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  • Fiona Pitt

Japan 2025

An open-ended adventure by Fiona Read more
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  • Fiona PittJapan 2025Traveler

    Busan, South Korea

    October 13 in South Korea ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    On Monday 13th, we docked in Busan, the second biggest city in South Korea, and joined a shore excursion. The first stop was Songdo Beach, which has a raised walkway. The legend of the Songdo Beach dragon woman is a tragic love story about a fisherman and the daughter of the Sea King. While seeking shelter from a storm, the fisherman finds the dragon princess, who was injured fighting a sea monster. He nurses her back to health, and they fall in love. The princess tries to pray to become human, but an evil sea monster interrupts her prayers and the fisherman is killed in a battle against it. As a result, the princess becomes half-dragon, half-woman, and the Sea King transforms the fisherman into Turtle Rock so they can be together forever. 
    Sitting on a turtle and putting your hands on your head is supposed to bring good luck!
    Next we went to Gamcheon Cultural Village, which is built into a hillside and has lots of art installations, many related to The Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry.
    Our final stop was the fish markets and city markets. Another warm and humid day. Guides in both Japan and South Korea commented that it is usually cooler by now.
    We had a drink by the pool and watched a Rolling Stones concert on the big screen - not sure what year, but Charlie was still alive.    Read more

  • Fiona PittJapan 2025Traveler

    Hakata, Fukuoka

    October 12 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Saturday was a full day at sea as we came all the way down the west coast of Honshu to Hakata, the port for Fukuoka. We spent our sea day doing laundry, reading and watching movies.
    On Sunday we joined a bus excursion. First, we visited the Shinto shrine at Dazaifu, which is the home of the God of Learning. This is a long weekend in Japan as Monday is Sports Day, and the shrine was packed with families. It is traditional to offer prayers here for academic success. This area is known for plum trees so I had a plum icecream as it was a very hot day. The Japanese maple leaves are just starting to turn. We saw rice fields, and lotus growing in the moat of a ruined castle.
    Next stop was the Kushida Shrine, which has a ginkgo tree over 1000 years old. It is about 16m around.
    Last stop of the day was the Fukuoka tower, which has great views of the city.    Read more

  • Fiona PittJapan 2025Traveler

    Hakodate, Hokkaido

    October 8 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Typhoon Halong was getting close so the ship has changed itinerary. Instead of going south west we went north for a full day at sea. I went to a Japanese language class and an Origami class. This morning we were ashore in Hakodate. David climbed the mountain and I went to the markets.Read more

  • Fiona PittJapan 2025Traveler

    Yokohama and sail away

    October 7 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    A bit cooler yesterday so we were able to walk further. Great views of Yokohama. Today we boarded the Diamond Princess for a 10 day cruise. There was a traditional sake barrel breaking ceremony before we sailed and we all had a cup.Read more

  • Fiona PittJapan 2025Traveler

    Yokohama Day 2

    October 6 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Day 2 of Yokohama sightseeing. We are staying on Nihon O-dori Avenue the first modern street built in Japan, to separate the Japanese from the foreigners. We walked to the Red Brick Warehouses, built in 1911 and 1913. The facade is original but the rooms are all modern cafes, shops and restaurants. We had breakfast at Uni Coffee which has seating set aside for people with pets. If you sit there without a pet and someone with one needs it, you have to move. All the other customers were Japanese, one woman had her dog in a pram. Oktoberfest is still on - vacant when we arrived but with a long queue on our way back.
    We walked on to Cosmo World, which is a theme park with free entry, only the rides cost money. We read the tsunami evacuation advice, maps on streets display the elevation. Our hotel room is on the 4th floor so we would probably be OK.
    Across from there is the Cup Noodles Museum - every flavour of ramen in every shape of cup!
    The van is Yamato Transport, which is Japan's largest delivery company. The cat carrying her kitten symbolises how careful they are with your parcels.    Read more

  • Fiona PittJapan 2025Traveler

    Yokohama Day 1

    October 5 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Arrived at Haneda Airport, Tokyo and had a gruelling 2 hours of getting through Immigration and Customs. Perhaps it's understaffed on Sundays? Train to Yokohama Central, then another train to Nihonodori Station very close to our hotel. Dropped our bags with reception and went for a walk. First impression was lots of concrete with pops of colour. Very few children in the park but lots of people walking their dogs, some on leads and some in prams. There was even a cat in a pram. Lots of restaurants but we opted for taking a sandwich back to the hotel for dinner, listening to the NRL Grand Final.Read more

    Trip start
    October 4, 2025
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