Japan (May 12 - 23)

The next stop on our world tour after Singapore was Japan. The course was held at the Shinagawa offices, just a block from the Shinagawa train station. Our hotel was the Le Meridien Pacific Tokyo just a block the other side of the train station, so every day was walked through the station, surrounded by the masses of people going about their everyday routines. We were lucky to have with us a colleague from Singapore who knew Tokyo far better than we did, Soon-chai Tan, and he acted as our unofficial tour guide.

After the course was finished, we had part of a day to visit near Tokyo, and then I was on my own for a week of vacation. I took the bullet train to Osaka, stayed at the Ramada Hotel and used that as my base of operations for the week. From there I managed to visit almost every capital city that Japan has ever had: Kobe, Nara, Kyoto and Hiroshima.

Tokyo & Kitamura

I managed to see a lot of parts of Tokyo:

•  Shinjuki - busy, busy, busy!
•  Shibuya - youth on the streets, lots of shopping
•  Roppongi - nightlife and restaurants
•  Ginza - upscale shopping
•  Ueno - park and a zoo, famous for cherry blossoms
•  Asakusa - a temple with a huge flea market street in front of it
•  Akihabara - the electronics city
•  and Kitamura - a coastal town south of Tokyo with a huge Buddha

Osaka

These are the places I visited in and around Osaka:

•  Ryokuchi-koen , a park with a display of old Japanese farmhouses
•  America-mura - shops & kids all trying to look what they think is "american"
•  Dotombori - a shopping street along a canal full of restaurants and nightlife
•  Tempozan - the harbour village area
•  People pictures on a bridge in Dotombori and in the square in America-mura

Kobe & Himeji

I was in luck and the day after I got to Osaka was the annual festival and parade in Kobe. I spent the morning there then carried on to the famous Himeji Castle.

Nara

I went to Nara and spent the whole day wandering around in Nara-koen:

•  3 and 5 storied pagodas
•  Toshikien and Isuien Gardens
•  Todaji temple
•  Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do halls
•  Kasuga Taisha shrine

Kyoto & Uji

The first day I went to Kyoto was on a bus tour and they raced us through a lot of sites:

•  Nijo Castle
•  Kinkakuji temple
•  Kyoto Imperial Palace
•  Heian shrine
•  Sanjusangendo
•  Kiyomizu temple

The next day I went back and met up with Yuko, a guide provided by the Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO), a Goodwill Guide. She was great, and we saw some more of Kyoto then went to Uji for the afternoon.

•  Kyoto day market
•  Kimono show
•  Byodo-in at Uji

Hiroshima & Miyajima

I took the bullet train to Hiroshima and saw the

•  A-bomb Dome
•  Peace Park

Then I took a ferry from downtown Hiroshima over to the island of Miyajima where I saw

•  Itsukushima-jinja shrine (saw a formal Shinto wedding taking place)
•  Momijidani Park
•  Senjo-kaku