we encountered the

YAKUSHIMA DEER

almost immediately but took some time to locate the similarly endemic

MACAQUE
which we were told are prone to taking rides on the backs of the former.
Back on the mainland (if a large island can be called that) the early mornings lasted for no more than 2 days before his Jimness fell into lethargic ways with me becoming a solo traveller. From here some of the destinations escape me so we will lean on something of a pictorial which had been planned for

CHERRY BLOSSOM TIME

"Do you remember the Cherry Blossom in the market square, do you remenber we thought it was confetti in our hair - by the way didn't I ........"

Now That's What You Call Company,
A Thorn Between the Roses!

The need was to visit all five of Japan's main islands, 

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa
so a need to avail myself of a

with the sign outside saying

but didn't consider it that bad, in fact an absolute bargain on par with the Greyhounds in the USA!

BULLET

As for eating, the Sushi Bars with the never ending

Conveyor Belts
were as good as anything but when the gentleman in the glasses engaged me in conversation and then paid for my meal the Cherry was firmly on the Cake.
There was Wildlife in the Cities but most unexpected were the vast numbers of

TREE SPARROWs
on every thoroughfare along with

JAPANESE WHITE-EYE's
the odd

RUFOUS TURTLE DOVE

and

YELLOW-BREASTED GREENFINCH
in the parks.

Winter's city-side, crystal bits of snowflakes all around my head and in the wind
I had no illusions that I'd ever find a glimpse of summer's heat-waves in your eyes
You did what you did to me now it's history I see
Here's my comeback on the road again
Things will happen while they can I will wait here for my man tonight
It's easy when you're big in Japan - when you're big in Japan!