Our Japan Trip Photo Albums
Tokyo Day 1 Cherry Blossoms: https://photos.app.goo.gl/
Enjoyed the cherry blossoms at Shinjuku Gyoen, Tokyo
Tokyo Night lights: https://photos.app.goo.gl/
Night illumination of cherry blossom trees at Chidorigafuchi park
Tokyo Teamlabs: https://photos.app.goo.gl/
Enjoyed a unique experience at teamLab Planets in Tokyo
Tokyo Day 2: https://photos.app.goo.gl/
Saw more cherry blossoms at Ueno park, enjoyed the tea ceremony at a Chado school, and visited Sensoji temple.
Japan Day 3 Hakone: https://photos.app.goo.gl/
Day at Hakone - scenic train to Hakone-Yumoto, bus to MotoHokone to view the Hakone-Jinja shrine. Boat ride across lake Ashi to Togendai, ropeway to Sounzan, cable car to Gora. Saw views of Mount Fuji on the way from both the boat and the ropeway. Views of volcano valley with active sulphur vents at Owakudani. Participated in a glass blowing activity at Hakone crafthouse. Beautiful views of the gardens at Gora park.
Went to Kyoto from Hakone on Shinkansen. Visited Heian shrine and gardens. Watched kids performing at the shrine. Had a vegan lunch at Hobodo cafe. Visited Ginkakuji temple. Enjoyed cherry blossoms along the philosopher’s path.
Took the scenic train from Saga Arashiyama to Kameoka and saw wonderful scenery around the Hoza river. We visited few shrines at Kameoka. We had booked a boat ride back to Arashiyama but since boat rides have been cancelled due to a recent accident, we took the scenic train back and had a vegetarian lunch with a lot of Tofu dishes at Seizan Sodo, side temple of Tenryu-ji
Took the scenic train from Saga Arashiyama to Kameoka and saw wonderful scenery around the Hoza river. We visited few shrines at Kameoka. We had booked a boat ride back to Arashiyama but since boat rides have been cancelled due to a recent accident, we took the scenic train back and had a vegetarian lunch with a lot of Tofu dishes at Seizan Sodo, side temple of Tenryu-ji
We took the Shinkansen from Osaka to Himeji and visited the castle. Himeji castle has a beautiful garden with lots of cherry blossoms. The castle is huge and we had to remove shoes and carry in plastic bags to see the top 6 floors of the castle.
Spent half a day at Hiroshima. Visited the preserved remains of A-bomb Dome and walked through the Hiroshimo Peace Memorial park. It was very traumatic to view the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum exhibits and to read about their stories. Toured the Hall of Remembrance, Children's peace Monument, Pond of Peace, Flame of Peace and the Hypocenter
We had a unique experience spending a day at a Buddhist temple (Souji-in) at Koyasan. Koyasan is surrounded by 8 mountain peaks resembling a lotus flower. To reach here, we needed to take a train from Namba to base of Mount Koya, then a cable car and a bus in Koyasan town. We got a sumptuous Japanese vegetarian dinner and breakfast. We stayed in a traditional Japanese room with Tatami mats and low chairs. We got to see the regular morning Japanese worship by the 3 monks at the temple. We also got to visit the Kongobhuji temple, the head temple of Shingon Buddhism. We enjoyed visiting Konpon Daito pagoda, Daimon gate and a wonderful sunset.
We visited Nara and enjoyed Todaiji Buddha temple. We also saw a lot of deer roaming in the park. Nara park is the oldest park in Japan and has a lot of wild sika deer. Vendors sell deer biscuit and it is amusing to see the deer bowing down to receive the biscuits.
We enjoyed the arduous climb and hike in Mt Yoshino to see the cherry blossoms in bloom. Yoshino is famous for its 30,000 Sakura trees. The first part of the hike is steep and can also be done using ropeway. There are a lot of shops and shrines along the way. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at one of the view points. A special treat was meeting my school friend Aadarsha. We all enjoyed a home cooked meal at the end of the day.
We visited Fushimi Inari which is a shrine dedicated to the Shinto God of rice. It is famous for thousands of vermillion torii gates. We saw fox and other zodiac animal statues there. Since it was a rainy day we decided to walk around the Grand Front Osaka mall at the Osaka station. At the Knowledge capital section in the mall, we explored some latest multimedia innovations. We enjoyed dinner at Shama vegetarian restaurant.
Japan Day 11 Nezu shrine and Shibuya: https://photos.app.goo.gl/
Our last day at Japan we visited Nezu shrine in Tokyo and enjoyed the beautiful Azalea garden there. We then had a very tasty lunch at Milan Nataraj, Japan's oldest Indian vegetarian restaurant where they grow their own organic vegetables. We were excited to see the number of people crossing at Shibuya crossing, world's busiest scramble crossing. It is comparable to Time Square and as many as 3000 people cross at a time.
In our 10 day trip in Japan we averaged over 20,000 steps most of the days. We learned to bow and say thank you in Japanese 'Arigato Gozaimasu'. It was interesting to see the conductor in the train bow every time he moves between cars. Even the cleaning crew waiting for the train bow when the train arrives. It is funny that even the deer at Nara park have learned to bow.
Another interesting observation was the seats in the train rotating at the station in the direction in which the train would travel. We also saw a family rotate 2 of the seats to face each other.
Most stations are equipped with IC card recharge booths, self pay luggage lockers. Luggage lockers are of different sizes and can hold backpacks to suitcases. They are very useful especially when traveling between cities and want to see the city in a day.
There is also a Fare adjustment station which you could use at a destination station if your IC card doesn't have sufficient balance.
Their bidet system was the fanciest that I have ever seen. In a hotel room equipped with a kitchen they had multiple pans and all of them shared a nice removable handle.
Google translate really helped us everywhere from operating the washing machine, rice cooker, grocery store and even a bathroom door that needed a switch to be pressed to lock/unlock.
All in all we had a wonderful trip and will cherish all the memories.
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