Travel to Japan, Hokkaido, Abashiri.

Simple buffet breakfast with soup, toast, cold noodles in mayonnaise, yoghurt and a few unknowns. Sunny and high 20's again - not complaining. Out of the door and straight up the hill for 2 miles at 7%. This was followed by a descent back to the coast, which we followed for 20 miles. The first town of Utoro was very nice with a fishing harbour and large brown rocks standing in the sea near the coast. It reminded me of the East coast at Scarborough and Whitby. Along the way there were also some quite good waterfalls streaming down into the sea, one spectacular one called Oshin Koshin. Cormorants were also seen basking on rocks close by and waiting for a bite to eat. I managed to get quite a good photo of one as it took off towards the sea. Several kites were also hovering above, again no doubt scanning for food. On our way we saw hundreds of cyclists going in the opposite direction, young,old, fit and not so fit, presumably on a charity ride with police and army escorts. We stopped for lunch in Shari Town, which looked brand new, and we had take away chicken legs and rice wrapped in a leaf. Koshimuzu Flower Park was a bit of a let down, but I suppose it may look better at other times of year when there are more flowers.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Hokkaido.

Today I left the hotel with two indentations in the bedroom floor, where my shoulder and hip bones lived. The two mattresses were no more than 40mm thick each – paltry. Additionally, the human traffic passing by our door to the toilet in the early hours was like the M25 at 8am coupled with the constant flow of high speed water through ancient pipework making a noise like Niagara Falls.

Breakfasted on the traditional rice, noodles and fish we were off on the road again, following last night’s light rain which left the roads damp and the hills covered in low cloud. Let’s hope that we can survive the day without punctures, having two yesterday on the hire bikes, which are actually quite good Trek machines. This is the reason I like to use my own bike since I know the set up is right for me and that I have good tyres and brakes plus having my other paraphernalia such as bar bag for my cameras and a big under-saddle bag for my tools and spare clothing.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Tokyo, Shibuya.

I'm back in Tokyo. This is my third time here; so, I thought I'd blog about it. I seem to have a knack for having horrible, but retrospectively amusing, experiences when I land in Tokyo. In 2011, I was suffering from the cheese pizza I'd had on the plane. I also had to go to Shinjuku to get the key to my apartment -- during rush hour. Shinjuku Station is confusing in any event, but during rush hour, it's madness. Eventually, I found my way to the station where I lived, but spent another four hours trying to find the apartment, in the rain, with a huge suitcase.

That was two years ago. This time was actually worse. My flight out of Dallas was delayed, causing me to miss the connection in Atlanta. There was another flight to Narita that day, which I ran to try to catch. But it was too late...or so I thought. Just as I was resigned to stay in Atlanta for the night, the plane began deplaning due to a water leak. I was thus able to board the plane, albeit a few hours late, for Narita on the same day. This meant, however, that I wouldn't get to Narita until about 8:30pm, which made it impossible to check into my apartment. After I left Narita was when the real fun began.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Nagano, Kamikochi.

Turning down the opportunity of the 04:30 train, our bodies now more adjusted to this time zone, we caught a more civilised 06:00 service towards Kamikochi. The journey consists of thirty minutes on a train followed by an hour on a coach. Neither of these were covered by our JR Passes and it was necessary to buy complete open return tickets for 4400 yen per person. From reading guide books I was prepared to find hoards of tourist marching in slow lines around the picturesque, but well visited Kamikochi. As we dismounted the coach at Taisho pond, I was pleasantly surprised to see only a few people around. The majority of these were elderly tourists who had come equipped with painting paraphernalia or SLRs with a bag full of lenses and clearly planned to settle in one spot for some time, and use the coach as a link between locations.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Kanagawa, Hakone.

This post documents our two-day side trip during our week long trip to Tokyo in the summer of 2010. Part 1 of this series describes the highlights of our sojourn in Tokyo while Part 2describes our climb of Mt Fuji.

Prior to our arrival in Japan, I had booked a room at the excellent Moto-Hakone Guest House, and I also bought the Hakone Free Pass for JPY5500 on arrival at Narita. Both turned out to the excellent purchases; the guest house was friendly, homely and great value for money, and the Pass allowed unlimited rides within the Hakone area plus one return trip between Shinjuku and the Hakone area.

Leaving Shinjuku around noon on Thursday, we took the local train to the town of Odawara. From there, we took a bus to Moto-Hakone on the shores of Lake Ashi. Getting to the guest house was a breeze thanks to the detailed instructions, complete with pictures, on the guest house's website. Arriving around 4pm, the friendly proprietor told us to hustle out to dinner immediately as only the Italian restaurant was open and they would close before 5pm. With that, we headed into town - about a 15 minute walk
Jeff and Hello Kitty, Owakudani
This is Hello Kitty's tribute to the black shelled eggs of Owakudani, complete with a crack!- and had an excellent salad, pizza and ice cream. After dinner, we strolled along the shore of Lake Ashi enjoying the cool evening - a wonderful respite from the heat in Tokyo - before heading back and turning in early.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Shizuoka, Mt Fuji.

This is the second of a three-part series on our Japan adventure. Part 1 is dedicated to highlights of our time in Tokyo and Part 3describes our two-day trip to Hakone.

After our first full day of sightseeing in Tokyo we had a satisfying dinner at a Thai restaurant. Jeff is vegetarian, and unfortunately we had problems communicating this in Japanese restaurants so far on our trip, so we went to a Thai restaurant where I could order vegetarian food in Thai for him. With our bellies full, we went to the bus station next to Shinjuku Station and got onto a bus headed to Mt Fuji's fifth station.

There are a total of nine stations on the trails leading up to the summit of Mt Fuji. Most hikers take a bus to the fifth station and start their hikes there. Yes, it's technically cheating but our time was limited! We opted to climb Fuji overnight for the sunrise, and we also opted to not stop overnight at a resthouse.

The bus ride took approximately 2.5 hours and we arrived at the fifth station around 9.30pm. The bus was only about half full, with mostly foreigners on board,
The Cloud Cover The Foiled Our Sunrise. Boo!including a group of Australian college kids. Mt Fuji's trails are only open to climbers in July and August. As we were climbing at the beginning of the season, only one store was open at the fifth station. Fortunately, that was the store with the lockers. We rented one, placed our dry clothes inside, and strolled around a bit to start getting used to the altitude.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Tokyo, Asakusa.

We fly from Delhi to Kuala Lumpur (5 Hours) with Malaysian Airways as part of the first leg of our mammoth journey to Japan. The food is good as is the service – however, the airhostess seems to have taken a liking to C as we are plied with red wine and whisky & peanuts (which the others did not get), so much so that when we arrived in KL, C was a bit worse for wear and can’t recall getting off the plane or (!!) the transit 3 hours when we had Burger King – her staple hangover cure – while M enjoyed some Malaysian Street Food as well.

The next leg (Malaysian Airlines again) sees us depart at 11 pm for a night time 5 hour flight to Narita airport Tokyo. Snacks are on offer. The entertainment channels are better and while C is out with the fairies M watches a bit of Life of Pi (he really can’t see what the fuss is about having failed to finish the book and the film doesn’t do it for him either!) and then he checks out a bit of Argo – the Oscar winner – which looks more promising
Fresh fish food stall - Yanakabut we run out of time so he doesn’t see the ending.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Tokyo, Hachioji.

I woke up early today on my "Sunday" so that I could go hiking - something I had been wanting to do for awhile. Sometimes, you just need to get out of the city! I WANT to climb Mt. Fuji this August, but I'm really not sure that a) my gimp knee can handle it, and b) I'm in good enough shape. So today was sort of a beginning test to see what my body could handle.

I went to Mt. Takao back in November, to see the autumn colors, but hadn't hiked it since. This time, I went alone (!!!) which was awesome, because I like doing things alone and knowing that I can have independent adventures. Mt. Takao itself is a super popular day hike because of it's close proximity to Tokyo, but according to my hiking in Japan book, most people only do Takao by itself and don't continue on - and Takao is part of a long trail called the Mt. Jimba trail, which spans 5 mountains! I did some research and decided I wanted to do Takao and the next mountain on the trail, Shiroyama.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Hokkaido, Niseko.

This isn't something that I imagined I would be doing only two years ago but my partner, Jenny, and some of her family were going to Japan for a skiing holiday so I thought ... why not. Actually, visiting Japan for any reason had never been on my horizon.

Having learnt to ski only two years ago I have to admit that I was a little hesitant, particularly given that I had only ever skied the relatively comfortable slopes of Mount Buller (in the Victorian Alps). The thought of the potential for powder snow (aparently a rarity at Buller) seemed to excite the rest of the Devenish family; especially 11yo Georgia, 8yo Lauchlan and 6yo Benny. The two older kids delight in out-skiing me on any slope, which is only to be expected given that grandmar Jenny had them skiing before they were proficient at walking.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Japan, Kyoto, Kyoto, Gion.

We woke at 7am today after a great sleep in our futons! I love the blankets! We set off early to catch a bus to Kiyonizu temple and were dropped off on the main street and began our walk up the big hill to the temple. It was a warm day and the walk made it hot. Today Is the first day we took out jumpers off! All the small stalls on the walk up to the temple were still setting up so we decided to visit them on the way back down. The temple was founded in 798 and its present buildings were constructed in 1633, ordered by the tokugawa Iemitsu. There is not a single nail used in the entire structre. Amazing! It takes its name from the waterfall within te complex, which rungs off the nearby hills. Kiyomizu means clear water or pure water. The main temple is a large and old building built on the steep hillside. The balcony hangs over and gives a beautiful view over Kyoto and the surrounding bush land. It was refreshing to be out of the city and to breath some fresh air. We wondered the temple grounds and walking paths. Stopping
Kiyomizu Templeat the waterfall to cleanse my mouth as part of the ritual to enter the temple. This waterfall cascaded from the roof and i had to catch the water in a cup on a long stick.

We headed back down the steep hill shopping as we went, buying small souvenirs for friends and family. (out bags are already full! Eek) and we ate a chocolate cream, banana and chocolate cake crepe. Yum! The walk to our next destination was Nijo castle. It was ALOT further than we had anticipated, felt like forever! And with very sore feet we arrived just after lunch time. Drinking grape juice and snacking on rice crackers on the way. Nijo castle is a beautiful old castle where the inside has been left as original. We got to take our shoes off and walk on the very old wooden nightingale floors.

Read more at http://www.travelblog.org/

Travel to Kyoto, Japan.

Country/Town Visited: Kyoto, Japan
Date of stay: May 2008
Where you stayed: Guest House Kyoto Costa del Sol
Tour or pre planned: 5 week backpacking tour of Japan. Kyoto selected as first destination to witness ancient Aoi Matsuri (“Hollyhock Festival”) 

Japan
Japan has a reputation for being an expensive city to visit, but there is no doubt it is a feasible destination even for the most frugal of travellers. The American convenience store chain 7-eleven is very popular here, where you can purchase decent Japanese food at cheap prices – don’t expect the labels to be in English, however, so bring your adventurous spirit when it comes to sampling the convenience store cuisine! Guesthouses and hostels are common and, although perhaps not entirely on par with the standard of what you would expect in Europe or North America, serve as a completely liveable and affordable accommodation. Western style hotels are in abundance, but these are a lot more expensive than traditional guesthouses and hostels. The cheaper accommodation usually has shared toilet facilities and tatami mats with small roll out cushions as beds. Initially your back may not thank you after the first few nights spent on a tatami mat, however after a while your body gets used to it. Accommodation usually must be paid in cash upon arrival, so I would advise using sites such as www.hostelworld.com to find and secure accommodation prior to travel, and bring plenty of yen with you to pay in cash when you check in.

Travelling throughout Japan is also cheap for foreigners. The Japanese Rail (JR) offers a Japan Rail Pass at a discount for all foreigners travelling in Japan. Please note that this rail pass must be purchased in your residing country prior to travelling to Japan. The JR Rail Pass is good on all JR railways, including the shinkansen (bullet train), JR ferries, buses and commuter rail. The JR Rail Pass is only valid on lines run by Japanese Rail, so some undergrounds and metro routes are not included in the offer.  Rates for the JR adult economy rail pass are currently £222 for 7 days, £354 for 14 days or £453 for 21 days (www.jrpass.com). Although this may sound expensive, one can traverse all over the country, from the northern tip of Hokkaidō to the southern island of Kumamoto and everywhere in between by using this pass. It is definitely value for money and strongly recommended for anyone travelling around Japan.

Read more at http://www.oetravelblogs.com