The day has finally arrived to pack up and head home.

Had breakfast in the hotel so that we could get back upstairs and finish packing .

As the direct result of our total disinterest in shopping, when we'd finishing packing the bags weigh only two kg more than when we got here. Very ironic waste of the 30kg each we get with our StarClass seats.

Checked out and stored the bags so we could get in one last morning of site seeing. Wanted to see the weekend Harajuku parade of young girls and guys cos playing. Of these we only saw maybe half a dozen.

Before we went looking for them we visited the Meiji Shrine and Park. What an amazing oasis in the middle of the city, even more so that the study park we visited yesterday.

The scale of the torii is astonishing. The park is peaceful and cool and very spiritual.

Inside the park is the beautiful Meiji Jingu Garden. A pic of the description of the garden is posted.

When the flowers are in bloom - azaleas, iris, water hyacinth, and anything else growing within the garden, it must be spectacular. Even with a lone iris flowering it was amazingly beautiful, especially when considering it had been used by both the Meiji Emperor and his Empress. 

We then went and looked at the shrine. We've seen lots but the detail of the Meiji Shrine was in a different league . To top it off we were honoured to witness a very solemn wedding procession. Wow!!

Back across the rail bridge to Harajuku and as I said we only saw half a dozen cos play kids. We're sure there was somewhere they all congregate and pose but we couldn't find it. Didn't matter, as in our wanderings through the backstreets we saw some very cool architecture and some great shops that we will definitely visit when we come back to Tokyo. Of that there is no doubt.

Al was getting a bit concerned (ok, very concerned) about the time and was very relieved when we got on that train but both of us were surprised/concerned as the train filled and we were soon inside a very packed sardine can. This is a Saturday, not a weekday.

Finally squeeze out of the crush at Shinjuku, pick up the bags, get back on the cross city train and head for Tokyo station and our last Shinkensen ride.

Stock up on goodies at the gourmet 'deli' - fresh dumplings, great bento boxes and little cheesecakes (plain and mango) and go up to the platform . Beer up from one of the platform shops as our train pulls in from Osaka and gets ready to head back.

It's quite a site watching the cleaning crews go through that train like a well oiled machine and within a very short time they're done and we're onboard.

Gunna so miss these now regular high speed journeys through the Japanese countryside.

As we go through Odawara we both hope that the clear weather means we might get to see Fuji again and indeed we do. It is cloudless and as expected in this heat, snowless. FANTASTIC.  

Speed past an amazing building called the Solar Ark - http://panasonic.net/sanyo/solarark/en/

So, after three way too short hours, our last Shinkensen pulled into Shin-Osaka a minute late. We had 15 minutes to get to our train to Kansai Airport. Wasn't quite the platform change we thought it would be . Had to leave the Shinkansen section of the station and go back into the 'regular' bit of the station. Nevertheless we were on the platform with ages to spare.

If arriving into Japan was easy, then leaving was even easier. Check-in took all of five minutes due to the dedicated StarClass/Business Class counter. Our only issue was deciding which of the two lounges we would use. We chose the 'other' one (instead of the 'Jetstar only' lounge).  

The queue at immigration of ,,,, no-one except us, also took about two minutes. 

Plane was delayed 15 minutes and cattle class was absolutely packed with excited Japanese school children. Lucky we were up the pointy end in row 2.

Business/StarClass was great again. Terrific service, good meals. Got those eye shades on, reclined those seats and got some sleep.