October 16-21
This year's jaunt to Japan started in Tokyo, where I was lucky to have a local guide, and unlucky to have an incoming typhoon...
A couple of days in, it started raining in quite a big way and suddenly every shop magically started selling umbrellas. I was feeling out-of-place in a waterproof (everyone uses umbrellas, including people riding bicycles - somehow it manages to work, even on crowded pavements & zebra-crossings). So I became the proud owner of an expensive cheap umbrella: 500 yen (£2.50 in "not accurate, but easy" maths) was pretty much top-of-the range in the cheap umbrella stakes.
No Akihabara pictures, by the way. Did them last time.