Japan is such an incredible country. It is hard to say mata ne [see you later], since I know we will be back. What we will miss depends on who you talk to. Eric is going to miss the bike shops. His new favorite bike shop is Blue Lug, located in Tokyo. It has all …
As we conclude our three week stay in the Far East we couldn’t not visit the Far Yeast. Far Yeast Brewing Company headquarters and main brewery is in Kosuge Village, about two hours from Tokyo, at the beginning of the Tama River (which it uses to brew its beer, boasting the optimum temperature for fermentation). …
Nijo Castle, known as Nijojo in Japanese, is the former Kyoto residence of the Shogun. It was constructed in 1603 and served as the Shogun residence for over 250 years. The gate alone gives visitors a prime example of the opulence here, hand carved and painted with pure gold leaf.
Fushimi Inari is a Shinto shrine famous for its endless torii gates. Torri are commonly found at the entrance of Shinto shrines, marking the entrance of a sacred space. Fushimi is super sacred with its 10,000 torii. The torii are all donations by individuals and companies, their names inscribed on the gate they paid for. …
Toji Temple is one of Kyoto’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It was founded in the 700s, when the capital was moved from Nara to Kyoto. The five story pagoda was originally built in 826. It stands 57 meters tall and is the tallest wooden pagoda in Japan. There are 19 statues in Kondo Hall (which …
Arashiyama is the “one stop shop” of Kyoto sightseeing. Just an hour by bus from central Kyoto it offers souvenir shopping, a bamboo forest, a river and a monkey park. Arashiyama Bamboo Forest is free and has a few paths which guide you throughout the small forest. If you take a rickshaw you have access …
Kinkakuji (otherwise known as the Golden Pavilion) is a zen buddhist temple in Kyoto. It is one of many sites that makes up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, and it is a National Special Historic Site as well as a National Special Landscape. When it was built by a poet and nobleman in the …
Just a three hour Shinkansen ride away from Tokyo is the original capital of Japan, Kyoto (where we will be spending the last stint of our Japan vacation). Kyoto Imperial Palace was the residence of the Emperor of Japan until 1868, when everything shifted to Tokyo. Thirteen years before the move, Kyoto Imperial Palace was …
Ueno Zoological Gardens opened in 1882, as Japan’s first zoo, with bears, monkeys, foxes, raccoons and birds on display. They now care for over 500 different species, many of which I have never even heard of and some that I have never seen in a zoo. For example, they have an entire aye-aye exhibit. Unfortunately …
Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium that typically hosts Giants games (the main Tokyo team). Today two other professional teams were playing, SoftBank Hawks verses Rakuten Golden Eagles. We were rooting for SoftBank since our entry included SoftBanks jerseys and flags (they ended up not winning but we had fun anyway). Since we bought our …
My college friend met up for the day, recommending Asakusa since it is right in the middle of Tokyo and we had a big travel day yesterday. Asakusa is known for having an atmosphere of “Old Tokyo” since the main attraction, the Buddhist temple Sensoji, was built in 645. Sensoji is Tokyo’s oldest temple. The …
We took our first bullet train of the trip from Tokyo to Nikko. The shinkansen on the way there maxed out at 150mph and the one on the way home 170mph. Despite the speed it took about two and a half hours each way taking a local train to the Shinkansen and then another local …
Akihabara is a district in Tokyo known for its electronic stores, manga (Japanese comics and novels), anime and video games. I was in need of a charger for an old computer and unbelievably found a used one for a great price at one of the hundreds of electronic stores here. We also wanted to check …
Tokyo has countless animal and pet cafes, concentrated in an area known as Harajuku. We made an appointment days ago at Mipig, a micropig cafe. (It does book out.) Your appointment includes a 30 minute time slot and unlimited fountain drinks. The micro pigs happily wag their tails as they come to sit on your …
Just a few minute walk in this quiet ward of Tokyo where we have been calling home is an iris garden. We just followed the iris tiles in the street, decorations hanging from poles and street signs with arrows to get there. We are so fortunate in that the irises are in bloom. Horikiri Shobuen …