Blogs from Aichi, Japan, Asia
May 10th 2012
This was a homestay trip for 8 days in Japan that I went to a loooong time ago! I was 14. Places visited included Nagoya, Osaka and of course, Tokyo. Photos speak it all!... read more
March 16th 2012
I started writing this a few days ago but have been super busy so not had a chance to finish it. But here you go. We arrived in Tokyo without any problems, and won at working out the train timetables. Because we gave ourselves plenty of time for getting lost and missing trains, we arrived in Nagoya about 4 or 5 hours earlier than necessary, and spent some time wandering around near Nagoya station. It's not a particularly interesting place, but we did meet a sleepy Japanese man who showed us how to properly address a shrine before heading off to check into Hostel Ann, a nice wee place whose only fault is the only one shower for 24 guests. The highlight of the trip so far (and let's face it, probably the next 6 months) ... read more
February 4th 2012
Hello, We went to the Konomiya Shrine's Naked Festival on Saturday with Zoe and Martin. It was really good fun, we hope you enjoy the photos and bit of information below. Hadaka Matsuri officially called "Naoi Shinji", this festival takes place anually on January 13 of the lunar calendar. The festival started about 1240 years ago in the year 767 (Nara Period), when Emperor Shotoku ordered the entire nation to offer prayers to dispel a plague. The govenor of Owari Province (presently Aichi prefecture) thereby went to the Owari Sosha Shrine and founded the festival to dispel bad luck and calamities. Since it is said that touching the consecrated man, Shin-Otako, will dispel one's bad luck. A large group of naked men bravely struggle to touch the Shin-Otoka, who has been censecrated in a ceremony lasting ... read more
January 19th 2012
Hello We hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year, ours was really good. My parents came to Japan and this blog will show you some of the stuff we did whilst they were here. You may notice Ben isn't in many because he had to work but he is in other ones that I will hopefully publish today.... read more
Fish, Sumo and Toyota - it doesn't get more Japanese than that
Published: December 1st 2011Asia » Japan » Aichi » Nagoya
November 30th 2011
We've been busy lately, racing around the country using Japan's amazing train network. And thanks to our Japan Rail pass, we can use the trains as much as we want. So we'll start with Kyoto where we really only spent one day of tourism despite spending three nights in the city. That's probably sacrilege considering Kyoto is considered by many to be the best city in the whole country. We have our reasons for this which we'll get to shortly. For the day we had booked 8 hours of private guide service to show us around which was apparently enough to take us to 3 or 4 highlights. Just a small slice of what Kyoto has to offer. So we started out with the most famous site in Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji temple or the Golden Pavilion followed ... read more
November 26th 2011
On Saturday we went to see lots of maple trees because the leaves are changing colour, it was very pretty. It did take two hours on a bus to drive maybe 20 miles because it is supposed to be the third best site to see the red maple leaves in Japan after Kyoto (No.’s 1 and 2) so there was lots of traffic.... read more
November 23rd 2011
Due to a public holiday on Wednesday 23rd November we went to Lake Biwa, it is very big and pretty as you will see. We walked along the lake to Hikone and visited Hikone Castle which is a National Treasure. We thought the outside of the castle was spectacular but the inside was just ok with lots of queues.... read more
November 18th 2011
Hello, This is our first blog, we hope you enjoy looking at our pictures and seeing what adventures we have been up to. Although I say we, Ben is at work so I'm doing it on my own which could be interesting. I hope this works. I thought I should tell you a little bit about Osu Kannon, it is a shopping area in Nagoya. It has lots of shops, food stands, restaurants and our favourite supermarket. At the weekend it is very busy and you can tell the popular restaurants because they always have long queues. Sadly I cant remember the historical information about Nagoya castle, I think it was pretty much destroyed in a war and re-built, sorry to be so vague. I do have one interesting fact we can see it from our ... read more
November 18th 2011
Hello In October we went on a trip with my Japanese class to Inuyama. It is a very pretty place with a very nice castle. Please enjoy our photos. Vikki and Ben... read more
November 18th 2011
Hello We went to the Atsuta shrine and Shirotori gardens which are beautiful. We took quite a lot of photos that you can have a look at. In November they have a festival for three, five and seven year olds. They dress up in gorgeous clothes and visit shrines, we didn't know this when we went to Atsuta Shrine so had a surprise. Vikki and Ben... read more
