Day 10 - Kyoto to Tokyo

Up early, checked out, and went down to Kyoto Station for breakfast before boarding our last bullet train at 10.30am for Tokyo. Another few hours spent whizzing through the heart of Japan, before pulling into Shinagawa station where we changed to the Yamanote line for Shiodome - feel like we know the way around this place now!

Checked into the Park Hotel for the second time, and were both welcomed back and upgraded to a 'Tokyo Tower' view room - great view it is too. Freshened up and then went straight out, because today was always going to be about SUMO! It was sheer luck that our last night fell during one of the quarterly tournaments, making it the perfect ending to the trip.

Made our way to the stadium, got our sumo guides, sushi, beer and souvenirs before being shown to our seat to watch the day's events. Ok, so it's pushing and shoving at a basic level, performed by, erm, rotund 'athletes', but the ceremonies and rituals before each bout, along with the chanting of the Japanese crowd, made it a fantastic spectacle to watch. This chap met a very quick end, with the 'skinnier' wrestler side-stepping his advance before swinging him out. We snook down to the more expensive seats for the last few bouts to get an even better view.

After 3-4 hours it was all over - lots of pictures taken, lots of fun. Back to Ginza for supper and then packing. It's all over - back to the airport early tomorrow for our journey home. It's been fantastic. Highlights have been:

The people - warm, friendly, welcoming, patient, respectful, polite

The places - Tokyo (bonkers), Takayama (peaceful), Kyoto (enigmatic)

The food - tasty, varied, and cheap!

The trains and transport - well I would love them - but it all just works

And much more... It's just great and we couldn't recommend it enough - ignore all the myths about it being difficult and expensive. I'm sure we'll come back.

Thanks for everyone's comments along the way - it's been great keeping a record, firstly as a diary for myself, secondly as a way of letting family and friends know what we're upto, and thirdly as a bonus to allow you all to enjoy it with us. Been some of my favourite blipping.

Sayonara!