Last day of the trip we had a break from temples and shrines. We continued the cycling theme and went for a slightly longer ride near Lake Biwa (琵琶湖), the largest lake in Japan. The itinerary was pretty relaxed for […]
For a bit of change we’d be travelling by bicycles. I found a rental place on the web beforehand which was not far from Kyoto Station, but turned out to be a bit hard to find as it’s in some […]
We began our travel in Kyoto today, focusing on the north-west / western area. With yesterday’s rain receded and replaced by a bright blue sky, it’s good time to visit the shiny “Gold Pavilion” temple, Kinkaku-Ji (金閣寺), and Ryoan-Ji (龍安寺), […]
Uji (宇治) Kyoto is easily accessible from Tokyo, via the frequent Tokaido Shinkansen (we’re talking about departure every 10 minutes!) that covers about 500 km in about 2.5 hours. To have a full day travelling, we took the train just […]
For people visiting Japan the first time, Kyoto would be one of the most popular destinations, on par with Tokyo. Being the ancient capital of Japan, it’s packed with some beautiful historical sites and temples, many of which are designated […]
To see some autumn colours, and have a short day trip away from Tokyo – this time we went to Nagatoro (長瀞) in Saitama prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. It has a park named “Tsuki no Ishi Momiji Koen” (月の石もみじ公園), literally […]
Our second day of diving was with the operator Pushynushima (ぷしぃぬしま), which happened to be right next to our hotel East China Sea, next to the pier. My wife gave diving a pass that day, so only me, one other […]
Our final destination on the trip. We’d have just over 2 full days there, and the highlight and main activity, would be Scuba diving – there are certainly good spots near the Okinawa Main Island (沖縄本島), but the outlying islands […]
Okinawa is best for its diving and the outdoors, but apart form those, its main attraction would be the Churaumi Aqaurium (美ら海水族館), commonly rated the top aquarium in Japan. There’s also the Shuri Castle (首里城), but despite it being a […]
Our stay in Yakushima concluded with a 7 am departure by hydrofoil from Anbo Port. That’s possible only because our guesthouse was literally 5 minutes away – there weren’t any bus that early. The owner was also kind enough to […]
World Heritage Site Yakushima. The typhoon disruption meant our original plan of having about 1.5 days there had been reduced by half. But thankfully, the hydrofoils between Kagoshima to Yakushima had resumed operation – and they are quite prone to […]
The typhoon went right over Kagoshima overnight and we just had to stay put in the hotel. By the time rain stopped it was already in the afternoon. Public transport was resuming service so we headed out for lunch and […]
Beppu boasts the largest number of hotspring sources in Japan. Apart from the ones for bathing, there are also a group of colourful hotsprings which are too hot but good for viewing. These are the Beppu Jigoku (hell). Most of […]
We went back to Miyajima Island (宮島) again to visit the Itsukushima Shrine (厳島神社) and take a walk around the Momijidani Park (紅葉谷公園). There are plenty of accommodations on Miyajima Island itself, but most are rather expensive. Instead we stayed […]
From Imabari (今治), we took the Shimanami Highway Bus to Hiroshima. Yes, it goes all the way back on the Shimanami Kaido, passing through many of the places we had been cycling for the last 2 days! Hiroshima City (広島市) […]
Second day of our bicycle journey. The weather was looking a bit unstable, but we would focus on our first goal of getting to the seafood barbecue place for lunch! Omishima (大三島) Hakatashima (伯方島) We went past this island only […]
From today we would be taking a 2-day bicycle journey on the excellent cycle route Shimanami Kaido (しまなみ海道). Shimanamikaido itself is a toll highway connecting the Japan main island of Honshu (本州) to Shikoku (四国), going through several small islands […]
Our starting point of this trip was Onomichi (尾道), a fairly small seaside town, located in Hiroshima Prefecture (広島県) and not too far from Hiroshima City itself. It is on the busy Tokaido Shikansen line but as just a minor […]
In these two weeks, we would be travelling to the south – latitudinally south of Tokyo that is, though actually it’s more southwest, following the Japan archipelago down. On our way we’d be hitting upon many of the destinations that […]
Tatayama Kurobe Alpine Route – Return Trip After another night at the mountain lodge Raichoso (雷鳥荘), we made an early depart just after 7 am, as we would have a fair bit of travelling to do to reach our last […]