http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/hoshisato/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from hoshisato en-us Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:51:46 +0000 Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:51:46 +0000 Every October 24 on top of Mt Komagatake in Hakone the Goshinkasai Motomiya Reisai festival takes place. It is an important festival for the Hakone shrine and it consists of lighting a fire of which burning coals will be distributed to all related shrines in the area.This year the top of Mt Komagatake was covered in clouds which gave a special feel to this matsuri. In the photo to the right tw http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kanagawa/Hakone/blog-451615.html Shukubo experiences at Mount Koya or K333yasan 396403732623665 have been described in this forum more often but I enjoyed my stay so much that I feel obliged to describe my own experience. The Okunoin Cemetery Kongobuji Temple with the Banryutei rock garden and the area around the Konpon Dait333 which make up the main sites in Mt Koya all are fabulous and have all well deserv http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Wakayama/Koyasan/blog-449415.html We took the JR Hida line from Nagoya to MinoOta to change to the nonJR Nagaragawa Railway if you come from Gifu you should take the JR Takayama Main line till MinoOta. Your JR Japan Rail Pass is no good on the Nagaragawa line and you'll have to buy a ticket on the platform at the machine. The train meanders left and right of the Nagara river and the views over the river are beautiful.From http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Gifu/blog-257655.html Located in Akita Prefecture and no train station really close by Nyuto Onsen is not the obvious choice for the tourist in Japan. However if you developed a taste for onsen and want more Nyuto Onsen is the place for you. Listed in Robert Neff's book Japan's hidden hotsprings Nyuto Onsen might be different from what you would expect No glossy swimming pool type baths and fancy ryokans but rams http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Akita/blog-257015.html Day 1 Ever since reading Desmond Bagley's Running Blind I have been fascinated with Iceland and in the summer of 2006 I finally had the chance to book the trip I wanted. We flew from Heathrow to Kevlavik were collected at the airport by a taxi checked into our guest house in Reykjavik and reported to the travel agency to collect the details about the trip. A series of guest houses around Icelan http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Iceland/blog-256626.html Taisoike pond a photographer's dream We had taken the bus from Takayama JR station to Kamikochi and got off in front of the Taishoike Hotel where we had reserved a room in advance. Typhoon 9 of 2007 had just passed over the area and the weather was just getting better. The hotel was the usual small Japanese room but it had a pleasant surprise in the form of a nice view from the communal bath a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Nagano/blog-256132.html Section 3 Later that day we continued our trip south via the JR Sanin Honsen line via Masuda where we changed trains to Nagato and finally said goodbye to the JR Sanin Honsen line that had brought us all the way from Kyoto. The scenery from the train was still very dramatic when the train passed close by the sea.From Nagato we took the bus to finally arrive in Tawarayama Onsen which had been the m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Yamaguchi/blog-256128.html Section 2 The next morning we got up early at 6 o'clock to be able to catch the early train from Kinosaki to Tottori. The courtesy bus was not running at that time and the people from the ryokan were very kind and drove us to the train station to catch the first train on the JR Sanin Honsen line. Quite a lot of high school students got on as well and it was amusing to see how the boys got their po http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Shimane/blog-255842.html Section 1 We had come by shinkansen to Kyoto and our first stop would be Kinosaki. We found the platform for the JR Tokkyuu Kinosaki Express at Kyoto station had time to buy some onigiri riceballs and we were off enjoying the long ride which brought us via the JR Sanin Honsen line passing the mountainous area to the other side of Japan. The views from the train were pretty but the weather changed http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Hyogo/blog-255826.html