Japan, day 18: last day

That was the day of our departure, but the flight back being at almost 7 pm, we managed to fit a few more sights. 

First, yet another view of Mount Fuji - this one from Hirano beach on Lake Yamanaka.

These rather ugly (in my opinion) swan-geese are representative of the Five Lakes region because we saw them on "our" lake, Lake Kawaguchi, as well. And speaking of our lake, as Alex and I were walking back and forth by the lake shore (first, to and from the ropeway, then - to the souvenir store), we saw the same bird in more or less the same stretch: it would land briefly on a branch or a fence post, then fly away before I had a chance to take a picture. Was driving me crazy. So early in the morning of the last day, since I was awake anyway, I went out alone with my camera and - sure enough! Here it is.

I am still not quite sure what it is. Might be a female Daurian Redstart...

Getting back to our last day itinerary, we drove closer to Narita airport (which is located 70 km away from Tokyo) and visited Naritasan Shinsho-ji, a 10th-century Buddhist temple with a colorful three-story pagoda.

Next to the temple, there is a tourist street, Naritasan Omotesando - both sides of the street are full of pedestrians, traditional shops, either souvenirs or food... I planned to have lunch at an Unagi place there. (Unagi is eel in Japanese. I like this word, it is easy to pronounce and to remember.)

However, Alex got lost, and while I was searching for him, the time window allotted for lunch was gone... We drove to the airport and had our unagi there before the flight.

We left Japan on a 6:50 pm flight to Boston, where we landed at 5:50 pm that same day, spending about 12 hours inside the plane but somehow gaining an hour in the process... good thing Temma was there at Logan to meet us and take us home.