By way of celebrating the end to their vacation in Japan, Tom bought a bottle of fancy bubbles so they could toast themselves for the wonderful time they have had, and to thank Bernie for his advice on where to go and what to do. Mick I am sure was also thanked for his contributions to the trip, which were many.

I was very pleased to receive this next photo of Mick – standing in front of a building he stood in front of 30 years ago when he was visiting Japan with Brydie and her friend Janelle. Back then there were no iPhones, and few photos were taken. But this building is very significant.

In my first post about this trip I mentioned that we had hosted a Japanese man called Ken, then aged 57, who taught at the small central school where we were working. Ken taught Japanese and maths as well as he could. His English was not fantastic, and that was one reason he had wanted to experience this one year adventure, living with Mick and me and our family for a (school) year in the middle of New South Wales in a town with a population back then of 250! I think he got more than he had bargained for.

Well – Ken’s real job was as an architect.

When Mick and the girls stayed with Ken and his wife for a few days all those years ago, Ken insisted on taking them to see this building, because he had designed it. Ken was very proud of this building and its location – in central Tokyo.

Any ideas as to what it is?

Well, I won’t leave you in suspense – it is a Police Station.

I remember Mick and Brydie telling me when they got home how surprised they were with the size of the building that was supposedly one of the main headquarters for Police in Tokyo. It was so small. Perhaps that says something about the crime rate – well that’s what Mick thought back then.

Their flight departs around 9.30pm (Tokyo time) and they are scheduled to land in Brisbane at 7.30am (Sunday). I will be there to collect Mick, say hello and goodbye to the others, and then to drive us home to the Sunshine Coast.

And there is a little surprise in store for Mick when he gets home – as I have been quite busy working on a ‘project’ we had both started before he left. I have made some good progress on it while he has been exploring the delights of Japan, and I am excited to see his reaction.

Thank you for joining these travellers on this trip to Japan. It was a little weird writing about it 24 hours later than things happened, and I did take some poetic licence here and there, but my next posts will return to being about Mick’s and my adventures.