Granda the night before the trip... a little nervious perhaps?

Granda is actually my Father (Joe Riley), but having 6 kids that call him Granda, the name gets kind of stuck. He was actually due to go out to Japan with Rie and the kids in September but a couple of days before they found a shadow on his lung and thought it could be a tumour. Some tests later it turned out to  be just a bad chest infection. Thank goodness!

We left London Heathrow at 10am 25th Jan and arrived at Tokyo narata  airport 10am on the 26th. We were met by the welcoming sight of Rie and Austin (my 1 year old son)

Austin age 1 year old met us at the airport

After a purchase of some Tokyo Bananas (the best cakes in the world!)

Tokyo Bananas - Are these the best cakes in the World?

Waiting for the Shinkansen

We bought some iced tea and the lady in the shop said Granda was the cutest Granda she had seen, this expanded his ego somewhat and he tried some of the Japanese he has been learning on her. It did seem to work as she was giggling about it. Parents! you can’t take them anywhere!

We took a normal train to Tokyo then the Shinkansen to Ueda, I couldn’t get a photo of the Shinkansen as it came to the station too fast here is more info on the Shinkansen in case you are interested.

We got to Ueda about 3 hours from the Airport which is a long time. Luckly we went straight to Rie’s parent’s pub for a swift half and some food.

The Hanna Pub, Ueda

Inside the Hanna pub

It’s a warm welcoming pub with great food and cold beer! The interior was built and designed by Rie’s Father Shigeo Saito, I think he made a great job of it.

Granda has a swift 1/2 litre or two (or 4 or 8)

Cosy corner of the pub

Masahiro controlling the kids well.

This is a more traditional room for drinking and eating.

The bar area

We then went back to Rie’s parents house and fell asleep for the rest of the day, syncing in with the time difference. The adventure has just begun…

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