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THE HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF KYOTO
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NIJO CASTLE: This castle was built by the first shogun, Tokugawa. It was completed in 1603 and used as the shogunate residence. It's a UNESCO world heritage site.
HEIAN SHRINE:
Heian Jingu was
built in 1895
to celebrate the 1100th anniversary of the establishment of
Heian-kyo (the old name of Kyoto). It has a beautiful garden and a
rare covered wooden bridge. To the above left is a picture of Alisa and me
on the wooden bridge with part of the gardens in the background.
Below and to the left is a view of Heian temple which is perhaps my
favorite picture of the trip. |
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A NICE COLLECTION OF PICTURES OF KIYUMIZU AND OLD KYOTO
EXCELLENT SITE
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KIYUMIZU TEMPLE: Kiyumizu is a cluster of shrines overlooking Kyoto. The temple complex is perhaps the best known single attraction in the city. It was built in the 8th century and the view of Kyoto from here is stunning. Here's a picture to the right. There's lots to see at Kiyumizu, and after descending the long stairway, you reach a part of Kyoto which has existed since the Edo era in the 1600's. This is known as old Kyoto, and is primarily 2 narrow streets called Ninenzaka and Sinenzaka. On these streets are some really old buildings and many shops. Here's a picture to the right showing Ninenzaka Street which I have displayed mainly to show the only thing we saw in Japan that wasn't perfectly arranged. Check out those electric cables!!! KINKAKUJI TEMPLE: Also known as the golden pavilion, it is a beautiful site and the main building is a beautiful bright yellow. It was first built in the in the 14th century, but the main building was burned to the ground by a disturbed monk in 1951 and rebuilt in 1955. |
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GION NEIGHBORHOOD: Kyoto isn't only temples. No visit would be complete without a stroll in its most famous neighborhood. Gion is the entertainment district of Kyoto, and is where the city's remaining Geishas still ply their trade. If you are lucky, in the evening you may even see a few of them fully made up walking to their appointments. In Gion, we attended a Japanese cultural show. which displays seven of Kyoto's traditional performing arts. It is called "Gion Corner", and it was very entertaining. Unfortunately, we attended one on our first night in Japan, and we were all dead tired. |
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| SANJUSANGENDO: This is a spectacular Buddhist Temple, established in the twelfth century, which houses 1001 carved wooden statutes of Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, set in ranks in the main hall. On January 15 each year a competition of Japanese archery (kyudo) is held outside the hall. |
THIS SITE HAS A WONDERFUL SET OF PICTURES.
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FUREAIKAN CRAFT
MUSEUM: This museum shouldn't be missed. It exhibits various
handicrafts utilizing silk, bamboo, lacquer ware, paper or ceramics,
and also introduces the visitor to the delicate workmanship of
traditional crafts through videotapes and the chance to experience Yuzen dying firsthand.
Unfortunately photography is forbidden, but admission is free. |
HOME
SITE OF THE MUSEUM. |
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NISHIKI MARKET: This is a big produce
market in the middle of Kyoto. It's amazing because it is so orderly
and so clean. Later on, we realized that all the markets in Japan
are clean and orderly - like nowhere else we have ever been. Here's
a picture to the right of a stall selling gigantic bamboo shoots. I
believe it is the biggest food market in Kyoto and people say that
there is no kind of food which you cannot find here. |
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TEA CEREMONY: We
attended a tea ceremony at a school which teaches the tea ceremony.
Our Japanese guide, Junka, at one time was a student there, and she
arranged the visit. It was fascinating. To the left are 2 pictures,
one of
Alisa trying her luck pouring and the second of our
group being served tea. Here is a
link to a site which will explain everything you could ever
possibly want to know about the tea ceremony. |
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THE KYOTO TRAIN STATION: The Kyoto train
station is an incredible architectural wonder. It was designed by
world famous Japanese architect Hiroshi Hara. The station is about
20 stories high and is futuristic and very impressive. On
the other hand, we found it to be very
impractical and difficult to find one's way around. It's full of
stores and restaurants but very few rest rooms. Here's a picture
to the right. |
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BET SHALOM: I've saved "Bet Shalom" (house
of peace) for last for a reason. For a Jew from Israel, the
organization called "Bet Shalom" is very meaningful and a visit to their
headquarters in Kyoto is very moving. The organization is made up of
Japanese Christians who love Israel and everything about it. |
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In summary regarding our 2.5 days in Kyoto, it is a very fascinating city. If you visit Kyoto on your own, don't miss the craft museum, and the Nishiki market. As for the temples, they are all impressive, each in its own way, so you'll just have to pick the ones which appeal to you. I would say that we enjoyed the Kiyumizu most of all, because of its sprawling layout and magnificent view of the city. |
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THE STORY AND LEGEND OF KOYASAN THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE KOYASAN TORUIST ASSOCIATION ABOUT KOYASAN, WORLD HERITAGE SITE A DESCRIPTION OF A STAY AT A TEMPLE, INCLUDING SOME GOOD PICTURES |
KOYASAN: Mount Koya is known as "Koyasan"
to the Japanese and is one of the most holy places in Japan. It is
the center of Shingon Buddhism, a Buddhist sect which was introduced
to Japan in 805 by a monk called Kukai, who was posthumously honored
by the Emporer who gave him the name Kobo Daishi, or "Great Teacher/Saint Who Spreads Widely the Buddha's
Teaching."
Kukai visited China and brought the secrets of
Buddhism back to Japan. He settled on Koya mountain and
began to build his temple. His teachings spread and the area around Koya rapidly
expanded and at its peak there were over 1500 temples in the area.
Today this number has dropped to less than a tenth of that, although
in all of Japan today, there are 10,000 Shingon temples. At the age
of 62 in the year 834, Kukai "transitioned" into a condition
of meditation which has lasted to the present time and will continue
until the
arrival of Miroku Butsu, the next
true successor to the original Buddha. His meditating body is in a temple on Koyasan. Koyasan has been named a UNESCO world heritage site. |
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Our trip included a one- night stay in a Buddhist temple, and our guide, Ehud kept warning us about the primitive conditions we would probably have to endure - sleeping on the floor, a very cold room, common bathrooms, etc... In the end, he was surprised and we wound up at what he called a "5 star temple". The rooms were fine, we slept on the floor, but on very nice futons, and each room was well heated and had a bathroom and shower even pajamas!! On the other hand, he hadn't really prepared us for the food. We had the same fare (called shojin ryori) as the monks which was vegetarian and sparse. Dinner wasn't too bad, as we had eaten lunch and there was plenty of rice to fill up on, but breakfast was an experience. The tray had a few strange items on it and everybody was hungrier after the meal than before. The first thing we did when we left the Monastery was head to the nearest restaurant for breakfast. Check the picture on the right to see our group at dinner. While there, we were invited to join the monks in their morning prayer (at 6 o'clock!). |
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KONGOBUJI: While in
Koya, we visited the Kongobuji, the main temple and headquarters of Shingon Buddhism. This
temple houses the largest rock garden in Japan. |
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In Nara, which was the first capital of unified Japan, we visited 2 temple sites which are located right next to one another. One is a Buddhist temple called "Todaiji", which houses the a giant Buddha inside the largest wooden building in the world, and where deer roam freely. The other is a Shinto Temple and is called "Kasuga" |
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YOUTUBE VIDEO ON THE UMEDA SKY BUILDING HISTORY AND BACKGROUND INFO ON HIMEJI CASTLE PRACTICAL INFO FOR VISITING HIMEJI CASTLE ABOUT THE SHINKANSEN AND HOW TO USE THE JAPANESE RAIL SYSTEM |
In Osaka, we visited the "Shin Umeda Building" otherwise known as the Umeda Sky Building, where we went up to the "floating garden observatory" on the 39th floor for a great view of the city. Despite the fact that there was no garden in the floating garden observatory, this is one impressive building. In Osaka we stayed at what was one of the nicest hotels of the trip, the Nikko Osaka. Not much to add here - it was a beautiful modern hotel with big luxurious rooms. HIMEJI CASTLE is about 85 Km from Osaka. It is the best preserved castle in all of Japan. It was built in the 14th century and has withstood wars, earthquakes and the aerial bombing of WWII. The castle is very impressive as you approach it. It has beautiful grounds and it is possible to tour the entire interior of the castle, although there are a lot of stairs (six floors worth). In Osaka, we were introduced to the Japanese dish called "Okonomiyaki" which is a cross between a pancake and a pizza, although there are many styles. In Osaka, it was more like a pancake but in Hiroshima where it is most famous, it is more like a pizza and you can put anything in (or on it). People enjoy sitting at okonomiyaki bars in large groups where the chef prepares it in front of you for the whole group. It's very entertaining. Do check out the 2 YouTube clips below. We had a mixup at Himeji Castle collecting all our travelers and we nearly missed the "bullet train" (Shinkansen) to Hiroshima. We found out exactly how punctual the trains are in Japan. Our train was set to leave at 15:50, and we were still on the bus at 1545. Everybody got prepared to jump from the bus with all their belongings and run for the train. Our guide ran ahead to find out which pier the train would be leaving from. We got to the train and ran on board. The last of us got on, the doors closed, and the train took off. The time? 15:50 exactly. After riding on the bullet train twice, I can tell you that the train stops at each station for 45-90 seconds, depending on the number of passengers getting on or off. We were lucky we made it. |
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| THE OFFICIAL HOME PAGE OF THE HIROSHIMA PEACE PARK A PICTURE TOUR AROUND THE PARK A VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE HIROSHIMA PEACE MEMORIAL PARK A NICE SITE OF PICTURES OF THE PARK
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The visit to the
Hiroshima Peace Park is a very moving experience. The city has been
completely rebuilt, and at ground zero where the atomic bomb was
dropped, they left the only building (today called the A-bomb
dome) which survived the blast (see
the picture to the right) and built a park and a museum around
it. The park and the museum were designed and built after the war,
and are a memorial to the people who died in the atomic blast. The
aim of the park and museum is to promote the abolition of nuclear
weapons and the realization of world peace. There isn't a whole lot to see or do in Hiroshima besides the peace park. The most interesting thing we did was eat in a 6 story building entirely dedicated to the food called okonomiyaki, described above. The building is called "Okonomimura", otherwise known as "Okonomiyaki Village". We sat with about 15 people around the chef's grill as he made each platter per the specific instructions of each diner. He laughed when he saw Alisa eating with her own plastic knife and fork (most restaurants in Japan serve only chop sticks), but after the meal, took them, washed them and put them neatly into a plastic bag. Here's a link to an entertaining description about eating okonomiyaki in Okonomimura. We stayed at the Ana Crown Plaza Hotel, another nice hotel located about a 10 minute walk from the park. |
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OFFICIAL TOURIST SITE OF MIYAJIMA |
MIYAJIMA
is an island in the Sea of Japan not far from Hiroshima. We took a
short ferry ride to get to it and we spent a few hours there. "Miyajima"
means shrine island, and is a holy place in the Shinto religion. The
most striking landmark here is a giant red Shinto arch (known as a
torii gate) which is in the water when the tide is high. Deer and
monkeys roam the island freely and it is known as one of Japan's
three most scenic spots. There is a cable car (actually a minibus
and 2 separate cable cars to go up to the top of Misen, the island's
highest mountain. Down at sea lea level, there is a sacred Shinto shrine here called
ITSUKUSHIMA, which most of the group visited. We had seen enough
shrines for a while and decided to spend some time on the very nice
shopping street near the shore. We browsed, bought a few things, and
ate lunch. We had the local specialty' "anago meshi", cooked eel
with rice. The island is really a beautiful spot and well worth
visiting. To the right is a picture of Alisa and our guide Jucha on Miyajima. Please note he deer on the left |
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In Nagoya, we stayed at the
Hotel Grand Court Nagoya. I think this was the best hotel of the
trip. Nagoya is not a major tourist attraction, and we were there
because it was a good stopover
and a jump-off point for our next destination, Yaotso. |
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Yaotsu is
a small village in the mountains and is the home of the former
Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, who was the Japanese general
consul in Lithuania at the beginning of World War II. Shugihara
defied the direct orders of his government and bravely gave transit
documents to several thousand Jews who were fleeing the Nazis. At
the time, they had only one place to go, which was the Dutch colony
of Curacao, a small island off the northern shore of South America.
But, to get there they had only one route they could follow, and
that route was through the Soviet Union and Japan. The transit
documents Shugihara provided them allowed them to pass through
Japan thereby saving their lives. |
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ABOUT VISITING TAKAYAMA AND SHIRAKAWA GO A BLOG AND SOME NICE PICS OF A VISIT THE OFFICIAL UNESCO SITE ABOUT SHIRAKAWA GO
THE SHIRAKAWA COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY HOMEPAGE ABOUT THE 2 EXHIBITION HALLS IN TAKAYAMA
A NICE PHOTO ALBUM OF A VISIT TO TAKAYAMA |
TAKAYAMA and
SHIRAKAWA GO together was one of
the highlights of the trip. They are located up in the
Japanese Alps and and are about an hour apart. Shirakawa Go (and several
other neighboring villages) is a UNESCO world heritage site and is
like a living museum showing how the Japanese built their
homes centuries ago using the "gassho"
style, with steeply pitched thatched roofs meant to handle heavy
snowfall. See the picture to the right. |
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Takayama is a
much larger town than Shirakawa Go and is famous for its woodworking
and other crafts. It is also famous for its
festival which is held twice a
year, in April and October. One of the attractions is the "Yatai
Kaikan" museum housing
the floats used in the festival. If you can't get to the festival,
you can at least see the floats, which have incredible carvings
and are very impressive. |
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The other major attraction in Takayama is San Maji Street, an absolutely beautiful
shopping street with beautiful stores and beautiful handicrafts.
It's also got quite a few sake breweries which sell their wares and
provide sampling. Takayama is famous for its sake. It's one market street we didn't want to leave.
To the left is a picture of a sampling of wood products and to the
right is one of many sake shops. |
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The last thing we did in
the Takayama area, was visit the headquarters of the very
strange "Sukyo
Mahikari", a religious organization (cult?) which calls itself The
True Light". The reason we visited is that their center in Takayama
is an opulent and extravagant building with an amazing array of
symbols on it, the most unusual being the Jewish Star of David. We
took a tour inside the temple (no pictures) and received a lecture
from a young disciple (who seemed to be high on something) who told us that despite the Jewish symbols,
there was no connection to Judaism. She explained the principles of
the religion and invited us to take part in prayers. See the picture to the right. |
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THE JAPANESE RYOKAN ASSOCIATION
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It's very popular in this area to stay in
traditional Japanese guest houses called "ryokan". These
are usually small guest houses with traditional facilities and local
family management and which do not cater to large groups, as they
are usually rather small. They are the Japanese equivalent of the
western B&B. Here's a
link to a very
nice one in Takayama. Most of them are simpler than this one. More
information to the left. |
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We stayed at a hotel named the "Hotel Assoc
Resort Takayama". The hotel was nice and had a regular shuttle which
drove down to the Takayama town center which was only a few minutes away. The
main attraction here was the "Furo",
the Japanese baths which are located on 2 floors of the hotel and
were absolutely beautiful. One floor was for women and the other for
men and every day they alternated, because, we were told that the
view on one of the floors was superior to the view on the other
floor. In any case, on the evening we were there, the men got the
"better" floor and it was a real pleasure, and a major spot
for
relaxation after a long day on the road to relax in the hot bath and
and look out onto the lights of the city below. |
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The only place we visited in Matsumoto was the city's black castle. Actually, we only visited the outside as we didn't have time to visit inside. It's very impressive sitting in the middle of a lake and is beautifully lit up at night. Picture to the left.
We stayed in the
Buena Vista Hotel which had a beautiful restaurant and a Zen
rock garden attached to it. We could see the garden from our window,
but couldn't get into the restaurant because it was full as we were
in Japan during the "Golden Week", a week long string of holidays.
In the evening, Alisa and I strolled in the old part of town, which
looked very interesting, but when we were there, most everything was
closed. |
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Hakone is about 80 KM from Tokyo. It is a very popular day trip from Tokyo as it is a beautiful area with lots of attractions. We drove there from Matsomoto to see the number one attraction in the area which is, of course, Mount Fuji.
FUJISAN:
Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, and because of its
beautiful symmetrical volcanic cone shape is probably the most
photographed mountain in the world. It is a holy place to both
Buddhists and Shintoists and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit
it every year, many to climb it. On the drive from Matsumoto we were fortunate and got
terrific clear views of the great mountain. I don't have any shots
of Fuji which can compete with the great professional shots
available on the internet. There's a link to a great site on the
right. |
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On the way to Hakone we visited the nearby
Gotemba (or Hakone) Peace Park which is located very close to Fuji
and affords very nice views of the mountain. The park is a Buddhist Park
and is a beautiful place to visit. At the top of the hill is a white
Indian pagoda which holds Buddhist relics.
Here's a picture to the left. |
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By far, the most impressive attraction in the area was the Hakone Open Air Museum. It's actually a statuary park, and the entire setting and the collection of modern statues were nothing short of spectacular. We spent 3 hours there photographing everything in sight and even that wasn't enough. Check the picture to the left and the two to the right. The one on the left gives an example of Japanese ingenuity. Alisa and Mika, (our Japanese guide for the second week of the trip) are soaking their feet in a water trough specifically designed for soaking your feet after walking around the park for an hour or two. |
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In Hakone we visited Ashi Lake where
there is a variety of things to do all in the shadow of Fujisan. We
took a ride on one of several "pirate boats" which ply the lake and
provide a pretty good imitation of Disneyland. Check the picture to
the right. We also took a cable car up to the top of Ashi Lake. We took a cable car up to
the top of the nearest mountain for a great view of the countryside.
We also visited an area of geothermal activity. There are lots of
thermal springs in the Hakone area. |
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Tokyo is one big city!!
We stayed at the Grand Plaza. This hotel is well located as it is
very near 2 subway stops and there are many restaurants within a 5-
minute walk. On the other hand, it wasn't very grand, but it
was quite acceptable. |
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Tokyo is made up of many very distinctly
defined neighborhoods.
Here's
a description of the most well known and there's another interesting
link to the left. We visited quite a few of them.
In fact, we visited so many places in
Tokyo, I can't believe the list I compiled below. Here's a brief description of
the most interesting places we visited. |
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We started our time in Tokyo in the Shinjuko neighborhood, a schizophrenic neighborhood split into two completely different areas, Shinjuko the modern skyscraper filled and Kabuki-cho, the hedonistic center of Tokyo night life. The 2 parts are separated by the elevated rail line and they are like 2 separate worlds. Here's a great description of Shinjuko. In the "skyscraper half", we visited the Seiko building which houses the world's largest water clock and the City Hall Tower for a great city view. As a group we visited Shinjuko during the day. After dark, Alisa and I returned to visit Kabuki-cho. It is terribly noisy, lit up like Las Vegas and filled with strip joints, private night clubs, restaurants, bars, love hotels, you name it - it's here! |
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We visited
GINZA, the
swankiest and most expensive neighborhood in Tokyo. It is full of
nice stores, great restaurants (this year Tokyo led world as the
city with the most Michelin star restaurants), galleries and a few
temples as well. In Ginza is the most famous Kabuki theatre, called
the "Kabukiza".
Our last day in Japan was a free day, and several of the group
attended a shortened kabuki production. We visited the
Sony Building,
which exhibits all of Sony's latest products and developments, and
the giant 10 story Matsuzakaya department store. Some links to the
left. |
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Other neighborhoods we
visited included HARAJUKA, where the weirdest of the Japanese hang
out, AKIHABURA which is the electronics center. Here there are
literally hundreds of stores all selling the latest in electronics
gadgetry. We didn't need any new gadgets so we looked for the more
exotic. We found a coffee shop on a back street where they brewed
coffee the old fashioned way - in a glass flask over an open "bunsen
burner" flame. Check out the picture to the left. |
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We visited the ASAKUSA neighborhood where the main attractions are the SENSOJI Temple and the Nakamise street market which is a covered market street leading right out of the temple's entrance. The temple is very impressive and the market is fascinating, but keep in mind that the area is very very crowded with these two attractions right next to one another. When we were there. it was absolutely packed with people and it was easy to get separated one from the other. |
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A visit to Tokyo wouldn't be complete without a tour of the TSUKIJI fish market. The real name of this market is the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale market and is the biggest seafood market in the world. The Japanese eat lots of fish and seafood, more than most (if not more than all) of the world's countries. This market is a working wholesale market and the main attraction is the thousands of tunas, but you can find any type of fish or seafood here. There is a public auction every morning at around 6 AM, so if you want to witness the goings on, you have to get up early. Also, keep in mind that this is a very busy place and you have to be careful you don't get run over by any of the motorized vehicles ferrying 200 pound tunas from place to place. It is a public market so anyone can come in and walk around, but the workers do not enjoy the visits by large groups. It is the only place we found in Japan where the locals were downright hostile and rude. After your visit, you may not want to eat fish for a while, particularly tuna. Check out the picture sites to the right and the tuna spread to the left. The tuna are waiting for their turn on the auction block. |
TSUJIKI FISH FOTO GALLERY |
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We visited the Emperor's
Palace, but didn't go inside, as inside tours are few and far
between and must be arranged in advance. It was also raining
so it was a short and uninspiring visit.
Here's
information about visiting. |
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One of the highlights of our time in Tokyo
was a visit to the
EDO-TOKYO Museum. This is a museum dedicated to old
Tokyo, which was called
Edo. It covers 400 years of Tokyo's history.
The exhibits are beautiful and expansive and try to create the
atmosphere of old Tokyo. In the picture to the left, Alisa is posing
with a very realistic Edo character. |
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We visited 2 parks, Oeno (pronounced "way-no") and YOYOGI. Both are beautiful and full of Japanese. On Sunday, Yoyogi is particularly lively with lots of music and dancing, and a whole collection of "rockabillie" performers. They are called "rockabillies", but they looked like Elvis impersonators to me. See the picture to the right where Alisa picked out the cutest one to pose with. Check out what goes on Sunday in Yoyogi park on this Youtube video. Oeno is a much more staid venue and is home to several of the most serious Tokyo museums. There's also a zoo, although we didn't see where it was. It's quite large and when we were there (twice) it was full of Japanese families and there was a book fair going on. |
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ODAIBA is a
large
artificial island on which has been built an
amazing array of attractions. There is the unusual Fuji telecom
center (see picture to the left), lots of entertainment venues, museums, theme parks, beaches,
a giant Ferris wheel, the Toyota exhibition (past and future) and even the ride to get
there over the impressive
Rainbow Bridge is an experience. Many of
the attractions have the scent of Las Vegas copies, such as a Roman
Coliseum shaped building, a mini Statue of Liberty, a huge shopping
mall with a Renaissance era interior, and probably lots more. Click
here
for a fabulous panoramic night view of Odaiba. |
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MEIJI shrine was built to honor Emperor Meiji who opened Japan up to the outside world and his Empress Shoken. It was definitely one of the more impressive Shinto shrines we visited and we visited on the right day - Sunday, when weddings take place there. We were able to witness several different wedding processions, which are done in traditional garb. See the picture to the above right for a glimpse of a Shinto bride in her wedding procession, and below it is a picture of the array of sake barrels at the entrance to the shrine site. An array of sake barrels (full or empty?) like this one are often seen at the entrance to shrines, as they were often presented to the shrine as a gift. |
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That's what the Japanese say about Nikko. Don't say Kikko until you've seen Nikko!" In Japanese, "kikko" means magnificent. I guess that the Japanese way of seeing "See Nikko and die." We took a day trip from Tokyo to visit Nikko - the same day as the 6 AM visit to the fish market so it was a very long day. Nikko is a small city about 150 KM from Tokyo which is famous for its temples, the most famous and elaborate one being the Toshugo Shrine. This was also the only one we visited. The Toshuga shrine is truly magnificent and the carvings and artwork on all the buildings are incredible. In the Nikko area we also visited some modest waterfalls (Kego falls) and a nice formal lunch at the Kanaya Niko Hotel. |
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Tokyo was the only place where we actually ate in some interesting restaurants and that there's something to mention. As I said above, near our hotel were many restaurants to choose from. We ate at one called Takadaya, a nice Japanese style restaurant with both floor seating as well as tables. We sat at a table and had some interesting dishes and sake served in bamboo cups. See me to the left sipping sake from a bamboo cup. We also ate at a local sushi bar (Jidai) where we met 2 Japanese business-women who spoke excellent English and helped us order our meal and with whom we had an entertaining evening. They were typical Japanese business people. They had worked all day and now at 8 PM had come straight to the restaurant for dinner. They worked for a Japanese company marketing German sausage in Japan. For their help, I've decided to give their sausage a plug. If you in Japan and read this, eat "Hareico" sausage! The third restaurant we ate at was Korean, and we had "Chige" a hot Korean stew cooked on the hot plate at our table. It was delicious but a little too hot for Alisa. It was even hotter than it looks in the picture to the left. |
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On our last day in Tokyo
we were given the day off, that is, everyone was on their own to do
whatever they wished. What unexpected freedom!! Some went to the
museum, some went to the WWII shrine right near the hotel, some went
to a Kabuki production. We went to one of Tokyo's older
neighborhoods -
YANAKA and we had a great day. |
A PERSONAL ACCOUNT BY A JAPANESE INTERESTED IN LOCAL HIATORY |
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Here are what I consider
the highlights of our trip: |
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THE SAMURAI |
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BELOW: SOME MORE LINKS TO USEFUL SITES ABOUT JAPAN |
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This is a page from our site "Travels with Steve & Alisa". It describes one of the many trips we have made together. We've built these pages not just to describe our trips, but to help other travelers if we can. Please use the information we've provided freely, and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to answer about your own planned trip, or just let us know if we have helped you. Or perhaps you have some information we could add to the site. Visit our home page using the link to the right. Enjoy your next trip!! ~Steve & Alisa~ |
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LATEST UPDATE: DECEMBER 18, 2012
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