Travel Blog Posts
December 30th 2010
Day 25 December 30, 2010 Tokyo & Madison We have had a great trip and are currently sitting in the United Lounge waiting for our flight back to the US. It is amazing how fast the trip went and all the things we saw, but I think we are both refreshed and ready to head back home. We wish everybody a happy and healthy New Year and see you soon! ... read more
December 29th 2010
Day 24 December 29, 2010 Tokyo Today we decided to take it easy being our last day in Tokyo and started by going to Ueno area and walking along its main park where we saw some shrines and also the statue of Saigo Takamori, a Samurai. Takamori’s life was represented in the Last Samurai movie under the character of Katsumoto. After lunch, we made it to the Imperial Palace that has been used by the emperor since the Meiji restoration leaving the one that we visited in Kyoto mostly as a relic. Unfortunately, the Palace was closed because the Japanese have a national holiday week from Dec. 28th to January 4th. We were still able to walk around the outside walls of the palace and admire the beauty of the nature surrounding this area. We finish ... read more
December 28th 2010
Day 23 December 28, 2010 Tokyo & Kamakura We took a day trip to Kamakura which is about an hour south of Tokyo and a popular beach area for Tokyoites. We decided to explore the area by foot and walk to the great Buddha in Daibutsu temple. It was a really pleasant city with quiet streets and homes. The Great Buddha was an impressive site to see. It is a large bronze statue that was cast around 800 years ago. It was originally housed in a temple that was washed away in a Tsunami. To give some perspective, the ear of the Buddha was approximately Dan’s height. We spent some time walking around the statue and actually, we were able to go inside of it too since it was hallow. Afterwards, we walked down to the ... read more
December 27th 2010
Day 22 December 27, 2010 Osaka & Tokyo We started our day heading towards Osaka Jo castle inside a beautiful park. The castle like the one in Kyoto, belonged to the Samurai ruling the country until the Meiji restoration. We later took a stroll around the Tennoji area where we saw some more shrines and temples. After walking for a while, we found a delicious Indian restaurant. With a happy stomach, we took the 3 hour bullet train back to Tokyo for the final leg of our trip.... read more
December 26th 2010
Day 21 December 26, 2010 Kyota & Osaka For our last day in Kyoto we started the day heading to Nijo Castle and Rokuon Ji Temple. Unfortunately, the Nijo Castle was closed. We were hoping to see it since it was basically the palace of the Samurai and was supposed to be a more ornate version of the Imperial Palace which we saw the previous day. Rokuon Ji Temple didn’t disappoint us. The complex was made up of Japanese gardens and a Golden Temple set over a pond surrounded by nature. We enjoyed it so much we went back again to take a second look. Later that day, we went to the Arashiyama area, which is on the edge of the city along a river. We spent time walking through a bamboo forest. It was a ... read more
December 25th 2010
Day 20 December 25, 2010 Kyoto & Nara We took a 30 minute train ride from Kyoto to Nara, which used to be Japan’s capital prior to it being moved to Kyoto. Nara was a much smaller city where about half the city was made up of a park. The park had hundreds if not thousands of “sacred” deer that walk freely around the park looking for food. In the park we saw the Kofukuji temple which has a 5 story pagoda, the Todaji temple, and the Kasuga Taisha Shrine. Though they were all nice to see, the Todaji Temple was clearly the showcase for us. Inside it has the largest (gilded) bronze Buddha in the world. It was a humungous statue that if I remember correctly was casted back in the 8th century. After seeing ... read more
December 24th 2010
Day 19 December 24, 2010 Kyoto We took the local rail in the morning to see more of Kyoto’s old temples and shrines. Luckily, along the way we saw Nintendo from the train window. After my reading the night before I planned to visit, but seeing the building was a little disappointing so we crossed it off the list. Their office building from the outside looked boring and uninteresting. The first shrine we came to was the Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine. This shrine was in bright orange and had Torii Gates (basically large wooden archways) the stretched for over 4 KM through the mountains. The colors and the nature around this area made it one of our favorite sites. Also, walking through the arches they had stone foxes along the way and cemeteries all along the mountainside ... read more
December 23rd 2010
Day 18 December 23, 2010–Tokyo & Kyoto We took the bullet train South to Kyoto, which is the old capital of Japan. Along the way we were able to see clear views of Mt. Fuji to the right and the sea to the left making it an enjoyable ride. The views along with writing this blog made the trip fly by. Kyoto has probably one of the coolest train stations anywhere. It is something that comes out of a sci-fi movie with some modern architecture that I think most people will either love or hate. The city is a large city of about 1.5 million and like Tokyo has many interesting allies and is surprisingly calm and quiet for a city of its size. What made Kyoto really interesting to us when walking around was it ... read more
December 22nd 2010
Day 17 December 22, 2010 – Nikko We decided to leave Tokyo for the day and took a bullet train about 2 hours north to Nikko. Nikko is up in the mountains and is a weekend getaway for some Tokyoites. Once we arrived to the town we took a bus up the mountain to the world heritage site. We started with Taiyuin which is where Iemitsu is buried. His Grandfather, Tokugawa Ieyasu, established the Shogunate (Samurai clan) that ruled Japan until they opened up the country and the feudal era ended with the Meiji restoration in 1868. The area was scenic and some of the trees were the size of the red woods you can see in Muir Woods. We spent some time walking around and taking in the sites here. Afterwards, we headed to Fuaraasan-Jinja ... read more
December 21st 2010
Day 16 December 21, 2010 – Tokyo We wanted to head down to Tsukiji (Japan’s Fish Market) early in the morning to see the auction but learned that due to many accidents, and it being their busiest working time of the year tourists are not allowed until later in the day. When we arrived we understood why. Even without the large crowds we found the market a maze in trying to avoid getting run over while making our way through the market. As you can probably guess there were a lot of fish of all types there. Afterwards we walked to the Tsukiji Honganji temple and sat inside of a bit to warm up and then to the Namiyoke-Jinja Shinto Shrine and the Hama Rikyu Onhi-Teien Gardens. We didn’t end up walking through the gardens since ... read more
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