Japan2018 – Page 2 – Rainwater Rambling

Japan 2018 Day 12: Hiroshima to Kyoto

May 14, 2018 richardt

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Today we were heading to Kyoto, but since the weather was so good, we returned to Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park today to see the memorial cenotaph and a few other memorials we didn’t get to see during the rain yesterday.

Some of the millions of paper cranes at the Children’s Peace Monument.

Looking up along a street, that’s a lot of wires.

Another cool parking lot.

It was back on the bullet train to Kyoto.

We headed to the Kiyomizu-dera temple.

There were lots of people wearing Kimonos.

The streets were busy.

We found a Studio Ghibli store.

Gillian with her Totoro friends.

We had somen for lunch today.

Carp flags hanging outside of a school.

We made our way to Nanzen-ji temple.

It has a raised aqueduct that was built in 1890. It is part of the Lake Biwa Canal and it still supplies 97% of the city’s water.

Japan 2018 Day 11: Hiroshima

May 13, 2018 richardt

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castle hiroshima japan peace

Today we toured around Hiroshima. Our first stop was the Atomic Bomb Dome, which is the remaining structure after the bomb destroyed most of the city.

This was the hypocenter where the bomb fell, it was detonated approximately 180m above this spot. The surface temperatures reached 4000 degrees Celsius.

We toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

Our next stop was the Hiroshima Castle.

A pussy willow tree that is 770 meters from the hypocenter, that survived the blast.

This was a circular escalator in a mall.

A bin full of onigiri in a Don Quijote store.

The parking is fascinating, the circular turntables are used to maneuver cars into the right position.

For dinner we had okonomiyaki.

Okonomiyaki is a savory pancake containing a variety of ingredients.

Gillian getting fitted for a Yukata.

Japan 2018 Day 10: Nachi-Katsuura to Tanabe to Hiroshima

May 12, 2018 richardt

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hiroshima japan miyajima tanabe train

We started the day travelling from Nachi-Katsuura to Tanabe City with our final destination Hiroshima.

Standing in front of the Tanabe Tourist Information Center.

We walked around Tanabe, as we had some time before our train to Osaka.

The Tanabe train station on the left.

Gillian by the Tanabe clock.

It wasn’t a very busy city.

Not a lot of touristy bling in any of the stores that were near the train station.

From Tanabe, it was back on the train to Osaka and then a transfer to the bullet train to Hiroshima.

Arrived in Hiroshima.

Walking to our hotel. We had used one of the luggage services to send our bags ahead to the hotel from our Osaka hotel so we didn’t have to deal with them on our side trip.

In the evening we headed to Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Bay.

More deer on the island.

The famous Great Torii Gate is partially submerged at high tide

We were there for sunset.

Group shot.

The Toyokuni Shrine (5 storey).

It was nice to see the Tori gate at sunset, but a lot of the stores and restaurants were closed already, so it would have been nice to spend some more time on the island. After we got off the ferry we had dinner at one of the local restaurants before catching the train back to our hotel.

Japan 2018 Day 9: Osaka to Nachi-Katsuura

May 11, 2018 richardt

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japan nachi-katsuura ryokan temple train waterfall

Today we headed to Nachi-Katsuura in the Wakayama region. This is the area Dad’s family came from.

There are a lot of cemeteries along the way.

Once we got off the train, we left our bags in a locker by the hotel and then caught a bus to Nachi Falls. Shanna and Gillian hiked from the bottom up to the waterfall, Susan and I stayed on the bus a couple of stops more to have a shorted walk to Nachi Falls.

Nachi Falls in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, is one of the best-known waterfalls in Japan. With a drop of 133 meters, it is the country’s tallest water fall with single uninterrupted drop

The Seigantoji Temple.

We met up with Shanna and Gillian somewhere along the trail.

We stayed staying at another traditional style ryokan type hotel in Nachi-Katsuura. There were very few stores and restaurants open.

Japan 2018 Day 8: Osaka/Nara

May 10, 2018 richardt

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deer japan nara osaka temple

We headed to Nara Park to visit some temples and see the wild deer roaming the streets.

The Kofukuji Temple pagoda.

On the way to Todaiji Temple.

There were lots of school groups.

The girls were stopped by a group of school kids asking them questions for a school project.

Todaiji Temple‘s Daibutsu Hall.

The Great Bhudda.

The kids in the school groups would wear the same colour hats so they could keep track of them.

It was on to Kasuga Taisha, Nara’s most celebrated Shinto Shrine.

Shanna trying to make the deer bow to her.

We headed back to Osaka, stopping to reload our Pasmo card.

Osaka Castle rising above the foliage.

Some of the old Osaka Castle walls.

Osaka Castle in the background.

More school groups.

The views from the top of the castle.

Gillian and Shanna mapping out our next stop.

We finished the day exploring the streets of Osaka, including Dotonbori.

Japan 2018 Day 7: Hakone to Osaka

May 9, 2018 richardt

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aquarium hakone osaka shinkansen

We headed from Hakone to Osaka today. Here are Susan and Gillian waiting for the Shinkansen at Odawara Station.

The Shinkansen.

We stayed at the Shin Osaka Station Hotel right across from the Osaka Train Station.

After dropping our luggage off at our hotel, we headed to the Osaka Aquarium. The seats on the train platform were a little odd.

The aquarium is near Osaka Bay.

They will take your picture with your camera, after they take a picture of you with their camera and trying to get you to buy a group photo.

They had a cool penguin exhibit.

Lots of cool jelly fish.

Gillian with another Japanese dude.

More penguins.

It is a pretty cool aquarium, well worth the visit.

Japan 2018 Day 6: Hakone

May 8, 2018 richardt

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hakone ropeway

Today we set out for Owakudani, it is the area around a crater created during the last eruption of Mount Hakone some 3000 years ago. Today, much of the area is an active volcanic zone where sulfurous fumes, hot springs and hot rivers can be experienced. Gillian with a broom in the waiting shack for the cable car.

To get there you have to take a ropeway (which is like a gondola).

May 8th, it was our anniversary!

Gillian trying to find a Japanese guy.

Shanna purchased some black eggs, they are cooked in the naturally hot water, the shells are blackened by the sulfur. It is said that they prolong one’s life by seven years.

As you can see the views of Mt Fuji weren’t happening on this day.

We took the Komagatake Ropeway down to Lake Ashinoko.

We took the big pirate ship across Lake Ashinoko.

We headed to Hakone-Yumoto for some lunch and shopping.

Gillian in front of shelves of umeboshi.

Machine making sweet cakes.

This was the eating area of our hotel, the room to the right was for sleeping on futons.

One of the black eggs.

Japan 2018 Day 5: Tokyo/Hakone

May 7, 2018 richardt

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hakone odawara shinkasen toyko tsukiji

One of the things recommended was the live tuna auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market. Only 120 visitors are able to view the auction on any given day. In order to be one of the few, it also means getting there early to lineup and wait. We still had the time difference on our side, so getting up at 2:00am wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Gillian, Shanna and I headed out from the hotel, Susan was the smart one choosing to sleep. It’s quite the process, first you line up outside and then they bring you into a waiting area, where you sit on the floor to wait. They hand you a flyer with the do’s and don’ts for observing. When it comes time to go, they lead you through the active fish market and into the auction area. The auction starts at 6:00am.

The tuna buyers check out all of the frozen tuna up for auction.

The final tuna auction at the Tsukiji market was on October 6, 2018. The fish market was originally schedule to close in 2016, but was delayed many times. The area will be levelled and used for the upcoming Olympic Games in 2020. The new market is called the Toyosu market and is about 2km east of the current market.

The auction starts with the ringing of a bell.

The bidding starts.

We were only in there for about 15-20 minutes before our time is up and they herd us out.

Today was our first travel day, we were heading to Hakone by Shinkansen (bullet train), train, and then cable car. We purchased a 14 day rail pass. it was pretty cool riding the bullet train.

Hakone is located at the foot of Mt. Fuji, unfortunately our weather for our two days in the area looked like this, and therefore no views of Fuji.

We purchased the Hakone Free Pass. After the shinkansen, we transferred at Odawara to a train which climbed the mountainous area via a bunch of switchbacks.

To get to our hotel we took the cable car. We stayed at Yutorelo Annex Hakone, this was a traditional Japanese style accommodation with an onsen.

We headed to the Hakone Glass Museum.

The Glass no Mori’s Venetian Glass Museum houses a collection of over 100 pieces of Venetian glassware. It displays both modern and classical works in all forms including vases, goblets, lamps and sculptures.

Japan 2018 Day 4: Tokyo

May 6, 2018 richardt

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akihabara ghibli mitaka

Today’s highlight was the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, on the west side of Tokyo. We had bought tickets for it back in February through JTB, tickets can only be purchased in advance. We have done pretty good with the subways and trains so far.

The lineup in front of the museum.

They do not allow photography inside the museum, the only place you could take photos was on the roof with the Robot Soldier.

After the museum we headed to Akihabara Electric Town. Akihabara is a buzzing shopping hub famed for its electronics retailers, ranging from tiny stalls to vast department stores

On Sundays they close down the street to traffic.

Japan 2018 Day 3: Tokyo

May 5, 2018 richardt

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asakusa tokyo

Our first full day in Tokyo. Our view from our hotel.

In the breakfast area of the hotel, there was a vending machine with nigiri, unfortunately it was out of order.

Our first task was to figure out to get our Pasmo cards, they are cards that work on the subways and at convenience stores. You load them up and then just tap when entering the subways.