Kyoto – part 4
Himeji-jo is about an hour by train from Kyoto, one of the few original castles left in Japan and what must be their most brilliant one. Very stunning! They recently finished comprehensive renovations, which they conduct every 50 years to be sure they pass on the required skills to the next generation. While the first […]
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Kyoto – part 3
The next morning we were back in the tourist masses at Arashiyama bamboo grove. I can’t imagine how all of this has been two weeks ago, the main weeks to travel for cherry blossoms. In Himeji, our guide told us they had over 12k visitors in one day. The grove was beautiful though with endless […]
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Kyoto – part 2
The town of Nara, 40km away from Kyoto, was Japan’s first permanent capital and is another Unesco World Heritage Site. The main sight is the great buddha (Daibutsu), 16m high and consisting of 437 tonnes of bronze and 130kg of gold. The Daibutsu-den (Great Buddha Hall) is a beautiful towering wooden building, one of the […]
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Kyoto – part 1
After a disappointing ride in the Thunderbird train (it was fast but with that name, we expected more), we arrived mid-day at Kyoto, to another rainy afternoon. Tokyo is all the new, the bright lights, skyscrapers, cute food and colorful fashion. Kyoto is the old Japan, lots of temples and shrines, peaceful gardens, picturesque old […]
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Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps April – part 2
The trip to Takayama was super smooth as overall traveling in Japan was. We booked the tickets online and with a three hours break in Ogimachi, to see the famous gasshō-zukuri farmhouses. They are steep reed-roofed wooden homes, made for harsh winters and meters of snow piling up on their roofs. It’s an Unesco world […]
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Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps
Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps April 11-13 Kanazawa is one of the best preserved Edo-period cities in Japan, the 260 years period of the Tokugawa shogunate that united the country in 1603 and brought peace and prosperity. The town is famous forKenroku-en Garden – one of Japan’s top three gardens, the Nagamachi Samurai district and […]
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Tokyo April 7-10 – day 4
Our fourth day was meant to be another day trip, this one to visit the Toshogu shrine in Nikko. But with the prognosis of constant rain and a temperature of less than three degrees, we decided to go with a Tokyo indoor activity day. So leisurely breakfast at Starbucks, umbrella shopping in Lawson and a […]
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Tokyo April 7-10 – day 3
Rushing out of the hotel at 5am after almost oversleeping, we hurried back to Chidorigafuchi Moat for early morning pictures. Because the light is best and blah blah blah… Cherry blossom season in Tokyo was coming to an end, the trees were already less lush with flowers and the floor covered in petals. But not […]
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Tokyo April 7-10 – day 2
Early(ish) next day we went to the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku, built in 1920 and dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Starting from a massive torii gate, it is a tranquil stroll through a forested area to the shrine. Lunch was a very tasty sushi bowl in a tiny restaurant […]
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Tokyo April 7-10 – day 1
Day 1 – To close one of our main travel white spots (China will follow next year), we booked a two weeks trip to Japan early April, hoping to catch up with the cherry blossom season. We decided to mainly stay in Tokyo and Kyoto, with a short trip to Kanazawa and the Japanese Alps, […]
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