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Japan Tour 2025 Day #14

Started with a morning walk around Lake Kinrin a place of scenic beauty representative of the town of Yufuin. It’s a small lake with a perimeter of about 400 meters. With all the water gushing out from the bottom of the lake and mountains the lake is replaced 2 and a half times a day. It was a cloudy day but we did see some of the noted mist off the water but no reflections could be found. One complaint the town of Yufuin is quaint shopping town but the tour made a mistake having us here for 3 hours.

The hot springs system Hells of Beppu is a nationally designated “Place of Beauty” in the onsen town of Beppu. The “hells” or “jigoku” in Japanese are for viewing rather than bathing. Five of the 7 hells are centrally located. The boiling clay of (blood lake) and the blue lake ( sea hell) are beautiful. Can’t forget the mud pots – they’re clearly not as good as Yellowstone.

Takasakiyama Monkey Park – a monkey reserve at the base of Mt. Takasaki, a 628-meter-high mountain. The mountain is home to some 1500 wild. Japanese macaques that roam freely around its steep, forested slopes. The monkeys are divided into to troops of 700 to 800 individuals. The troops take turns coming down to the monkey park, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

April 6, 2025 0

Japan Tour 2025 Day #13

Today, we took a ferry to the island of Miyajima, a cultural world heritage site. This is considered one of the three most scenic spots in Japan. If you haven’t figured it out by now, everything in Japan is one of the three best. The main shrine on the island is Itsukushima, dedicated to three goddesses who are worshiped as the deities of the seas. It was first built in 593 and then remodeled in 1168.

The O-torii gate, also known as the floating gate, has been designated a national important cultural property. The present gate, the ninth in its history, was built in 1875.

Daishoin Temple the oldest temple on Miyajima. It is the headquarters of the Omuro School of Shingon Buddhism and “Betto” or administrator of the Itsukushima shrine.

The rest of the afternoon was a 4 hour drive to Beppu our base for the next two days.

April 5, 2025 0

Japan Tour 2025 Day # 12

Udon Cooking Workshop in the town of Takamatsu-Kagawa, making and eating our own lunch.

To break up the 3-hour drive to Hiroshima we spent an hour walking through the 300-year-old town of Kurashiki. A pleasant stroll along the Kurashiki River.

A-Bomb Dome – was the only structure left standing in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on August 6, 1945.

Peace Memorial Park – a memorial park dedicated to the legacy of the attack and to the memories of the bombs direct and indirect victims.

Peace memorial museum – Through belongings left by victims. A-Bombed artifacts, testimonials of survivors and related materials.

Hiroshima Okonomiyaki – making our own dinner.

April 4, 2025 0

Japan Tour 2025 Day #11

Awa Odori Museum – Highlights the world-famous traditional Awa Dance. Also seeing demonstration of traditional instruments and dress.

Ritsurin Garden – is a large historic garden in Takamatsu Japan. It was completed in 1745 as a private strolling garden and villa for local feudal lords. It is one of the largest strolling gardens in Japan. The garden features six ponds and 13 landscaped hills.

April 3, 2025 0

Japan Tour 2025 Day #10

Started the day at Arashimaya Bamboo Forest located in the village of Sagano in Kyoto– and with a rickshaw ride among its soaring stalks of bamboo was other worldly but it was a fun experience. Also, a highlight of the area is the Togetsukyo Bridge, which is 155 meters built across the Katsura River, a well-known place of scenic beauty – so they say.

Our next stop was the Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku-ji, whose top floors are completely covered in gold leaf. This is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto. It is designated as a world heritage site and one of the 17 historic monuments of Kyoto. The temple was a retirement villa of a shogun.

On to a Tea Ceremony instruction and our hands-on effort to learn the style and significance.

From the Tea Ceremony and lunch, we headed to the Todaiji Temple (The great eastern Temple), a Buddhist Temple complex in Nara and one of the powerful 7 great temples. It was started in 728 and finished in 1709. The main hall (Big Buddha Hall) houses one of Japan’s largest bronze statues of a sitting Buddha at 15 meters tall. The south gate of the Temple is known as the Nanadaimon Gate and is guarded by two fierce-looking statues, which were completed in 60 days.

Dotonbori in Osaka for dinner. It is a canal-side entertainment district with restaurants, shops, small bars, and izakaya taverns. Area of sensory overload.

April 2, 2025 2

Japan Tour 2025 Day #9

Our first stop of the day was the Samurai Ninja Museum in Kyoto, where the legendary world of Samurai and ninja comes alive. This interactive, hands-on museum is where Samurai dress, armor, and skills come alive. Ninja swordsmanship skills, blowgun techniques, and shuriken throwing (we tried our hand) are demonstrated.

Fushimi Inari Shrine is dedicated to the Shinto God of Rice. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion Torii Gates, which straddle a network of trails and offer good views of Mt. Inaii, which stands at 233 meters.

Ninenzaka Food Market is a 150-meter road lined with stalls selling all kinds of street food and plenty of ice cream (known in Japan as soft cream).

Dinner was a sit- down with a traditional Japanese fair and the added entertainment of a Geiko and Maiko in their traditional makeup with gilded hair in full kimono.

April 1, 2025 2

Japan Tour 2025 Day #8

Todays first stop was at the Higashi Chaya District of Kanazawa. A chaya (tea house) an exclusive restaurant entertained by Geisha who performed songs and dance -during the Edo period they were situated outside the city limits. Now, the district is a well-preserved vision of Edo-period buildings. The gold leaf was pretty good also.

The next stop was Nomura-ke Samurai Heritage Residence. Former estate of 11 generations of upper-middle-rank samurai family. Besides the house -the gardens are fantastic.

Kenrokuen Gardens is ranked as one of Japan’s three most beautiful gardens. This is a strolling garden constructed during the Edo period by the Maeda clan. Kenrokuen means a garden that combines characteristics. These six characteristics are spaciousness, seclusion, antiquity, water source, and magnificent views.

March 31, 2025 5

Japan Tour 2025 Day #7

The first stop of the day was at the Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine and the Takayama float festival exhibit. Takayama is noted for both a spring and fall festivals. The festival started 350 years ago as a simple village ceremony and now is a competition among neighborhoods. There are usually 11 to 12 floats in each parade with some dating back to the 17^th century.

We moved on to visit Takayama’s Old Town to view the originally constructed wooden houses and see the Morning Market. Water constantly runs down the side of the streets to act as an available fire extinguishing source.

Moving further along to Shirakawago, we crossed over a snow-covered mountain range and through several tunnels – one was over 6 miles long. The town is noted for its traditionally thatched houses (Gassho-zukuri).

Finally, the Omicho Market is a spacious, indoor complex with stalls selling produce, seafood, meat, and specialty dishes. It has been around since 1603.

March 30, 2025 2

Japan Tour 2025 Day #6

The first stop was at the Azumino Wasabi Farm, one of Japan’s largest wasabi farms. The farm has multiple large fields with a network of small streams, providing each wasabi plant with clear, flowing spring feed water about 60 degrees from the Northern Alps. The fields are also protected from the summer heat using large black tarps. Within the farm stands the Daio Shrine.

Today’s drive continued through snow-covered mountains to Tsumago-juku, the 42nd part of the Nakasendo route between Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo). It is one of the best-preserved post towns, recreating the ambiance of the Edo period.