Japan

Fish, fashion, food, and gardens, then sayonara Japan

Posted by Jason on April 2, 2013 - 11:57pm in Our Travels.
When: 
March 15, 2013 to March 16, 2013

As we fly back to Seattle, it is time to catch up on my journal and describe the last days of our Japan trip. Yesterday (Friday, March 15th), we started our day at the Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo's primary fresh fish wholesaling site. We were too lazy to try to watch the tuna auction, which requires getting there by 4:30am and being one of the first 120 people there. Instead, we opted for the more reasonable time of 9am, when the wholesalers' processing and distribution area opens to the public.

Sightseeing in Tokyo from the river to the sky

Posted by Jason on March 31, 2013 - 6:24pm in Our Travels.
When: 
March 14, 2013

Today was our first full day in Tokyo, and like all our days, it was busy. We slept in a bit thanks to some incredibly effective blackout curtains. We grabbed breakfast at a Japanese/French bakery (yummy), then took the subway to our first stop, the Tokyo National Museum. It was the end of rush hour, so the subway was packed when we got on but pretty manageable with just my backpack and no luggage. After a few stops, most of the passengers got off, so we had seats for most of the ride.

Bullet train and our first Tokyo adventure

Posted by Jason on March 31, 2013 - 5:43pm in Our Travels.
When: 
March 13, 2013

We took the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo. We had a 9:30am train, so we picked up breakfast and lunch in the station to eat on the train. Our train was relatively full, despite the fact that the trains leave almost every 10 minutes. As before, the train was fast, quiet, and comfortable. We spent the time going through the photos we had taken and trimming out the bad ones. We arrived at our stop on the outskirts of Tokyo after 2.25 hours. Then the real adventure began.

Last day in Kyoto: blossoms, temples, modeling, and night photography

Posted by Jason on March 29, 2013 - 1:05am in Our Travels.
When: 
March 12, 2013

Our day today started at Kitano Tenman-gu shrine to view the plum blossoms. We are in Japan too early to see the famous cherry blossoms, but the plums bloom earlier and are also very pretty. The place was full of people with cameras taking blossom pictures, with everyone swarming to the same sights. It was really pretty (well, except for the crowds).

Gates, gardens, and castles in Kyoto

Posted by Jason on March 28, 2013 - 2:55am in Our Travels.
When: 
March 11, 2013

Today, we started by taking the train to Inari to see the shrine there. The big feature of this shrine is lots and lots of orange gates. People buy them for good luck, with the bigger gates costing more money. The gates go most of the way up a mountain, and we hiked to the end of the gates, about 700ft up. There was no view at the top, just lots of orange gates, but it was a really cool place.


Soggy temple marathon in Kyoto

Posted by Jason on March 26, 2013 - 2:34am in Our Travels.
When: 
March 10, 2013

Today was our first day exploring Kyoto. Unfortunately, we left the hotel poorly prepared for the weather, which became cold, rainy, and windy about an hour into our day. We had left our raincoats, hats, and winter coats at the hotel, so we got soaked and were freezing at times, but we made the most of it. We saw six temples, including four UNESCO world heritage sites. We started our day with a bus ride to the Higashiyama area and a walk up the hill to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, which is a world heritage site and contains a second world heritage site.

Hiroshima, peace, and a bullet train to Kyoto

Posted by Jason on March 23, 2013 - 4:49pm in Our Travels.
When: 
March 9, 2013

We are about to go to bed in our "Tea Ceremony" room in a ryokan, a Japanese-style inn, in Kyoto after a long day of sightseeing and travel. Our day started around 6am in Hiroshima, when Katie and I both gave up on trying to get anymore sleep. Jet-lag has been really bad. After a Japanese-style breakfast at the hotel (rice porridge, smoked salmon, miso soup, salad, and various other small dishes), we took a walk to Peace Memorial Park, to see all the monuments dedicated to the victims of the atomic bomb blast.

A late night Hiroshima adventure

Posted by Jason on March 23, 2013 - 3:09am in Our Travels.
When: 
March 9, 2013

It's 4AM here and I'm pretty wide awake, despite only sleeping about 5 hours last night. This big time change will probably take a few days to adjust to.

In the air to Hiroshima

Posted by Jason on March 23, 2013 - 2:45am in Our Travels.
When: 
March 8, 2013

I'm on my way to Hiroshima! I left Seattle at 12:30pm pacific time (or 5:30am Japan time). I have now been traveling for nearly 13 hours, and I have about 2 more to go before I get to the hotel. The flight from Seattle to Tokyo was long, over 10 hours. I didn't sleep, but kept busy with a movie, reading, music, eating, and playing solitaire on my phone. All in all, not a bad flight. The landing in Tokyo was very bumpy, with lots of side-to-side and up-and-down motion, but our pilot brought us down very gently.

Japan - March 2013

Posted by Jason on March 22, 2013 - 11:37pm in Our Travels.
When: 
March 7, 2013 to March 16, 2013

Katie and I recently got back from our trip to Japan. We decided to have Penelope stay at home while we traveled, rather than bringing her with us, and this was the first time we had both been away from her at the same time for more than a single night. It was hard for us to be away, and a little hard on Penelope too, but it really worked out for the best. We were able to do the things that we wanted to do that would have been too boring for Penelope, without having to worry about naps and strange potties (she would have loved the food, though).