Hikes

Japan Tour 2025 Day 18

The final tour day started with a ride on the bullet train from Fukuoka to Osaka, a trip of two and a half hours. The ride was very smooth, but the train didn’t give any indication of how fast we were traveling. Generally, the train travels up to 200 mph. Notable on this trip and what we noticed all around southern Japan, is the significant number of tunnels you go through. I can’t even estimate how many we traversed. Because the land is so mountainous, most roads and rails must go through rather than around the hills.

We had an early dinner and went to bed, planning on making an early flight the next day. Well, our travel plans had a shakeup. A 5 am text informed us that our connecting flight to DFW was canceled, and we were rebooked later in the day. At about noon, we received another text saying that the rebooked flight was canceled, and we were then rebooked for two days later. Well, we took our first leg flight from Osaka to Tokyo and tried to work with AA customer service to get an earlier flight out rather than waiting the two extra days – after two hours searching we managed to move are return flight back a day by flying Tokyo to JFK, JFK to Miami the on to Orlando.

Hope you enjoyed our adventure. We arrived safely in Ormond Beach late on Tuesday night.

April 9, 2025 2

Japan Tour 2025 Day 17

The first stop was the Clover Garden in Nagasaki. This open-air museum exhibits the mansions of several of the city’s former foreign residents and related buildings. It is located on the hill where Western merchants settled after the end of Japan’s era of seclusion in the second half of the 19th century. The main attraction of the garden is the Former Glover House, the oldest wooden Western-style building in Japan. Thomas Glover was a Scottish merchant active in various industries, including shipbuilding and mining.

Oura Catholic church is considered the oldest standing Catholic church in Japan. Built by a French missionary in 1864. Oura church is dedicated to the memory of the 26 Christians who were executed in the city in 1597. Nearby, there is a children’s library.

Lunch was a sit-down and a multi-course affair featuring Nagasaki Champon – a hearty broth, thick noodles, and a variety of seafood and vegetables.

An hour bus ride brought us to Okawachiyama Village, a secluded pottery village outside of Imari. It was a major porcelain producer of high-quality pottery for the imperial court, shogunate, and various lords. So, we splurged, getting a serving plate and a Saki set.

We spent the night in Fukuoka with a street food dinner with the locals, then a splurge for dessert.

April 9, 2025 0

Japan Tour 2025 Day 16

Kumamoto Castle was completed in 1607 by Kato Kiyomasa, the first feudal lord of the castle. It was innovative in its design and construction for the period. The castle is a hilltop Japanese castle – large and well-fortified. A large earthquake in 1691 did considerable damage to the castle and outbuildings and reconstruction is ongoing.

Leaving the castle, we headed to a tea museum & workshop where we attempted to make tie-dyed cloth from tea – needless to say, mine was a bomb that no one would see.

The final stop of the day was Mt. Inasa for a spectacular view of Nagasaki – getting there was half the fun (passed on the 640-step climb). We took a tram.

April 6, 2025 2

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.