Konnichiwa!!!!!!

Ohayo Gozaimasu from Tokyo (that's good morning to non-Japanese speaking readers). :)
We're in the Apple store in Ginza downloading photos (it's free too!) as Rick leaves here tomorrow and I'll be fending for myself from then on. :/ Yes we made it in one piece - think still suffering from jetlag a bit tho, but the heat makes you tired (well, that's our excuse anyway). And it has been SOOO HOT. Kyoto was just scorching. Beginning to wish I'd bought super absorbant sleeveless tops as I don't think that wringing wet look will catch on. How do the Japanese NOT sweat?! You can tell westerners a mile off - they're the ones profusely dripping.
My Japanese isn't doing too badly either - I managed to order a fried chicken thing the first night and was undestood etc, so we're coping well. May be a different story when I'm left to my own devices with the Tokyo metro to deal with....
Anyway, Kyoto was amazing. The wedding was a deeply beautiful experience and we were so fortunate to be a part of it. See piccies. The bride looked beautiful and the ceremony was very meaningful. Lots of partaking of sake between parents and bride and groom - but everything is so precise - 3 tips before pouring and only touch the lips with it, don't drink. Fascinating. The photos were so precise too - everything had to be just so for the photographer and poor Hiroko (the bride) was sweltering under her formal gown. Then it was off to a French restaurant for a 6 course, yes SIX course meal! We certainly couldn't move after that - good job as it was too hot to! :) Then it was Karaoke with Paul afterwards (the groom). It's a good job Elvis is dead cos I murdered him! A BIG thank you to Paul and Hiroko for inviting us.
The only minor mishaps so far have been Rick leaving his camera and video camera on the train from the airport to Tokyo (thankfully they sent found it and sent it on to the hotel in Kyoto - not in time for wedding sadly, but in time for karaoke) and me thinking I'd left a top and bra somewhere when they had fallen behind my bag... d'oh!
Japan is such a sweet country. Everyone is sooooo polite, to the extreme. One of the first things we found in Kyoto was Tiffany's jewellers - and adverts featuring Audrey Hepburn (see other piccies). I'm right at home here. :)
They love cute gormless things too (see brown monster piccie - Domokun) so I've got a few cute dangly things for my bag I couldn't resist. They love pod capsule machines here but the stuff you get here is so much better than the tacky rubbish in Britain. I can see how it can get addictive. I've stuck to my budget tho and have been a very good girl.
So many people fall asleep on the subway here, it's funny. There are musical zebra crossings and also musical underground stations so blind people know they're close. It's the little things that make all the difference.
I've seen many Buddha (see pic pof my fave at Kamakura) and temples too and love every one of them. I couldn't live here tho - am being eaten alive by very vicious mozzies and the living conditions seem very cramped and claustrophobic in the city. The people are lovely though - they can:t do enough for you and their manners are impeccable. One man bowed so low to me when serving me in a stationery shop that I thought he was going to hit the counter with his head! The rest of Europe could learn a thing or too about manners from this place.
Anyway, best dash. More temple-watching to do. Off to Senso-ji today. May not get chance to email again once on this guided tour on Sat so next time may be from New Zealand at end of August.
Sayonara for now! XXX