After a few weeks of Kyoto photos, including a whole post just on the station, I realized I still had so much more to share. As this truly special city will do when visited in person, it kept me lingering on it just a little bit longer. From the station there is the roof of […]
There are many temples and shrines in Kyoto, so many so it’s hard to choose which to go to and easy to get “templed-out,” where you go to so many temples and shrines in a short period they all start to blur together. Even still, some massive temples can sneak up on you like Higashi […]
When you think of Kyoto, you may consider golden temples, or endless series of orange torii gates at Fushimi-Inari, but if you were to pick the most iconic spot, the spot that most says “this is Kyoto,” it would have to be Kiyomizu-dera. It perches over Kyoto in the Higashiyama district. From the temple you […]
I first arrived in Kyoto on Christmas Eve, seven years ago, my first Christmas away from home. At the time I was with a group of friends hopping local trains from where we worked in the mountains of Nagano. Laughing and drinking along the way, by the time we stepped out of the train we […]
From Miyajima, we hop on a few local trains and make our way to Kojima, Okayama. From Kojima Station we take a taxi to the sea where I booked a Japanese inn or ryokan for the night. All the rooms face the Seto Inland Sea. What makes it an Inland Sea, you say? Well, it […]
Itsukushima Island, colloquially know as Miyajima, “shrine island,” is a popular tourist destination and truly special place in Hiroshima prefecture. It is easily accessible by two different ferries; one takes about 10 mins from Miyajima-guchi train station, but if you wake up in Hiroshima City and want a little more scenic journey I recommend taking […]
As the sun goes down we leave the Peace Memorial and make our way back towards the center area, Shintenchi, for dinner. After having it already once for lunch we decide to have okonomiyaki again for dinner. It’s always best to have the meibutsu of any place twice, just to make sure it’s really as […]
After Hiroshima made a warm welcome with its meibutsu, it was time to switch to a more somber tone. Anxious we walk towards the direction of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Not only is Hiroshima a very walkable city, but I recommend exploring by foot as it is a beautiful city. On the way to the […]
Sometimes a place grabs you. As soon as you exit the gates of its station it screams with character. It invites you in. Welcomes you like an old friend. This was Hiroshima to me. I can’t lie and say I wasn’t a little apprehensive about visiting. Of course I wanted to visit and felt I […]
Last day of my Kyushu adventure. I had to get back to Fukuoka at some point to catch a shinkansen back to Tokyo, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do a little exploring on the way. I heard about this town in Oita that has been proclaimed as the Mecca of karaage. I would have […]