So it’s goodbye to Kanazawa, it’s been a wonderful 3 days exploring this beautiful city with all it’s history and nature.

We headed early to the station for our last Shinkansen bullet train at 9.07am. (Precise as ever the Japanese, and we left bang on seven minutes past 9am!).

And before we knew it, we were back in Tokyo for our last full day. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we returned to central Tokyo and went for lunch at our favourite cafe, the City Bakery in Ginza.

Once we’d refuelled on caffeine, croque monsieur & cookies, it was time to take in the sights on our final day.

On Sundays the Main Street, Chuo-Dori is closed to traffic and pedestrianised enabling us the chance to wander up close past the various flagship stores for luxury brands like Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton.

After enjoying a couple of hours browsing and people watching, we made our way to Hibiya Park. It was Japan’s first western style park and features fountains, large ponds and big open lawns. When we were there it was brimming with young families and people playing sports.

From there we moved on to the Tokyo Imperial Palace Gardens, with their impressive stone walls, moat and traditional Japanese landscapes. It was perfect for a stroll in the sunshine and to get lost in the peaceful lush greenery.

Over the last few days it’s become clear that Japan is fully embracing the Christmas preparations with decorated trees now out in force.

It feels like a festive season we are used to, with cooler weather and early dark nights. Thankfully though we will be saying goodbye to the cold tomorrow, when we fly back to the Southern Hemisphere and the next stage of our tour, Auckland, New Zealand.

Before leaving Ginza we decided to fill up with an early dinner and a trip to a Japanese curry house for one last time.

It was a great chicken curry with an Asahi Super Dry beer for Andy. Doesn’t get much better and a great way to sign off as our last meal in Tokyo.

Tomorrow we have the morning to enjoy the Eastern part of Tokyo, before we take the 90min train journey out to Narita airport and fly late afternoon on a 10hr 30min flight to Auckland.

We’ve had an amazing 5 weeks in Japan and have loved every bit of our time exploring this wonderfully diverse and stunning country. Feeling quite sad to be leaving, but hopefully we will return in the next few years.