Japan Tokyo Mt Fugi and then Home

Saturday, October 11, 2008

For our last full day in Japan we took the "Slow Train" out to a small town at the base of Mt Fuji. The "slow train" was a local train, which meant it stopped at every stop on the way, it took 3 hours on the train to get there and only 45 minutes on the highway bus back.

The view from where we had lunch - a great place to picnic

The view of the lake from on the Tram CarWe had lunch on the shore of the lake, and then we decided to take the tram car up the side of a mountain across the valley from Mt. Fuji . This is where we got some great views of Mt. Fuji, we even could see the top (supposedly this is a "shy" mountain like Mt. Robson, where the top is always hidden in the clouds).

Our first view of Mt. Fuji

Scott and I, with Mt. Fuji in the background (too bad you can't see the mountain very well)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

We flew out of Tokyo on Sunday at 7:00 pm - after a 10 hour flight, a 5 hour layover in Vancouver, a flight to Cranbrook and an hour & a bit drive home we arrived approximately 1 hour after we left Tokyo - gotta love a 16 hour time change. It was literally the longest day of our lives, we got to re-live almost a whole day.

Our last bit of time in Tokyo we spent on foot, as our Japan Rail pass ran out. We walked from our hotel (after checking out and getting them to hold our packs) to "Music Town". We did a lot of window shopping. We also found an area of stores totally dedicated to sports - mostly skiing/snowboarding, this is where we spent a lot of time. There was store after store, after store (multiple floors high) of ski pants, jackets, clothes, boots, skis, snowboards, snowshoes, touring gear.... you name it they had it.

After spending hours shopping, we walked back to our hotel to pick up our packs and hop on a train to Narita Airport, to catch our plane home.

Japan Hiroshima to Tokyo

Friday Oct 10, 2008

Our morning in Hiroshima was very moving, all around "Ground Zero" there were signs and pictures of what the area looked like just after the Bomb. It was amazing to think that sixty plus years ago there was nothing left, just rubble, now there is a full blown city with sky scrapers etc.

We didn't feel like we left our selves enough time to Hiroshima, as we had tickets from there to Himeji at 10 am in the morning. We would have liked to see the memorial museum, we have been told that it would have been well worth the visit.

This is the view from our hotel window of the A Bomb Dome

The A Bomb Dome early in the morning with the sun just coming up and shining on it.

This was one of the only surviving buildings, as the bomb exploded almost directly above this spot. The blast basically pushed all the floors inside down, leaving the walls standing - now the walls are held up with some iron work, to prevent them from falling down.
On our way back to Tokyo, we go off the train in Himeji. This was a pretty cool castle that we got to check out. You even get to walk all the way to the top of the main building.

Japan Kyoto to Hiroshima

Thursday Oct 9, 2008
We left Kyoto by train early in the morning and were in Hiroshima by 9:30 am. There are lockers at the train stations, so we put our packs into on and caught the next train to the ferry terminal. We took the ferry to the Island of Miyajima, this island is most famous for the "floating" torii (torii = shinto shrine gate).

Scott and I in the tidal zone checking out the gate

I'm the little white speck at the bottom of the closest pole - wow the gate was huge! Whole Camphor trees make up each of the gate posts This was later in the day just before we got back on the ferry to go back to Hiroshima - the tide came in - so the gate was "floating"

We also chose to hike to the top of one of the mountains on the island, Mt. Misen. We took the path less travelled, so we never really did figure out how far it was exactly in distance (the path down had signs the whole way). We did know for sure that it only took us 2 hours to get to the top (yeah! the gym is finally paying off) and we gained 534 m in elevation.

The view of the gate from the trail up

The island also has wild deer that are very, very tame - they will eat anything, including any paper you have in your hands and your loose clothing Yikes! But they are pretty cute.

A couple of the "Wild" deer

This video is one that Scott took of me trying to escape from one of these deer, I couldn't stop giggling the entire time

After our day on the island we made it back to Hiroshima and checked into our hotel. We had a great view from our window. The view was of the river and the A-Bomb Dome (one of the last remaining buildings from before the A-Bomb - the bomb exploded almost directly above this building, which is why it wasn't completely destroyed).

Japan Kyoto

Wednesday Oct 8, 2008
In the morning we took the JR train network from Kyoto St. to Inari St. From this station we walked to and around the Fushiminarni-Tasisha Shrine, it had a lot of Vermilion coloured gates, along with a creepy cemetery. Vermilion = orange colour.


When we were done at Inari we took the train back to Kyoto station. Where we then used a bus pass we purchased for the rest of the day (Kyoto doesn't have the rail system that Tokyo does). Our pass was only 500 Yen (approx 5$ Canadian), and it was unlimited for that day. We did a walking tour (suggested by the Lonely Planet Guide) of the southern Higashiyama area of Kyoto. It is an area that is jam packed with, Temples, Shrines and Pagodas. We had a picnic lunch at a park in this area, a very nice place in the shade with a creek running by.

After lunch we took the bus to the northern part of Kyoto to see Kinakaku-ji (the Golden Temple), which was very neat to see a building leafed in Gold! But it was super busy as everyone who goes to Kyoto stops by this temple. After the Golden Temple, we took the bus to the Imperial Palace Gardens, where it was nice to chill out and walk around.

A few of the streets on our walking tour of Southeast Kyoto

The Golden Temple

The bus trip back to the hostel was crowded (it seems to get like that, when it is rush hour in Japan), along the way back we could see this huge plume of smoke coming from an area close to the hostel. We checked it out and it was a little building just down the street from where we ate breakfast that morning. Later in the evening it must have flared up again, because we heard all the sirens going back there.

Japan - Tokyo to Kyoto

Tuesday Oct 7, 2008:
We caught our Shinkasen (Bullet Train) - part of the Japan Rail Network, to Kyoto at 10:03 am (you can set your watch by the schedule of these trains). After a 3 hour ride we walked to our hostel in Kyoto. But we were too early to check in, but we got to leave our packs there.

Our train coming into pick us up

We walked around the Kyoto Station area, in a short time we got to see 2 different temples and an Japanese Garden. After we got to check in to K's House, we got them to recommend a good Japanese restaurant. It was great, they even had an English menu to help us order (we didn't have to point at a picture to get what we wanted). After dinner we hung out at the hostel's bar, chatting with a bunch of other travellers, from the UK, Canada and Australia. Of course Scott got to sample a few different Japanese beers.

Shosei-en Garden - one of the 3 bridges

Our hostel in Kyoto - K's House - the most Western style accommodations that we stayed in The high-tech toilet at K's House - 3 different bidet modes, heated seat, fan and music!!

Japan Tokyo Part II

Monday Oct 6, 2008

Our second day in Tokyo we were up very early so we decided to go to the busiest fish market in the world. Tsukiji Fish Market was crazy! and wet - this is the morning we got soaked, from the rain.

Tuna at the market ready to be sold

After the fish market we went back to Hotel Edoya for our complimentary breakfast, (it definitely saved us some money having breakfast included with our hotel - not that Japan is very expensive).

After drying out, and with our tummy's full of tasty Japanese breakfast, we took the train to Shinjuku station and did a bit of camera shopping. The prices once converted to Canadian $'s, were not any more inexpensive to purchase a digital SLR from a Canadian store (and if you buy it in Canada/US you get an English operations manual). So we didn't buy anything, but the selection was great, we got to try out every model from every different company that you could think of.

Even though it had stopped raining and was still cloudy we figured we might as well go up to the observatory floor of the south tower of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building - you are suppose to have a great view of Mt. Fuji if it is clear. All we got was a view of the city of Tokyo which was pretty good!

A view from the observatory

After our trip up to the observatory we took the train to Akihabara, for more shopping in "Electric Town", after shopping we took the train back to our hotel and found a restaurant for dinner. It had a conveyor belt of sushi, and you just pick what you want off of the line and at the end they count how many dishes you have to get how much you need to pay. Scott got a little out of his comfort zone here, and picked a dish that had some okra and something else.... one bite is all Scott could manage, the "sauce" was, mucus-like snotty stuff, GROSS!! (maybe sea urchin innards???)

"Electric Town" - where any appliance known to man can be found!

This photo is for Sarah - they had Anime bill boards all over their buildings every where!

Japan - Tokyo

Friday Oct. 3 / Saturday Oct. 4, and Sunday Oct. 5, 2008:

We left Vancouver 2 o'clock Friday afternoon October 3rd, and after a 9 hour 48 minute flight, landed in Tokyo at 4 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday October 4th!! (we lost a day with the 16 hour time change).

After catching the Keisei Skyliner Express train from Narita Airport to Ueno Station (the station closest to our hotel), we got settled in our room at Hotel Edoya. After walking around the neighbor hood of our hotel, we headed to be at 7:30 pm and slept until 6:00 am.

Our futon beds at Hotel Edoya

The 'living area' of our room

Our first full day in Japan we spent the morning walking around Ueno Park, until 10:00 am when the JR (Japan Rail) office opened so we could activate our JR pass. After activating our rail pass we took the train (basically like a subway network) to Tokyo Station, where we walked to the Imperial Palace and the gardens there.

We then took the train to Shinjuku station, which is the busiest station in the world - something like 1.000,000 people pass through every day. The area surrounding this station is crazy busy too. After Shinjuku we took the train to Suidobashi station and walked to the Tokyo Dome (big baseball stadium) and also had a look at the Kodokan Judo Institute building (some where my Grandfather suggested we check out).

We took the train back to a station close to our hotel (Okachimachi) where we found a small place to eat and ordered our meal by pointing at a photo of something that looked good. We still aren't sure of part of what we ate - it was kinda rubbery, maybe octopus??? We were in bed early again, after doctoring up our blistered feet.

A man hole cover in Ueno Park - in the spring there is a lot of Cherry Blossoms

One of the walls of the Imperial PalaceScott reading the Lonely Planet Guide to Japan - figuring out where and what we were going nextThe shopping area surrounding the Shinjuku stationThe main door for the Kodoan Judo Institute Building