Andrea and David's trip to Japan, July 2011

Day 3 19-7-11 - (Day 2, Day 4) - birdlist - bird gallery

We started our day with the now customary 10:30 breakfast and decided to order the next stage, the ferry to Hokkaido. Cancelled owing to the impending typhoon. That rather wrecks the idea of finding two species of albatross etc. So we researched a bit and worked out that there is a a night train to Saporro. Strolled to the main station in light drizzle and challenged the linguistic abilities of the ticket man. But he made it. We hope! We'll find out tomorrow evening. :-)

He also managed to sell us two singles to Minami-Funabashi Station which allowed us to pass Disney land Tokyo and Ikea. The immediate goal was a Ramsar site, Yatsu Higata (my notes), which is renowned for its waders. And being the end of July we were not disappointed with several summer plumage niceties on view. A nice walk round the mudflat despite the poor weather. We watched the tide come in and then retreated from the rain by checking whether Ikea Tokyo also sells Swedish meat balls (Kjötboller). It does, but we saved our appetite for the local cuisine.

Back at the maze called Tokyo station (it must have over 2 Km of subways and no end of intersecting railway lines) we eventually ventured into the outside world. A passer-by pointed us to a fine cellar restaurant where we finally sampled Sushi in its home planet, though we didn't really understand the bill (apart from the 220 Kr bit. Back to the hotel through rainy streets and a well-needed shower. TV pictures of the Japanese women's world football championship win over USA alternated with pictures of the ravaging typhoon 500 Km west of here, and its forecasted route east. We head north tomorrow evening by train.