japan – Rainwater Rambling

Japan 2018 Day 21: Travel

May 23, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

Today we were leaving Japan. We had an amazing trip, enjoyed the sights, trains, but especially the food.

Having breakfast at Haneda Airport.

One of the offerings at a kiosk, Shrimp & Broccoli sandwich.

I opted for breakfast ramen.

Gillian atop of Mt Fuji.

Gillian with her stuffed Totoro in her knapsack.

Our trip home was through Beijing.

Boarding our plane in Beijing.

We said our goodbyes to Shanna who was heading to Kelowna and then home. Gillian and Susan still in good travel spirits.

Waiting for Angela and Claudia to pick us up at Pearson.

Japan 2018 Day 20: Tokyo – Shinjuku

May 22, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

japan shinjuku tokyo

Today was our last full day in Japan. We started the day walking around Shinjuku. This was a fish market unloading styrofoam containers.

A delivery truck with some beer kegs.

This was Godzilla hanging out atop a cinema.

We also made a stop at the National Bank of Japan so Gillian could exchange a really old 10,000 YEN bill that G0ma and G-pa had given to her for the trip.

It was like walking into a movie scene, the bank was empty of any other customers, but the security was intense.

There was a Japanese Boy Band performing in a mall.

Our last dinner in Japan was at another conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Tokyo station.

Gillian and I went to the subway station near our hotel to return our Pasmo cards and get a refund on our deposits.

We stayed at the same hotel as our first night. It was close to Haneda Airport.

Japan 2018 Day 19: Tokyo – Harajuku/Shibuya

May 21, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

harajuku japan shibuya shrine tokyo

Today we were exploring the Harajuku and Shibuya areas of the city.

We started by going to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observation deck.

A circular traffic light in Shinjuku.

We made another stop at a location in the movie Your Name.

Heading to Meiji Shrine.

Sake barrel wall in Yoyogi park.

Ordering our ramen lunch from a machine.

A Richards in Harajuku.

Then it was on to Shibuya to see the crazy crosswalk.

Shanna with the Hachiko statue.

The Shibuya Crossing.

In typical tourist fashion we crossed a few times.

Mario kart racers.

This group of people ran out as soon as the light changed to take a group photo.

Susan on the crossing.

My camera got a workout on this trip.

No eating sign with an onigiri.

A gas station in Tokyo. The hoses hang from the roof.

Japan 2018 Day 18: Kanazawa to Tokyo

May 20, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

baseball japan kanazawa mt fuji subway tokyo

We made our way back to Tokyo today. It was our last ride on the bullet train. We really enjoyed our travel by rail using the JR rail pass.

The scenery on the way back was nice, especially with the sunny weather after a couple of overcast days in Kanazawa.

We were able to see Mt Fuji off in the distance.

After dropping off our bags at our hotel we made our way to the Tokyo Dome.

The lineup to get into the store to get our Giants gear.

We had tickets to the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants vs the Yokohama DeNa Baystars.

The beers girls have a keg on their back and they pour draft beer at your seat.

They had four mascots.

The sections are based on the team you are rooting for. Except for the one guy in orange.

Enjoying a onigiri at the game.

The Giants ended up on the wrong side of a 10-2 final score.

Gillian checking out the capsule toy vending machines.

A shelf of onigiri in a Lawsons.

We finally got to experience a packed subway train in Tokyo.

The Studio Ghibli store on Charater Street under the Tokyo train station.

A lineup for a restaurant in Tokyo Station.

We Skyped with Angela and Claudia a few times throughout our trip.

Japan 2018 Day 17: Takayama to Kanazawa

May 19, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

japan kanazawa takayama train

Today we headed from Takayama to Kanazawa.

Our first stop after our hotel was the Gold Leaf museum.

Then it was on to the Omi-cho Market.

A water fountain outside the Kanazawa train station.

Japan 2018 Day 16: Takayama/Shirakawa-go

May 18, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

japan shirakawa-go takayama

We were staying at the Takayama Station Hotel.

We headed out to the Miyagawa morning market.

This guy had a Totoro knapsack.

Then we went to see the parade float exhibition hall. Twice a year Takayama has a festival where a bunch of people push and pull these huge parade floats down the streets of Takayama.

In the afternoon we took a tour to Shirakawa-go village. We passed through a lot of tunnels through the mountain sides to get there.

The first stop was a scenic outlook that looked down on Shirakawa-go.

Our tour bus.

A farmer working a rice field.

Shirakawa-go is popular for the Gassho style houses. The roofs are made from a type of Japanese grass and the inside is actually quite spacious.

A farmer planting some rice.

Rice plants ready to go.

Inside one of the ghasso houses.

Shirakawa-go is a UNESCO heritage site.

Some roofs are newer than others.

Crossing the bridge on our way back to the bus.

A onigiri poster for Lawson’s.

Let’s English!

Gillian and I playing Super Mario on the Nintendo in the hotel lobby.

Japan 2018 Day 15: Kyoto to Takayama

May 17, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

hida-furukawa japan kyoto takayama train

Today we traveled from Kyoto to Takayama.

This was a Limited Express train with wide scenic windows.

These girls had a tripod setup and were taking pictures of themselves.

Gillian with a wood sculpture.

Some giant carp flags.

We toured around the streets of Takayama.

Gillian wanted to go to Hida-Furukawa station which was a 20 minute train ride. It is the station that appears in the movie Kimi no na wa (Your Name).

The train was pretty empty.

There were spots around the train station that appear in the movie, like this view of the train station.

A group shot while waiting for the train back to Takayama.

This was a liquor store across from the Takayama train station.

Japan 2018 Day 14: Kyoto

May 16, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

bird geisha japan kyoto temple umeboshi

We were up early this morning to head to the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine, known for its winding path of torii gates. The guidebooks said you need to go early to get pictures without anyone else in them.

There is a hike up through the gates.

This guy was painting one of the tori gates.

Time for a snack. A tsukemono cucumber on a stick.

Our next stop was the Nishiki market. Some expensive rice.

Some octopus on a stick.

There was a Peanuts store.

A giant container of umeboshi.

There was a tsukemono sampling station. It was delicious.

Gillian with a bottle of umeboshi.

Gillian enjoying a tskeumono cucumber on a stick.

The market was in an indoor mall.

Lunch was at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant.

After lunch we visited the Toji Temple and its gardens.

Another heron fishing for lunch.

And then it flew off.

Some fire buckets.

The Japanese Colonel.

In the evening we headed to the Gion area.

We spotted another geisha.

There was some sumo wrestling on the television at the hotel.

Japan 2018 Day 13: Kyoto

May 15, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

bird geisha japan kyoto monkey temple

Today we went Arashiyama’s monkey park, where they have macaque monkeys roaming around. We got there early, so had to wait for it to open. There was a heron on the river bank.

The monkeys are able roam around the park.

There were some babies sticking close to their mothers.

This was the oldest monkey in the park.

You can go inside the building and feed the monkeys.

The next stop was Arashiyama’s Bamboo Grove.

Next it was on to the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji).

The buses were crowded.

We headed to Nijo Castle. Here is an umbrella stand, that lets you lock up your umbrella. Gillian needed one of these in Hiroshima, where someone took her hotel loaner umbrella from a stand outside of a 7-11.

We ended the day geisha spotting in a small neighbourhood in Kyoto.

These were magnets on the back of the hotel door. Depending on which service you wanted you would put the magnet on the door.

Japan 2018 Day 12: Hiroshima to Kyoto

May 14, 2018 richardt

Japan2018

hiroshima japan kyoto temple totoro

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.