Japan At Its Finest

We can’t believe that we’re leaving this beautiful country today and heading back to Calgary. This past week and half was so amazing with all the attractions and sightseeing that we’ve experienced here in Japan. I don’t think we’ll ride another train as fast as the Bullet Train or drink rice wine at the local bars at home. I hope that we all could come back in the near future and further our experience in the culture and what further explore Japan has to offer. On the bright side, the memories will fly back home with us.

Ok so we just got back from Hiroshima and arrived in Narita International Airport in Tokyo Japan. The flight from Hiroshima to Tokyo wasn’t long at all, which was great because we were all energized to start our day in Tokyo. The first day we were in Tokyo we stayed at a traditional Homeikan, this time we have decided to stay at the Excel Hotel Tokyu Narita which is extremely close to Narita International Airport. Our check-in time was 12:00 at the hotel and we decided to take the airport shuttle bus which was more convenient for us rather than taking the taxi. Since this is our last day in Tokyo, we decided to take a day tour in Shibuya. It was unbelievable, there were so many people shopping and just walking around. We enjoyed our afternoon their and bought lots of clothes and souvenirs to take back home with us. We managed to go to many of the restaurants within Shibuya, we ate so much!

At around 9:00pm we decided to go and enjoy our last few hours at Club Harlem. There was an entry fee of 20 Yen that had to be paid at the front doors. The bar was filled with so many unique alcoholic beverages that we don’t have back home, in Calgary. We decided to try most of them such as the Rice Wine and the Shochu, Awamori drink. We got a little out of hand and decided to drink glass after glass; thank god we had a taxi to take us home for the night.

We are in Hiroshima! This place is full of history regarding Japan’s biggest war and battle. Our first stop was to go to Peace Memorial Park built April 1, 1954, we had sort of a weird feeling walking around maybe it was knowing that it was here, the city of Hiroshima where the first attack by a nuclear atomic bomb took place (August 6, 1945), but nonetheless it was beautiful. We also got a chance to see the Atomic Dome, it literally looked like it was going to crumble by how it looked. We walked alongside the Hiroshima river for a couple hours, it was fascinating and beautiful at the same time.

For more information on Peace Memorial Park Click here -> Peace Memorial Park

Today, once again we went sightseeing. We visited the Kenninji Temple founded in 1202 CE, the beautiful gardens could be seen from the temple, and the architecture was phenomenal. Today Kennin-ji's buildings include the Abbot's Quarters, given by Ankoku-ji in 1599; the Dharma Hall, built in 1765; a tea house built in 1587. We also went for a special night time “light up” at the Kodaiji Temple, it was absolutely stunning! Too bad we were leaving for Hiroshima the next day. Goodbye Kyoto!

Day 6 in Japan had been a long day for all three of us. We woke up early in the morning to catch the train going from Tokyo to Yokohama. From Yokohama we decided to take the Keio Express bus, which took us directly to Kawaguchiko 5th station, a convenient place to stop because it’s one of the main points of departure for climbing Mt Fuji. It was pretty amazing to see Japan’s highest mountain, it’s crazy to think that it’s surrounded by 5 lakes; Kawaguchiko, Saiko, Yamanakako, Shojiko, Motosuko, too bad we only got to see two out of the five (Shojiko and Kawaguchiko). Sightseeing was great but catching the next Keio Express bus back to Yokohama was a challenge, we almost missed it! Luck was on our side that day because 5 minutes after we got to the station the bullet train to Kyoto arrived, it was time to hop on to our next location.

For more information on click here -> Mount Fuji