We had missed the real cherry blossom season in Kyoto and Tokyo but were headed to Takayama in the Japanese Alps where the significantly colder mountain air meant the season was only beginning.

We were to stay in a tradition japanese ryokan taking off our shoes, sleeping on mats and wearing traditional clothing. It must be said from the outside our ryokan was the ugliest building in quite a pretty little town. They did make us feel welcome though with a large sign and a welcome gong.

Takayama had been cut off from much of the rest of Japan as it is difficult to access in the mountains and as a result has well preserved old buildings and streets. It is easy to navigate. It also has a forest park, lots of cherry blossom and lots of temples and shrines, big pluses for Nigel.

We wore our japanese clothes and were served a traditional japanese meal in our room. Though the girls did insist the clothes were not to their liking and bought alternatives the next day.

On Easter Sunday we went to the morning market and then walked along a well signposted walk admiring closed shrines and temples. Nigel had done some excellent investigation and navigation and brought us to a tiny burger place hidden at the back of an antique shop for an Easter Sunday lunch of burgers and beer.

Nigel’s main mission though was to find somewhere to watch the Liverpool match. Quite a challenge when practically no one spoke English, we had no wifi and the TV choices seemed to be the equivalent of irish TV in the 80’s. The word “Liverpool” though needs no translation though and Nigel found some japanese fans. After keeping track of the score by checking updates on his ipad on the wifi in the hotel lobby the porter got the last part of the match on the hotel PC.

The geishas were always going to be the highlight of our stay in Kyoto for me but it wasn’t the only thing we did. Kyoto being the old capital there were lots of historic sites Nigel wanted to see.

Nijo Castle is a shogun castle in Kyoto. It is famous for its nightingale floors. The floors are designed that they squeak when someone walks across them no matter how gently. The shogun did not want his enemies sneaking up on him.

Bizarrely group loads of Japanese school children seemed more interested in us than in the castle and we were inundated by requests for photos.

We also managed to take in a zen temple near the geisha dances as well. Zen temples have lots of space of little boys to run around.

The next day we had a guide with us and went to another shrine, again a zen one with a beautiful garden.

We also went to the bamboo forest another good spot for little boys to run around.

Our other stop with the guide was the Inari shrine. We found a shrine there were students make offerings to seek academic success. They are meant to offer a string of one thousand hand made oragami cranes. Family members usually make them as the students are busy studying. We gave monetary offerings which are also acceptable.

The Inari shrine also has thousands of tori gates which are donated as offerings. They are so popular there is a waiting list to donate.

Laura put a halt to further sightseeing in Kyoto by running a temperature and needing a doctor.

We did managed to sneak in a dinner in a small yakka tori restaurant where the tables are all in individual rooms. On the way to the ladies we spotted a geisha performing in one if the other rooms.

The one thing I really wanted to do in Kyoto was see a geisha. Apparently this is quite difficult to do.

The travel agent suggested a dinner with a geisha. At the cost of several thousand euro this is an hours long formal meal with drinking games. Perfect for kids!

Usually the other way to see a geisha is to hang around Gion in the evening. Fortunately twice a year there are Geisha dances on and we were there for the April season. Tickets are not that easy to get but the concierge in the hotel organised them for us.

First there was a tea ceremony. A rather production line affair where you are shepherded in and out for a very quick green tea and sweet while two geisha sit on a stage.

The show itself was enchanting. The costumes were gorgeous and the dancing was very formal and stylised. Nigel and John were not as impressed as the girls and me. The music that accompanied the show was unusual to say the least.

Photographs are strictly forbidden but I risked the worth of the attendants.

My lack of inter railing experience in my twenties is obviously a sign I did not misspend my youth nearly enough. I am making up for it now my touring japan by train with a husband and four children. In some ways it might be more difficult but not doing it on a shoestring like a student has advantages too. Like getting taxis rather than hauling bags on public transport to train stations.

We took two taxis to the train station and never thought to split up the tickets so Laura, Emma and myself arrived at a huge train station, to no sign of the others and no idea what train we were getting. I was considering going in to the station to find a pay phone to call Nigel, mine phone got broken in Laos, when Nigel found us. Lesson learnt there.

I was really looking forward to the bullet train. Because of the way it is built it doesn’t feel fast at all. I needed to look at the gps tracking on Nigel’s phone to be convinced to the speed.

Food on Japanese trains was very japanese and limited to cold bento boxes. Next time we will eat before we get on.

The highlight of the journey though was the wonderful view of Mt Fuji. I was on the wrong side and thought I had missed the good view when the mountain came back into view on a lovely clear day.

Nigel had been looking longingly at the view of a park from our hotel room window since we arrived in Tokyo. From the 35th floor we had a good view! The park had some cherry blooms left so we visited the Hamatikyu gardens which date from the shoguns and have a 300 year old tree planted by one of them. The park was pleasant and we got lots of photos with cherry blossoms.

But the trip can’t be all about cherry blossom and sightseeing so next stop was the flagship uniqlo store in Ginza. 12 floors of low cost good value japanese fashion that you can’t buy at home. Myself and the girls could have stayed all day but after an hour and a purchase or ten we headed off for the Tokyo Tower, an old TV tower a bit like a red Eiffel Tower that used to be Tokyos tallest building. Given my dislike of heights I refused to go beyond the middle viewing gallery. John was of a like mind and was much more interest in the Lego models that were safely situated on the ground floor.

Our last stop of the day had been booked with John in mind, the Legoland Discovery centre. Not quite Disneyland but it had some rides including one where you shot “baddies”, an excellent model of Tokyo made from lego and a place to make and test lego vehicles.

We started our next day in Tokyo at a relaxed pace and went to the oldest temple Senso-ji with its 5 storey pagoda and many little shops. We did the typical tourist activity of a tour by ricksaw first. The driver was full of information on local theatres, musical instruments and religion.

Cherry blossom season is a huge event in Japan with forecasts being changed daily so people can make plans for picnics, parties and viewings. This year due to the weather there was ashort early season and we missed it by days. We did see some late blooming blossom at Senso-ji but decided to head to Ueno Park one of the main areas for viewing.

There were picnickers in cordoned off areas who had obviously booked their spots in advance but not a lot of cherry blossom left.

I am not convinced by this tradition of picnicking on plastic sheets at the side of a path.

We went to an older low rise area of tokyo at the far side of the path and chose a random neighbour hood restaurant for dinner. They spoke to English and our japanese is limited to hello, goodbye and thank you.

Thanks to the plastic models of food in the window and a lot of pointing and laughing we all got dinner.

This type of ordering has to be part of the essential tourist experience in Japan.

There is something about Tokyo I liked straight away. Like New York it is huge and bustling but it makes no concessions to foreigners, even McDonalds is completely in Japanese. The public transport is scarily complex but incredibly efficient and I was delighted that Nigel figured it all out so I just had to follow.

As it is huge even though we are supposed to be on a self guided rail tour we hired a guide for the first day to show us some of Tokyo.

We started off at the Meji Shrine for the emperor who took control back from the shoguns about 110 years ago. Modern is relative!

Then much to my daughters’ delighted headed off to the young fashion district of Harajuku. Some of the young street fashion like the Lolita look is very striking.

Then we braved Shibuya crossing. Unlike Hanoi this just looks insane it is really very organised.

We finished off our day at a sushi bar.

We had packed for the jungle and the beach and the girls sense of fashion was offended wearing their trekking clothes in Hong Kong so I agreed to take them shopping in a mall. After a few hours in shops that we have at home I was ready to see more of the real Hing Kong. Though arguably malls are the real Hong Kong as Hong Kong has more malls than anywhere else I have been.

We explored the other side of Hong Kong by taking the ferry across the harbour and then a double decker tram that winds between the skyscrapers and the old back streets to one of the most famous temples in Hong Kong. The temple is striking wedged between towering buildings.

We then took the subway to the glass bottom cable car to the big Buddha. A glass bottomed cable car that takes 20 minutes each way over sea and mountain is not my idea of fun and doing it one way and getting straight back on and doing it again was a challenge but I survived. Everyone else loved it and I blame the girls principal for thoroughly recommending it to Laura.

Disney world Hong Kong doesn’t get great reviews. It is the smallest disney Park and does not have as many attractions as the others. But from the Disney train to get there and breakfast in the morning with the Disney characters to the last minute I really like it.

Being smaller is an advantage in my book, much easiest to get 4 children around. It is significantly less expensive than the other disneylands and it offers a deluxe tour service where you book a guide who organises everything for you and escorts you round the park skipping all the queues. When you add in the price of this service it costs similar to Disney Paris but skipping the queues makes the day much easier and you get to do a lot more rides. If you like something you can go on it as often as you like and if you want to be in the front row on an attraction like Space Mountain it is no problem.

On the subject of Space Mountain there is another major difference between Disney Hong Kong and other Disneys. The height restrictions are much lower in Hong Kong. In Paris Laura and Emma couldn’t go on Space Mountain at 7 years old. John could go on space Mountain at 3 years in Hong Kong. I had sort of forgotten how potentially frightening Space Mountain is. John was sitting with Nigel and 10 seconds in to the ride I was worried about how he was reacting. He got off the ride saying “Again, again” the child is a thrill seeker.

His favourite was probably the Buzz Lightyear attraction and we all shot aliens over and over again.

It did rain heavily in the earlier part of the day and when John insisted on going on the Orbitron in torrential rain we all got wetter than we have ever been in our clothes, even with rain coats on. It took 3 days for my shoes to dry. Our guide was able to suggest indoor attractions and shows for when it rained and then helped us make the most of our time when the rain stopped.

We finished the day exhausted but happy and every morning now John wakes up and asked to go to Disneyland. We haven’t told him there is one in Tokyo!