Up early, and travelling by train, taxi, ferry & lots of walking we set off on our next adventure. But of course, plans and reality can often differ. We had intended taking the cable car to the top of the mountain and walking back down. The only tickets on sale were round trip tickets and an explanation that the footpath was closed. We confidently set off, convinced we’d be able to find our way down. We couldn’t! So what we…
Lucky lucky me … Hidemi, my Japanese friend, and I went to a restaurant at the foot of Mt Takao this week. Ssshh don’t tell Geoff that our trip got off to a shaky start because I got off at the wrong station. Hidemi is so patient and I soon met up with her and we made our way by train and then courtesy bus. Set in fabulous gardens with carp ponds and a water wheel … and a lot…
Japanese manhole covers come in many designs and depend on the location, utility type and manufacturer. There is a Japanese Society of Manhole Covers … and a growing number of manhole cover spotters. I guess I am one of them since I have been taking photos of them since we arrived! Matsumato Ueno Park, Tokyo Two Pokémon manhole covers were recently placed in Ueno Park … but Pokémon themed manhole covers have been installed in over 150 locations all over…
Japan must be the world leader in vending machines … at the end of 2018, the number of vending machines in the country was nearly 3 million, or a vending machine for each 37 citizens! But why??? Firstly, it is safe; it is unheard of for people here to break into a machine for cash or stock. And it seems that anyone with a small plot of land that has people walking past it thinks that it is a good…
With a car on this trip, we took the opportunity to drive out of Matsumoto to visit the Daio Wasabi Farm at the foot of the Northern Japanese Alps. Tourist information told us that this was one of the largest wasabi farms in Japan. On the way there, we could see people with cameras on a tall temporary structure looking across the road. So of course we stopped. We paid our fee (a fundraiser at a local arts event) and…
400 year old Matsumoto Castle has the oldest five storey tensui (donjon tower) in Japan. It was built on plains with the impressive Japanese Alps in the background. I love the cunning of the construction … from the outside it appears to have five storeys but it actually has six. The third floor has no windows and was used to secretly house warriors during wartime. Another queue, this time for 80 mins and fortunately mostly in the shade. We are…
With two public holidays – Marine Day & a one off holiday for the Olympic Games, we thought we would escape Tokyo for a couple of nights. It seems that a good percentage of Tokyo had a similar idea so the journey took much much longer than planned. Note to selves … setting off at 9 am on a public holiday is not a good idea! The Japanese Alps are a series of mountain ranges, rising to over 3,000 metres,…
Our next stop was Kurashiki and we stayed in the historical area next to canals. Rather different to our canals in Shibaura, these are lined with weeping willows and old restored buildings. The area is very dependent on tourism and it is suffering greatly with the lack of international and very few Japanese visitors. We found a few over-priced antique / bric-a-brac shops with an obsession with Nipper, the HMV dog. I checked since returning and Nipper was a dog…
As wonderful as Tokyo is, it was brilliant to escape for a few days. We travelled to Kobe on the Shinkansen …. 2.5 hours on the train v 6.5 hours driving, and picked up a hire car on our arrival. Although some of the State of Emergency restrictions have lifted, restaurants close at 8 pm with last orders for drinks at 7pm. Too late for a restaurant, our first night’s meal was from a convenience store; it was heated up…
You know that you are old, indeed ancient, when you are older than a castle! Atami Castle was built in 1959 as a visitor attraction high above the city so giving panoramic views over Atami from the 6th floor observatory deck. Not withstanding the dreadful incident in Italy, we travelled to the castle on cable car. We turned down tickets to the Adult Museum, little realising what further delights were ahead of us. The 6th floor was the viewing deck…