I woke up really early and got up soon after and went downstairs to do more research on the computer. I looked at the flights and booked a flight from Tokyo to Jeju island that would give me enough time there before going to Beijing. I didn't book flights in or out of China because of my doubts about getting a double entry visa and I made 2 accommodation plans one for a normal 30 day entry without North Korea and one with. I printed all the documents I needed apart from the flights at a family mart using my USB stick and had 4 slices of toast for breakfast. It was getting late so I had a shower and found the guys awake and they put the washing in the dryer again. I was finally ready and packed apart from my clothes being dried but it was later than I planned and taking the subway and walking I arrived at the Chinese embassy or consulate around 9.15. Turns out it was open from 9 to 12 so I wasn't that late but there was quite a big queue. 10 minutes later I was at the door where I was told that as a foreigner I needed to go to another place for my Chinese visa a couple of stations away or around 30 minutes walk. I walked there and found the building and the visa center and there was almost no queue which was good. I showed the man my visa form and passport but he asked if I was a resident in Japan and as I wasn't they couldn't do a visa for me at the moment due to communication problems with China. In a way I was relieved and as I didn't have flights booked I hadn't lost anything except the 2 hours yesterday and 3 this morning. I left and headed to a nearby park and saw a big tower which was the Tokyo tower designed to be like the Eiffel tower only red. It was ¥2,900 to go up and otherwise there were shops and some experience on the first few floors. I left and went to the park which had a nice flower section and then nearby was Zojoji temple which didn't look like much but the inside was nice and gold. I looked at the cemetery and they had an area with child deity statues dressed with red and holding small windmills which looked good and also unusual. The gate was the only original part as the rest had been burnt down. I headed on down a main road past their world trade centre to another park which was ¥150 to enter. Clive and Frances had planned to be in another park not too far away so I went there stopping en route at a supermarket to buy things for lunch. The park was ¥300 to get in so I paid and headed to the lake as they had said they would be boating today. I found the lake and was crossing the bridge when I saw a couple who looked like them so I shouted out and then Clive who was in a different place not to far away shouted back so I went and met them on their little hill. We walked through the park a bit but they had already seen it all and they wanted to take a boat north for ¥750 so I left them and we made plans to meet at Ueno park for boating at 1.45. I wandered around the rest of the park which wasn't so special especially as there were no flowers planted and then I headed for the river to get a view of the docks. There was quite a bit of construction work so that area was not accessible so instead I went towards my other bookmark a bridge museum which was next to a bridge presumably worth seeing. There was a shrine on the way and I was heading there and saw the fish market which my brother had talked about. I had a look around but it was long finished and it was just a few people still tidying up. I moved on to the shrine which was small but seemed important as there were some other tourists there and it was dedicated to the sea god I think. I went on to the bridge which looked ok and there was a fish information centre for people next to the museum which was small, free and had a photocopied page for me to read. There was a model of the bridge opening which it used to do and some of the machinery no longer used. I was a bit late so might not make the meeting time so I headed to the nearest train station but on the way saw a building which looked like a museum. I went to have a closer look and it was a temple which was nicely decorated inside so I was even more late when I moved on. I got a message from Clive saying the boat had taken longer so they would be at there at 2pm. I took the train to Ueno and headed to the park which looked a bit different in the light of day and got to the temple which was our meeting point a little late. Clive and Frances weren't there so I wandered a little and found the boating lake but I couldn't see them on the lake. I went back to the temple and saw them hurrying to get there. We sat down for a bit so they could eat their lunch they'd bought from the same supermarket Aeno I'd been to the evening before. Then we went and got a boat which was ¥700 for an hour. I rowed first while Clive had a beer and sat at the back and Frances sat at the front. After a bit Clive had a go and passed the beer to me but I wasn't drinking so I put it down and after a bit there was liquid in the boat and I saw that I'd spilled most of the beer which went on our bags. We all had a go rowing and the man got angry when we tried to sit 2 at the back but otherwise it was ok. We moved on and headed north so we could follow a lonely planet walking route which went to temples an artists house and a graveyard. It was ok but not that special and there were a few other tourists doing the same route which is what happens when you use lonely planet. It was about time we should head back so we took the train which skipped the stop we wanted and went to Tokyo main station. Clive and Frances decided to walk and I took the train 2 stops so I could look around the area near the baseball stadium. The station was a bit further than I wanted as I was on a different train and the route took me past some places on maps so I went around a waterworks garden which was nice and then was heading to the stadium and saw some big funfair rides. I had a look and there was a big amusement area next to the stadium. I had a look before going to the gardens nearby but unfortunately they were closed so I started heading back. I wanted some food and there were no supermarkets so I went to several convenience stores and picked up a few things which made me a bit late back at the hostel. Clive and Frances were there with the luggage and I wanted to send an email to Lupine travel who had booked my North Korea trip I couldn't go on. They headed off to take the tube and I walked the 12 minutes to the train station and got an express train and was at the station 20 minutes early.
The station notices were confusing though and I couldn't see a separate bullet train platform or area so I asked someone and they pointed me to platform 9 and the train was there but they wouldn't let people on as they were cleaning. I went o see if I could find Clive and Frances to direct them to the train but after a few minutes there I went back to the train and they still wouldn't let people on. I tried to hand communicate with a guy that I just wanted to put my bags inside but he offered to look after them instead and I went back to look and got a WiFi signal to send a message that it was platform 9. There was about 5 minutes to go so I was just going to have to hope they made it when I got a text message from Clive saying the train was on platform 9. I went back and they had boarded the train and even talked to the guy with my bags but not noticed my luggage, but it didn't matter we were all on the train and headed off to Matsumoto eating our food on the train and charging with the plugs they had. The train was fairly empty and we arrived before 10 and it was a couple of blocks to the Hotel M Matsumoto which was on the top floor but had no views. I had the bottom capsule although there wasn't enough space for bags or anything and Clive and Frances had their own room. they went to bed fairly early and I took advantage of the computers they had although if I pressed the wrong button the computer would start typing in Japanese which was annoying and when I changed it back the font had all changed. I updated my blog a bit and then went to sleep.
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