Christmas is not recognised as a national holiday in Japan (as the majority of Japanese are Buddhist and Shinto – and I’m not complaining by any stretch) and so most of the population gets a vacation/holiday over New Years – often the 31st of December through the 6 of January. This year, due to some lucky days off, I had December 26th to January 4th off. Because this was the last time I would get such a huge chunk of time off in one stretch, a friend and I decided to plan a whirl-wind trip through Honshu, the main island of Japan.
The first three days of the trip were spent in Tokyo, followed by a long train ride to Takayama, Nagoya then onto Nara, Ise, Himeji, Okayama, Takamatsu and finally, Tokuyama.
As you can imagine – it was a hell of a trip!
We stayed in Ueno (to the north-east of the Imperial Palace) for the three nights we spent in Tokyo. The first day it was raining like all hell, so we decided to take a short walk through the parks surrounding Ueno’s prime attraction – museums.
Rainy day statuary
After we had had enough of the rain, we decided to check out the National Museum which boasts some amazing Japanese art work, as well as relics from many Asian countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq – two countries you rarely get to talk about in the US. My friend and I both agreed it was refreshing.
After a hot bowl of udon, we decided to call it a cold and rainy day and headed back to the hotel, though we were quick to notice an interesting street near our hotel.
The next day we made our way to Akihabara – the electronic capital of Tokyo where we saw all sorts of cheap and oh-so-tasty electronic gadgets.
Ohohohohhooo sugoi!
That night the rain had eased up, so we went back to Akihabara and wandered around. I bought the world’s best strawberries and spent way too much money on arcade claw games. We did not, however, go to shopping and play bowling.
Next was the Imperial Palace, surrounding gardens, and municipal areas.
Our next destination was the bay-area of Tokyo; Odaiba. It was here where we saw the majority of the “techno-shiny” gadgets and buildings that Tokyo is so well-known for.
Oh. Shiny, expensive toy.
We also spent some time in Ryogoku – the Sumo hub of Tokyo. However, the gym was closed when we got there, so we had to content ourselves with taking pictures through the fence and covertly snapping some shots at wrestlers on their bikes.
Here’s where my memory gets a little fuzzy. I’m pretty sure from Tokyo we spent a gruelling, sleepless 10 hour train ride to Nagoya. I know we spent a day wandering around somewhere in Tokyo, because I knocked over an entire table of Bento (pre-packed lunches) in a store…but I can’t for the life of me remember where that was.
So, here are some photos from Tokyo that don’t really have any real home because I forgot where I was supposed to put them.
Visualize whirled peas.
No matter…on to Takayama!
Sleepy little snowy Takayama. While Colorado was getting hit with nasty amounts of snow, Takayama was getting gently packed under the fluffiest, most scenic snow I’ve ever seen. In fact, the meandering train ride through the Japanese Alps was rife with wonder. In order to make sure you get the point, I’m going to drag in some Spongebob to clarify:
“It’s a vast swirling wonderland of sparkling white pleasure. Let it fill your senses with cascading pillows of comfort and excitement like you’ve never felt before.” -Patrick Star Spongebob Squarepants
The prime attraction of Takayama was a quaint little old-school village complete with original houses, farming equipment and even swans in the lake.
We spent that night in Nagoya and moved on to Nara and Ise the next day.
Before Tokyo and even before Kyoto, Nara was Japan’s capital and though we got in a little late, it was easy to see why the earliest inhabitants of Japan would choose such a location.
Next was Ise, which houses the holiest shrine in Japan – and we just so happened to be there on the holiest day of the year. Not to mention, the ancient cedar forests were stunning. I could see myself being a hermit up there.
Next was a short layover in Himeji which has (what some consider) Japan’s most beautiful surviving feudal castle. At night, it’s showered with flood-lights which looks amazing! But makes it nearly impossible to take picture, so you’ll have to trust me when I say it was cool.
That night we went on through Okayama and into Takamatsu where I stayed the night and headed out that afternoon to my own neck of the woods.
It was a wonderful trip! I feel like I saw a lot of Japan, even if it was for only a day.
So, with that I say goodbye and leave you with some pics of cities in between our travels.
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