Travel Journal 2016

This is our route for this trip to Japan…

We’re flying to Ōsaka Kansai, where we’ll meet our friend Chīko and explore Kyōto together with her the next day. After that, we’ll join a tour group, visit Nara and watch “Geisha dances” in Kyōto. Then we’re taking the Shinkansen and an express train to Nagasaki, with a stopover in Himeji, where we’ll check out the fully restored Himeji-jō this time. From Nagasaki we’ll do a day trip to Shimabara. After that, we’re heading via Hiroshima and Kurashiki to Tōkyō. There we’ll do another trip to Nikko before the group part of the tour finishes. Then we’ll head out on our own to Takayama in the Japanese Alps, where we’ll stay overnight in a ryokan. The last stop is Nagoya before we head back to Germany via Ōsaka Kansai.

Originally, the trip was supposed to go via the seaside resort of Beppu and Kumamoto to Nagasaki. But the massive earthquake on 15 April left severe damage at Kumamoto Castle and the surrounding infrastructure, so we’ll be checking out Shimabara instead.

It’s a pretty packed programme for two weeks, but we’re super excited to see Japan again.

Map: Natural Earth, Public Domain

We’re finally off! After 6 years of “abstinence”, we’re absolutely buzzing to see Japan again.

This time, we decided to fly out of Düsseldorf airport, which is much handier for us. First up, we’re taking an Airbus A380 to Dubai, then carrying on to Ōsaka Kansai on a Boeing 777.

We’ve finally arrived in Japan.

The flight was exhausting. The interior of the Boeing 777 was a bit dated, plus it was cramped and loud on the plane.

But all that is forgotten now. We arrived in Ōsaka, where our friend was already waiting for us. Together we took the train to Kyōto, where we quickly sorted out a SIM card for mobile internet and grabbed a quick bite to eat.

We’re spending the night in a basic business hotel near the station. It’s always amazing how tiny a hotel room like this can be. But the bed is big enough, and it’s totally fine for one night. Tomorrow the three of us will check out Kyōto, before the actual programme starts the day after tomorrow with the tour group.

After a simple breakfast, we headed to Fushimi Inari. The shrine is dedicated to the fox deity Inari and is especially famous for its thousands of torii gates, which lead up the mountain like an avenue. Of course, we walked up the countless steps right to the top, where we were rewarded with a lovely view of Kyōto.

Next, we visited Kyomizu-dera. This temple is famous for its huge wooden terrace on long wooden stilts, another postcard-perfect scene. We took the bus there, which is an experience in itself. Once you arrive, you squeeze your way to the front and pay the driver. Ideally with exact change, because otherwise you have to break your money down at a change machine first, holding up the whole queue.

We strolled around Kyōto a bit more, tried some sake soft-serve ice cream and wound down the day in a small Zen garden. After that, it was sadly time to say goodbye to our Japanese friend.

Tomorrow the group part of the trip starts. So we moved to a different hotel first. Luckily with a much bigger room.

We mostly already knew today’s programme from our first trip to Japan, but I guess that’s just how it goes with group tours. We did the obligatory tourist stuff for a visit to Kyōto and saw the Kinkaku-ji, the Ryōan-ji with its famous stone garden and Nijō Castle.

The Sanjūsangen-dō was new to us, though. Here, 1001 life-sized Buddha statues from the 12th and 13th centuries stand on a tiered platform in a long hall. An impressive sight. Unfortunately, taking photos in the hall was strictly forbidden.

Since we had a bit of free time left in the evening, we headed over to the Fushimi Inari with the group again, which actually wasn’t on the programme at all. As they say, two is better than one.