Reimposta ricerca
Japan 2023Japan 2023
Modifica rotta

Japan 2023

settembre - novembre 2023
  • Alan Chapman
Un’avventura di 60 giorni di Alan Leggi altro
  • Alan Chapman

Elenco dei paesi

  • Giappone Giappone
Categorie
Nessuno
  • 2,9kmiglia percorse
Mezzi di trasporto
  • Volo-chilometri
  • Camminare-chilometri
  • Hiking-chilometri
  • Bicicletta-chilometri
  • Motocicletta-chilometri
  • Tuk Tuk-chilometri
  • Auto-chilometri
  • Treno-chilometri
  • Autobus-chilometri
  • Camper-chilometri
  • Caravan-chilometri
  • 4x4-chilometri
  • Nuoto-chilometri
  • Pagaiare/Remare-chilometri
  • Motoscafo-chilometri
  • Barca a vela-chilometri
  • Casa galleggiante-chilometri
  • Traghetto-chilometri
  • Nave da crociera-chilometri
  • Cavallo-chilometri
  • Sci-chilometri
  • Autostop-chilometri
  • Cable car-chilometri
  • Elicottero-chilometri
  • A piedi nudi-chilometri
  • 67impronte
  • 60giorni
  • 409fotografie
  • 0Mi piace
SeguiCalendarioCondividiLista dei desideri
Prima i più nuovi
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Kotohira

    27 settembre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We took a local train from Takamatsu to Kotohira, staying on the Park Hotel,
    In the morning, we visited Kanamaru-Za, the oldest extant Kabuki theatre in Japan dating from 1835 to provide entertainment for pilgrims to the Kotohira-gu shrine. There are rare performances now. We walked under the stage and saw the equipment for the revolving stage which would be operated manually.
    Some of us climbed the 1368 steps to the Okusha Shrine near the top of Mt. Zozu at 521m. The walk was very steep but there was a great view of Kotohira and the surrounding countryside. On the way down, I stopped for lunch at a posh cafe.
    Continuing my descent, at Omote Shoin, there were 90 painted door panels, some from the Edo period, with cranes, tigers and Mt. Fuji amongst the scenes, plus a garden. There was only one other visitor at this Important Cultural Property.
    I visited an art gallery and then the Homotsu-kau Museum with lots of wall paintings, Samurai headwear, and statues.
    I couldn't find another museum so I walked back to town down a rarely-used path in a forest of very tall and straight cedar trees. To end the walk, I visited the covered bridge over river.
    We went to a beef bbq restaurant for dinner.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Iya Valley

    28 settembre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We left Kotohira by train for the 42 minute journey to Oboke where a coach took us on a tour of the thickly-forested, mountainous Iya Valley. We reached 1000m. We visited the Scarecrow Village which was virtually deserted apart from hundreds of scarecrows designed as people, with some sitting on benches and others in the gym of the former school.
    We walked across the vine bridge which was also supported by cables.
    The Henke Yashuki Folklore Museum was a former Samurai house.
    I had a wild vegetable noodle soup at a restaurant overlooking the river valley.
    In the afternoon, we took an all-stations Shinkansen for the 90 minute journey from Kwanoe to Matsuyama, and then a taxi to another Tokyu Rei Hotel. We had pizzas for dinner.
    Out of the cities, the attraction of towns and villages are the two-storey house with attractive tiles on the rooves. The house are mainly painted brown or white with few bricks noticeable. Some have small rice paddies rather than gardens. There are few high buildings, maybe a protection against earthquakes. There are lots of cables above the streets rather than underground, maybe because it would be easier to repair or replace them if there was an earthquake. That's a reason why there are many communication towers either on tops of buildings or standalones.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Matsuyama

    29 settembre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Some of us walked up to Matsujama Castle whilst others took the ropeway. The castle was well-preserved. On one floor of the main tower, there were samurai costumes which you could put on. James and I started to but it wasn't easy to do all the straps etc. oneself, partly because the tunic was so heavy. Two Japanese ladies came to help, and others stopped to watch. It was good fun.
    I bought stamps for postcards. The price was increasing in October to Y100 anywhere in the World, equivalent to about 60p which was cheaper than 2nd class mail in the UK.
    We had lunch in a restaurant in a shopping arcade.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Matsuyama

    29 settembre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    After lunch, I took a tram to the Dogo district. After visiting two shrines, I went to a beautiful museum which exhibited Edo/Mejii glass in many shapes, colours and purposes, e.g. sake bottles.
    I went to the Dogo Onsen Honkan which was on the site of the oldest onsen in Matsuyama, having been used by the Emperors in 596 AD. The present building was constructed in 1894. It was also the smallest and warmest bath I went in that afternoon.
    The Dogo Onsen Annex Assuka-no-yu had two pools with a small garden.
    Tsubaki-no-yu was relatively modern and larger with an outdoor area with ceramic wall panels and decorative wooden panels.
    I took a tram back to the hotel.
    We had dinner in an arcade in the Okaido district of the city.
    A cold and cough started that night and lasted for four nights. It may have been cause by the air-conditioning in the bedroom being set too low.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Nagasaki

    30 settembre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    There was no railway bridge from Western Shikoku to either Western Honshu or Kyushu and any ferry would be time-consuming. So we had an uneven ride on a limited express back east to Okayama before turning west for a two-hour Shinkansen past Hiroshima before changing on to the local Kyushu service before changing again on to a Shinkansen for the final 30 minutes into Nagasaki. The intention is to extend the Shinkansen so there will be a complete service from Honshu to Kyushu and on to Nagasaki, saving the necessity for the quick changes between trains.
    We had a snack lunch on the train and, when we arrived at Nagasaki, we took taxis to the Dormy Inn.
    We walked down to the marina and had dinner, a speciality being Nagasaki noodle soup.
    The Japanese don't look stressed despite rushing around in the cities and at the enormous stations. The children seem happy.
    On the rail journey, I saw more solar panels but no wind farms. Japan has many nuclear plants.
    As elsewhere, the countryside was very green with densely-forested hills.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Nagasaki

    1 ottobre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    We went by tram to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. It wasn't as large and seemed older than the equivalent in Hiroshima. Interestingly, whilst there were photos of the Allied leaders and commanders, there were none of Emperor Hirohito and General Tojo, nor was there a recording of the Emperor's radio broadcast, six days after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and ten days after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, telling the Japanese to surrender. Although it mentioned that Japan was in conflicts from 1931 until 1945, it didn't mention that Japan had started them all. Of course, the Museum wasn't concentrating on the historical record but particularly on the aftermath of the bomb being dropped, However, you wonder what Japanese schoolchildren are taught in their history classes.
    The Peace Park was also not so extensive as the equivalent in Hiroshima. A small part of the former cathedral was left standing. I went to the new Urakami Cathedral, and almost got caught up in a funeral, and continued to the one pillar torri gate.
    I took the tram to Dejima and Nagasaki Crispy Noodle Soup for Sunday lunch at a "Fine Dining" restaurant nearby. Afterwards, I walked around Dejima Island which isn't now on the coast but surrounded by buildings. Dejima was the base for the foreign traders, especially the Dutch, who were allowed to trade before Japan closed its doors to foreigners in the early 17th century before reopening them to Commander Perry in the 1850s and then other countries in the late 1860s when the Emperor resumed full control after overthrowing the Shogun.
    It's interesting to note that American intervention in the mid-19th century led to the Industrial Revolution belatedly reaching Japan, and a century later, it was American intervention that led to Japan adopting a democratic constitution in place of militarism.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Nagasaki

    1 ottobre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    In the afternoon, I took a tram to Oura Catherdral, built in 1864 and the oldest in Japan, dedicated to the 26 martyrs crucified in 1597. The adjoining museum had details of the Christian communities which were suppressed but survived in the centuries which followed.
    I walked up the Dutch Slope and went in one of the colonial houses which survived in the atomic bomb due to the geography of Nagasaki and its hills compared to the flat land around Hiroshima. I had a local cake, castella, and a coffee in one of the houses.
    I took the lift and a moving walkway up to Glover Garden, named after one of the western industrialists, shippers and traders. His house was one of those which had been relocated to this site together with a number of others. The Garden had been landscaped with friezes and waterfalls. as it went down the hill to a museum which housed some of the floats used at festivals.
    I took a tram back uptown and walked across the river to the ropeway up Mt Inasa to see Nagasaki at night, selected as one of the great viewpoints at night in the world. The view was enhanced by a full moon.
    I retraced the route back across the river and caught a tram back to the hotel at the end of a very full day.
    Nagasaki and Matsumoto later in the trip were examples of cities which weren't overburdened by their size and skyscrapers unlike Tokyo and Osaka, and therefore more pleasant and manageable.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Yakushima

    2 ottobre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Leaving Nagasaki by train, we took the same route out to Sin Tosu to join the main line south in Kyushu on a Shinkansen to Kagoshima.
    Whilst waiting for the ferry, we had lunch at a sushi restaurant where you took the different coloured plates off the carousel or some were brought by waiters. The prices on the menu were exclusive of 10% sales tax whereas those on the wall were inclusive of tax. Japan needs to start quoting inclusive prices like the UK does with VAT. It was unnecessary for us to work out the bill because a waitress came with a hand-held device, put it against the stack of different-priced coloured plates, and the bill was almost instantly given to us.
    The hydrofoil ferry carried about 200 passengers for 110 minutes from Miyanoura Port to the island of Yakushima. This was followed by a 45 minute local bus ride to the ryokan at Anbo which overlooked a river estuary with the forest in the distance.
    We went to a local restaurant for dinner.
    Today was another day when we used our JR Pass opening many turnstiles. The 14-day Pass was worth about £300, good value if you made many journeys as we did. The price was increased substantially in October 2023.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Yakushima

    3 ottobre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Yakushima is known to be wet, picking up moisture from the East China Sea, so it was no surprise that today was cloudy with early morning rain which fortunately abated whilst we were hiking.
    We took two local buses, rising up through the forest to the Shiratani Unsuikyo Ravine in the Yakushima National Recreation Forest. We hiked 5.6km over four hours, rising from 600m to 1000m over sometimes rough ground. The Forest which could be described as a Cloud or Temperate Rain Forest, is famous for its ancient cedar trees but we also saw many broadleaf trees plus streams leading to waterfalls. We were fortunate to see a troop of monkeys near the summit, close to where we ate our bento-box lunches.
    The ravine was the inspiration for the animated film, Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke).
    On a wet evening (we were unused to rain on the trip), we had dinner at a restaurant across the river where we tried lots of dishes including mackerel, which should have been fresh being beside the sea, frozen mandarins with honey, and frozen passionfruit.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione
  • Alan ChapmanViaggiatoreJapan 2023

    Return to Osaka

    4 ottobre 2023, Giappone ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    After breakfast which included a miso soup, and on a wet morning, we repeated our route by bus and ferry back to the mainland where the weather had cleared to allow a view of the active volcano overlooking Kagoshima.
    We took a Shinkansen back to Osaka, and returned to the Bridge Hotel on the metro.
    Being the final night of the Intrepid trip, we went out for a farewell meal in the evening with some choosing the option to make their own pancakes.
    The seats on Shinkansen swivel so all passengers are looking forward. The jingles which precede announcements in Japanese and English reminded me of the music for the credits on EastEnders.
    On the trip, it was noticeable how many elderly people were bent-over between 45 and 90 degrees.

    A reminder to watch the Michael Portillo programmes on railways in Japan.    Leggi altro

    Guarda la traduzione