The big temptation for this time of year I would imagine is just snapping roll after roll (meabytes of megabytes?) of cherry blossom pictures. It's not that they're ugly, but there is the risk of beginning slightly pink-blind by it all. So for now, I'm trying to snap photos that contain more than just pink. Apart from that one of the branches, that's just purty.

I made a monumentally bad choice when it came to shoes this time around as I either didn't break these shoes in correctly or they are in fact shoes crafted by the devil himself because my left leg has some traumatic blisters on it. One on either side of the heel that means one blister plaster isn't large enough to cover both. By now most of the skin that would have protected them has gone and they are red and angry which has spread to the rest of my leg which is slightly disturbing. I've taken to paddig my shoe with a bit of grey foam cribbed from my camera bag to protect them but I get the feeling that at some point in the holiday I may have to plump for new shoes or end up crippled. It's odd how things like that can prey on your mind, especially as my jet lag still hasn't fully dissipated yet (dammit) and fevered dreams of my leg dropping off from these blisters are not uncommon.

Bit of a revisit of some locations yesterday. Senso-ji has moved its construction from the outer gate to the main building which is now ensconced in scaffolding. The good weather and cherry blossoms makes it an almost entirely different place to visit than my first time when it was raining and I had just stepped off the flight. Hama-rikyu we managed to visit the tea house which was a brilliant experience and good cake. The Sumida river taxi was packed which meant we had to go into the underbelly and a miss a lot of the view unfortunately. I came back to the hotel at Meiji-jingu now being in some pain from the evil shoes and napped for a spell. I'd also managed to catch the sun on my head a bit which is odd for April!

Off to Nikko now!

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And these keyboards are very strange to type on, I accidentally hit the Japanese key a short while ago an the level of panic I felt when I couldn't change it back was great. I also keep missing the shift key but that's likely because of my lack of coordination at the moment.

Won't write a huge epic rundown of what happened so in short: journey was fine, planes delayed slightly but not by much. Manchester terminal one security is like one of the circles of hell described by Dante, an utterly dehumanising experience. SAS flights are just like every other really but I managed to sleep somewhat. Landed and met up with the tour leader and a couple of others from the group, got straight into my room so had a shower and felt slightly more human. Went over to Ginza and had a wander around (read: got lost) and then headed to Ueno park for some Hanami. The park was packed but everyone was having such a good time it was hard not to get swept up in it all. Managed to get some tea and met up with the two from before again and went to Ueno again for some night shots, shame it was raining a bit. Got to sleep at nine, slept pretty much straight through till six, no sign of my aeroplane throat this morning.

Now, to Akiba and Harajuku!

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