This morning we traveled to the Saga/Arashiyma bamboo forest with beautiful tall bamboo rustling in the breeze. Lots of different green colours. Strong rickshaw drivers seen through the forest of green, pulling tourists through the bamboo. We see a river meandering down a deep gorge with a colourful temple up the hillside. A lovely morning. […]

We start our day off with a visit to Kinkaku-ji, the golden pavilion, originally a shogun villa but now a buddhist temple. Beautiful gold leaf temple (20kg gold used) with lovely gardens. Nijojo castle visit next – this was the Shogun’s Kyoto Residence ( no picture taking allowed). Huge building with many rooms, gold walls […]

Kyoto was once Japan’s capital. Countless temples, shrines and other historical structures survive today. A visit to Nishiki market for lunch, an upscale market with lots of seafood and other tasty treats. Also a  visit to a fancy department store where we saw a belt priced at $560, and it didn’t look extraordinary in any […]

We travel by ferry to the scenic island of Miyajima, which was once a sacred island. A beautiful 16m high Torii gate stands in the harbour like it is floating, but is actually weighed down by 7 tons of small rocks. We see tame deer everywhere who try to eat your papers, nibble your pockets/backpacks […]

A long morning traveling to Hiroshima using a local train and 2 different bullet trains that reach speeds of 300 km/hr. From our hotel we take a tram to the Peace Memorial Park and museum. It’s a somber visit as we reflect on the tragic events of Aug 6/45 when the USA dropped the first […]

On our way to our first stop of the day, we pass by lots of cherry blossom trees, then it’s on to the Sakurayama temple, a very large and beautiful temple. After visiting the temple,we head to the  Miyagawa morning market. As we walk through the market, we try out the many samples available – […]

We headed out early from our hotel to visit the Ohmicho Market before boarding our train to Takayama. The market contains tons of seafood, urchins,oysters,snails, crab some selling for as much as $230.00 each. We take the train through beautiful terraced hillsides – everyone is gardening. The mountains are gorgeous – snow covered. It looks […]

We took the loop bus on our morning visit to Kenrokuen – one of Japan’s 3 most beautiful gardens. Pine trees, seas of moss, some cherry blossoms, koi ponds and a teahouse – just the way you would expect a Japanese garden to look. We also spot numerous couples having their wedding pictures taken in […]

Met with our tour group last night for a quick get to know you, before heading back to our room and bed. Met everyone in the lobby before beginning our trek to Tokyo station to board our bullet train to Kanazawa. We all split up to purchase our Bento box lunches before boarding the train. […]

Today we check out Shibuya and Harajuku. We start at the famous Shibuya Scramble Crossing. The traffic stops in all directions allowing masses of people to cross the intersection in any direction they want. On busy days over 500,000+ people cross here. We cross and start our walking tour of the various shopping areas around […]