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Published: April 25th 2014
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Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto
Reflection of The Golden Temple On arrival in Tokyo, we were immediately struck by how helpful and extremely polite everyone was. People were always bowing and smiling and tried their best to help us confused foreigners!
As space is at a premium in Tokyo, the hotel room was like a broom cupboard – 14 sqm, literally just enough room for a bed and very little else. It also took some getting used to the heated toilet seat that automatically flushed as you sat down on it but then when we went to other places that didn’t have heated toilet seats we were quite disappointed!
Our first priority was to check out the famous cherry blossoms and we headed off on the metro to Shinjuku Gyoen Park which has thousands of trees and thousands of Japanese people taking pictures of them. We saw couples have their wedding photos and people in traditional Japanese dress; so a picturesque start to our Japan tour. It was of course helped by the wonderful warm spring sunshine.
We also went to watch people crossing the road at Shibuya; this spectacle is famous and attracts lots of people crowding in the coffee shops to witness the crazy rush of
Shinjuku Gyoen, Tokyo
Wedding couple under the cherry blossoms people cross the road from all directions when the green man lights up before the traffic sets off again!
We used our rail pass to go out to Mount Takao and hiked up and back to the viewpoint and on our return stopped off at Shinjuku train station to see the bright neon lights of the Kabuki Cho district. To say that the trains and stations here are busy is somewhat of an understatement as we discovered when travelling during Monday morning rush hour with our luggage! One of our friends spent the journey to Tokyo station literally lifted off the floor, held aloft by the mass of people in the carriage!
Other highlights of Tokyo included seeing small lap dogs being pushed around in special doggy-pushchairs and young fashionistas strutting their stuff in crazy and wacky outlandish clothes.
After Tokyo we travelled on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagoya and then on through the Japanese Alps to Takayama, which has a beautifully preserved Old Town. We were very lucky as the Spring Festival was in full swing. This meant the streets were filled with processions of ornate floats and traditionally clothed locals. But after all that
culture it was time to visit a local Sake brewery, where we were happy to take advantage of the local tipple and even purchased a bottle or two for later on the trip.
Our next journey on the bullet train was to Kyoto, which was fortunate to be spared in the World War II bombings so has retained thousands of ancient shrines, temples and palaces. Our particular favourites were the Zen Gardens of Ryoanji Temple and the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which is a maze of thousands upon thousands of orange coloured ‘Torii’ Gates.
One evening in Kyoto whilst wandering around the old quarter of Gion we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of two traditional Geisha’s dashing from one appointment to the next. How do they walk so fast with those shoes?!
We then headed to Nagasaki where at 11:02 on August 9
th 1945 the second atomic bomb was dropped. We visited the Peace Park Memorial Site and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, which was all very sobering. (Later in the trip we also took the opportunity to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and museum when we passed through the city).
On a more light-hearted
Takayama
View of the Japanese Alps from Hida-no-Sato note; we decided to try out the traditional Japanese onsen (natural hot springs) at our hotel at Yufuin. Luckily we were alone when we entered the onsen as you have to be naked and you all know how shy we are! The experience was very invigorating but it did feel a bit like being boiled as a lobster in the hot water. An area of the onsen was outside and open for all the world to see, so it was quite a strange experience seeing people on the street down below whilst we were sat steaming away in our birthday suits!
We were also fortunate to be in Yufuin during another festival, and managed to watch a series of Taiko drummers. The groups of drummers were mesmerising to watch as they were concentrating so hard it seemed they were almost in a trance as they performed. The sound was fantastic and with a dozen or so drums beating in unison, it seemed as if the ground was vibrating. Terrific!
At Japan’s holiest island, Miyajima, we spent a relaxing evening and dressed up in our yukatas for a traditional Japanese dinner with our group at our beachside hotel.
The tour continued on to Hakone and after using an impressive series of funicular and cable cars we then sailed on a pirate boat around Lake Ashi looking for a view of an elusive Mount Fuji. We then took a break to eat a black shelled egg cooked in the hot sulphur waters in the volcanic area of Owakudani.
After all that activity it was full circle back to Tokyo and the end of the tour, but not before a quick visit to the Kit Kat Chocolatory boutique store (the only one in the world). Kit Kat sounds similar to the Japanese phrase ‘kitto katsu’ which means ‘you will surely win’ so is incredibly popular here! All slightly bonkers, and a very fitting end to our time here.
It’s been a fascinating place and culture to visit but for now its…….
Say-o-nara from Japan
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