Blogs from Hyogo, Japan, Asia - page 5

I'm back in Belgium! I've been back since yesterday 11AM, but didn't get much rest because we had to drive home from Schiphol airport (ca. 2 hours), visit my maternal grandmother who wanted to hear all about my trip (ca. 2 hours) and in the evening we went out to eat at a restaurant. Though now I'm rested and ready to start my Japan report posts! Because I posted my pictures on facebook while I was in Japan and didn't have access to editing software, the quality might not always be the best - but oh well ... Also this first post is not the most interesting because it's mostly about traveling, I'm afraid. Day 1: Crossing Seven Time Zones I still had an exam on June 30th. The day after that me and my parents ... read more

So we're sitting here, wearing our cotton yukata robes, in our rice paper-walled, tatami mat-floored room, having just eaten a 6 course traditional Japanese dinner and bathed in hot springs with water famed across Japanese for its healing mineral properties and things are generally Pretty. Awesome. Rewind! We forgot to tell you, when we got back to our room in Kyoto there was a letter stuck to our door from the owner, addressed 'Dear Tess-san and Aisha-san'. That morning, we'd let the front desk know there was a minor issue with our room (but no biggie). The letter was hugely apologetic for all inconvenience caused (? not really?) and please accept our gift of a bottle of plum wine. How nice is that! Anyway, this morning we checked out, happened across a rully good boulangerie (we're ... read more

My journey started back to the main island again with a short jaunt on the ferry and then a train to Okayama in ridiculous heat. This did mean on reaching Okayama I was completely floored and didn't feel like doing anything at all. I felt quite miserable as I was only there for one night and felt like I should be making the most of every second but the thought of dragging a heavy bag around for hours was just soul destroying so I found a cafe and got a nice cold drink and some lunch.. One quick stop over and onto Kobe which is a very vibrant and quite attractive city overlooking the sea. There a quite a few fun and interesting sights in Kobe the first being Chinatown which was a bit crazy given ... read more

5:46AM. Jan 17th, 1995 7.2 Richter scale earthquake. Kobe's annual Luminarie is a memorial to the loss suffered in the Kobe Earthquake. The festival runs every year in December for about 12 days. Pictures taken on Dec 14th, 2009. Text written Jan 17th, 2010. As natural disasters continue to hit us, our prayers go to those who were affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Namaste ... read more

Oct 14 and 15, Held in Tenmangu Shrine abt.50km westward of Kobe (Also westward of Osaka) Japan. Although I checked it with Wikipedia, blogs and the related websites, I came to a question which date 14th or 15th is the most attractive one to me. It seemed it might take more than three hours to reach at the "Far West" from my house at Nara city "Far East". I took a train to Osaka station, transited for Himeji known as Himeji castle (World Heritage), arrived at Akashi Station where I changed to another line to Shirahama-no-Miya Station where the festival is held for two days. Without knowledge where it is, I followed to some would-be sightseeners. Before arriving the real site, several food stalls along street were seen within 10 minute walk. Already local people and ... read more