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Japanese Journeys
  • Lynette Farquhar
  • Gabrielle Ingram
  • Lynette Farquhar
  • Gabrielle Ingram

Japanese Journeys

A 18-day adventure by Lynette & Gabrielle Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 5, 2025
    Japanese Journeys
    Ready to fly
    View from Star Gate Hotel, Kansai AirportLooking at Osaka

    Day 1-Brisvegas to Osaka

    Dec 5–6 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    After battling with an extraordinary number of cars trying to get into the international airport, Paul dropped Gabby and I off this morning for our ✈️ to Japan. Jetstar self check-in was chaotic to say the least and Gabby and I discovered a similar inability to scan our passports! Fortunately, we got there in the end. Our packs were the lightest I have ever travelled with, weighing in at just 8kg each (plus a couple of kg for our day bags).

    Bottles of water, coffee and almond croissant (for one of us, not naming any names, Gabby) purchased and we settled in to wait for departure.

    We left a bit late but ✈️ was uneventful and we arrived only a little later than expected. Getting through all the check-in points to exit the airport was relatively painless, in the end, although I was a bit worried my luggage had not followed us to Japan when Gabby's appeared almost immediately and mine just, didn't.... Until it did, and then all was right with the world.

    Cash was then extracted from a dit-dat machine, rail pass was purchased with the cash we just extracted, train platform was identified. Slight panic then ensued when I realised I had left my day bag at the rail pass machine and had to dash out of the railway station area to reclaim bag (disconcerting the staff and getting a lesson on how to properly scan your pass to exit on the way!!). Bag was fortunately just were I had left it - thank goodness for Japanese honesty!!

    Anyways, we then took a train one (quite long) stop to the mainland and navigated our way to our accommodation, Hotel Star Gate (no relation to the tv/movie franchise, disappointingly). We were given a premium suite on the 48th floor, just 5 down from the top,. It all looks a bit swish, with bathrobes and slippers and a plethora of free stuff in the bathroom. Very comfy beds and hopefully enough pillows for Gabby....

    Tomorrow's challenge - work out how to use a Japanese bidet!! Oh, and the four different trains we have to use to get to Kyoto....    Read more

  • Japanese Journeys
    Heian Jingu Shrine garden
    Nishiki MarketLunch stopPontocho AlleyWalking along the KamogawaTempleHeian Jingu ShrineHeian Jingu Shrine gardenPiece Hostel Sanjo, KyotoRoom to swing a cat!

    Day 2 - Osaka to Kyoto

    December 6 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Today we experienced our first konbini breakfast, buying for myself something resembling french toast, egg roll and pineapple pieces, plus a coffee from a Lawsons convenience store at the bottom of the hotel. I was not a fan of anything other than the 🍍. I think the bread is too sweet and/or too soft. So far it doesn't look like anything other than white bread exists....

    After checking out of our hotel, we headed off on one of several train transfers required to make it to Kyoto. We luckily found ourselves given a bum steer by an overly helpful train assistant which put us on the milk run train. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we saw people shoved in like sardines on the express train on other platforms, even on a Saturday morning, which just wouldn't have worked for us and our backpacks. As it turned out, we had spacious train carriages with a seat the whole way, and it only took about 20 minutes longer.

    We arrived at the Piece Hostel Sanjo which was a recommendation from Gabby's husband, Craig, from earlier this year. Our room was ready early, so we were able to dump our bags and head off to explore. We have gone from a spacious hotel rooms with lots of frills to a tiny room no wider than the double bed we are sharing, with adjacent bathroom. But, it is all we need really and the bed is still quite comfy and Gabby doesn't snore too badly!!

    Right around the corner were the Nishiki Markets, so we did some reconnaissance and found somewhere to eat which included a little side arcade with tables and stools. Tempura vege rice bowl, very filling! The market ended with the first of what has turned out to be a LOT of temples and shrines. We then wandered in the direction of the Kamo River and came across Pontocho Alley with lots of traditional buildings, so we headed down there. Crossing the river, we walked towards the Heian Jingu Shrine and gardens but on the way stumbled across a bric-a-brac market in a large park and loads of people playing their Saturday afternoon sport, so we stayed for a bit to watch what looked like the under 12s baseball match. A peaceful meandering through the gardens punctured by the occasional murderous grunting from somewhere nearby, which turned out to be a kendo session in progress.

    We started to head back following the river, which was well patronised by locals and tourists alike. Lots of overly dressed dogs (as in, the dogs seemed to be wearing way too many clothes for... well... dogs!). There were dance classes practicing, runners, group Tai Chi sessions, musicians playing. We then walked home via the length of the Kyoto Gyoen National Garden.

    A good solid 20,000 steps today. Dinner was another konbini delight, before joining an almost three hours zen workshop at the hostel. Run by a dude called Zane, who moved to Japan ten years ago, the workshop was in three parts. A 10-minute zen meditation, a session on learning the basics of calligraphy on washi paper (respect to all talented calligraphers), and we then made matcha tea and had the basics of a tea ceremony explained to us. We ended up being relaxed by meditation, frustrated by calligraphy although our eternity kanji symbol looked reasonably ok to the untrained eye I thought 🤔. Doing a bit of calligraphy on washi was great because we are booked into a washi paper-making workshop during our hike next week.

    Workshop was brilliant, but sad to say neither Gabby nor I were fans of the matcha tea. But regardless, a very pleasant way to end the day.    Read more

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    Day 3 - Kyoto

    December 7 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Well, that was a big day! 30,848 steps later, Gabby and I are a wee bit foot sore and weary (we estimate well over 20kms walking all up with all our meanderings... You can check out the map to see our trail of wanderings.).

    Today's adventure started with an all you can eat (but only one coffee or juice!!) breakfast buffet at the hostel. We managed to set ourselves up well for the day, which is good, because who had time for stopping to eat!

    We left the hostel by 9.30am with the bright idea of walking to today's destinations. First up it was a brisk 6km walk through Kyoto cityscape and suburbs to Kinkaku 'Golden' Temple (and it was, very gold and very shiny!!).

    Next stop was Ninna-ji Temple and surrounds, a further 2.5kms walk into suburbia. We walked through The Goten buildings, saw more temples, some lovely gardens and the very, very tall Gojuno-to Pagoda. One iced coffee was partaken in lieu of lunch. By then it was 11.30am and we started on the next leg of our trip almost 5km to the Tenryu-ji Temple complex and gardens, best known for being next to the Bamboo Forest. By this time we had started to come across a lot of other tourists all trying to see the same sights, which was a tad disconcerting and slowed us down somewhat. But we courageously battled on!

    From the Bamboo Forest we strolled down to the river where lots of folk were out boating on a not so sunny afternoon.
    We then crossed over some old wooden bridge famous for not having collapsed as yet (called Togetsukyo Bridge) to go see some monkeys. They made us work hard for this privilege by putting said monkeys at the top of a mountain. Not happy, Jan! Or at least my calves weren't, after the initial set of stairs that seemingly went on forever. After that, the path was just a slope with no stairs, so much more manageable! Anyways, we made it to the top, took photos of the city and saw a lot of monkey butts. Well worth the trek, if you are interested. The walk down was a heck of a lot easier and faster.

    From there Gabby and I admitted defeat and we changed our plans for the rest of the day. It was just after 4pm and we had thought to catch a train back to town to go visit the Geisha district and have dinner. Turns out, we aren't as young as we think we are and we decided that there was dignity in admitting to limitations. So we trekked back over the bridge that stubbornly still refused to fall down, and made our way to a bus stop to head home.

    A kind local lady recognised our inability to decipher the bus system and helped us out by explaining something in Japanese which we didn't understand but thankfully ended with us all very happy and Gabby and I on the bus she too got on. Fortunately, it was the right bus, going in the right direction and we made it back to town 40mins later.

    After a quick stop at the hostel to do some seriously needed stretching, we headed back out to go to a local ramen restaurant, called Moon and Back, that did some killer wagu and vegan noodles (not in the same bowl...). We rolled our way out of there not long after, having educated Gabby on the children's classic "Guess how much I love you?" (she didn't understand the reference in the name....).

    We are now hanging out in the hostel lounge trying to catch up on travel blog entries, listening to ABBA.    Read more

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    Day 4 - Kyoto

    December 8 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We were determined not to walk anywhere near as much today as we did yesterday, with the reason being that we start our Nakasendo hike tomorrow so wanted to save our legs. Epic fail! We spent 12 hours out and about and walked 34,000 steps. Eeek.

    We were up nice and early, heeding all advice that if you wish to avoid the crowds at the Fushimi Inari Taisha that you need to get there early. We decided to walk the 5km to get there, which was simply delightful in the quiet streets of Monday morning Kyoto. Still quite a crowd once we got to the Shrine site, but as soon as you peeled away to do the circuit walk to the top of Mt Inari it thinned out considerably and was quite peaceful.

    We meandered through the thousands of vermillion tori gates, managing to catch a few snaps in the beginning which look like we had it to ourselves (spoiler...we didn't), but in fact once the influencer types gave up and you kept walking up to the top of Mt Inari, there were quite a few sections without many people which was lovely. On the way to the top we passed loads of beautiful family shrines, all the more gorgeous for their moss covering and forest settings.

    There were a few spits of rain which also had the magical effect of clearing the crowds. It was 11.30am by the time we got back to the bottom, and since we were still sans breakfast and coffee, we stopped at a cafe called Vermillion that we had read about in a blog (so influencers are useful for something right?). The owner was a local who had lived in Australia, so our smashed avo on toast came with a smear of Vegemite, and they were conveniently also brought bring espresso coffee. Best. Coffee. Beautiful cafe looking out over a lake.

    Next stop was to walk to the Hanamikoji and Gion districts, famous for geisha. In Kyoto they are known as geiko and maiko (the apprentice geiko). This was all quite bustling. Our goal was to stay until sunset so we could see it lit up with lanterns. On the walk there we came across half a dozen true trainspotters perched up on a train overpass with gigantic lens cameras. We hung around to see what the special train was that they were waiting for. Many trains came and went, they didn't snap any of them. So we continued on, none the wiser about the special train we were missing out on.

    We accepted a suggestion from the lady out the front to visit the Gion Kagai Art Museum which included two dances from a geiko and maiko which are performed at a traditional tea ceremony. The museum was done extremely well. Very engaging. We sat inside on a tatami for about 45 minutes afterwards looking at the garden, doing a bit of stretching and enjoying the fact that we had our shoes off. I spent some time searching for a nearby masseuse, so we set off in search of one such establishment. When we got there, the sign at the elevator said "men only" so we figured that was not the kind of place suitable for refined middle-aged ladies like us. By then we had our second wind anyway.

    Dinner was at the first place we passed at the time we thought it was time to eat, which was a quirky place that sold only one meal of okonomiyaki (vegie and meat options available). It was a strange place which played the one weird little song over and over, had lots of collections of figurines around the walls, and fully dressed mannequins sitting at several of the tables. Cheap and cheerful.

    We wandered back through the district in twilight, no real-life geishas spotted, with a quick dash into UniQlo for me to buy a couple of spare tshirts to end the day. OMG, so much cheaper here!

    A physically exhausting but absolute highlight day!    Read more

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    Day 5 - Kyoto to Magome

    December 9 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    We started today with a progressive breakfast, to go find a cafe that sold expresso coffee (a relatively rare beast) plus some good breakfast-type food (not quite as rare). The trick is to find somewhere that does both, which we didn't today. But we did have a very good, albeit, very expensive coffee in a very trendy looking cafe. So all was good, really!

    We then checked out of hostel with fully laden back packs for the first time (day bags packed inside). I have no idea how they have suddenly become twice the weight they were when we left home!!).

    We walked to the train station to catch a local train to Kyoto Station and then our first Shinkansen 🚄 to Nagoya and another local train to Nakatsugawa. All relatively straightforward, with just slight confusion navigating the exit from the Shinkansen and entry to next train using two different tickets and just one ticket machine. We asked a human and all was right with the world and we made our train connection.

    Shinkansen travel was speedy but not as remarkable as I had thought it might be. You get used to travelling several hundred kms per hour very quickly it seems.

    At Nakatsugawa we got directions from a helpful tourist information lady to the start of the walk and headed off on the first leg of our walk along the Nakasendo Way, the whole initial reason for this Japanese Journey.

    For those who don't know and might be interested (skip this bit if not), the Nakasendo Way was a historic "Central Mountain Road" during Japan's Edo Period (1603-1868), one of the Gokaido (Five Routes) connecting the imperial capital Kyoto to Edo (Tokyo). Winding through mountainous central Japan, it featured 69 post towns (juku) for rest, attracting samurai, merchants, and pilgrims. Today, well-preserved sections, especially in the Kiso Valley (like between Magome and Tsumago), offer hikers a chance to walk cobblestone paths and experience traditional architecture, stepping back into old Japan (thanks Google!)

    The path took us from the centre of town (the original Nakatsugawa Juku) via a shopping centre to get lunch) and off on what ended up being quite a number of up hill bits. The first half was mostly through the edges of Nakatsugawa and then the through the adjoining town of Ochiai (it all blended into one, really). Then we hit some actual forest and less populated areas, and more steep uppy bits before heading down into Magome, our destination for today.

    Of course, the uppy bits didn't end there, because once in the middle of town we had another 450m of path up the hill to get to our accommodation, Sakanomichi Hostel. That last hike was a bit of a struggle, but we made it in the end!

    Today's walk was about 9 kms all up so a lot shorter than the last two days but, with about 12kg packs on and a lot of steep uppy bits, it was not a walk in the park. We were thankful to reach the end.

    We have certainly made the right choice in terms of time of year to come. The day was cool, but not freezing and we were literally the only people doing the walk. That might change tomorrow when we walk to Tsumago as that leg is the most popular...

    Our hostel is new and the owner, Ken, is lovely and very helpful. He has even given us a bear bell to take on the next leg of our trip, as there has been a bear sighting a day or two ago!

    There are only 5 rooms in the house, with shared bathrooms and toilets. Our bedroom has given us our first experience of tatami mats and futons for beds, and it was all enormously comfortable.

    Dinner was chicken or vegetable curry and was hand made by Ken. It even had rice that was grown down the road by Ken himself. We also had mochi ice cream. The ice cream was very nice. I am not a fan of the mochi bit on the outside (made of pounded rice gunk...).

    We ended up chatting for a couple of hours or more with the only other couple here, who are from Belgium. She works for the Australian embassy in Brussels!    Read more

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    Day 6 - Magome to Tsumago and Nagiso

    December 10 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 5 °C

    Today we sadly left Ken san and Sakanomichi Hostel behind us to venture along more uppy bits for an hour or so to reach Magome Pass. We got to ring our first bear bells and at the top stopped at a local version of a driver reviver stand to refresh ourselves with hot tea and a warm fire at a free tea house.

    From there, it was another couple of hours downhill to Tsumago. where we stopped for lunch at a place Ken recommended called Otokichi. They served huge meals of very yummy food. I had the tempura dish and Gabby had the Tonkatsu (chicken 🐔).

    There were more people on the track today in both directions. I only saw one group carrying backpacks so most were obviously just day trippers or staying in one village for a couple of nights and walking back and forth.

    After lunch we continued into Tsumago Juku proper and saw more old style village housing. Then we followed the path onwards to Nagiso, stopping on the way to climb a hill to the ruins of Tsumago Castle, which I reckon was in a very defensible position based on the amount of effort we had to put in to the climb to the top.

    In Nagiso we found the station and as we were early for our pick-up time, we walked to the Momosuke Bridge, a 247m wooden suspension bridge, to fill in some time.

    We tried our first vending machine hot chocolate whilst waiting for a car from Hostel Yui-an to collect us.

    It took us just 15 mins to drive what would have been another couple of hours walking up-hill to the hostel, so are very glad we chose that option.

    Tonight we both had hot showers followed by relaxing hot baths and then another delicious meal, made by the delightful Erika.

    Fortunately, no bears attacked us today...    Read more

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    Day 7 - Nagiso to Nojiri

    December 11 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Today's adventure started with another hearty breakfast and a challenging Connections game before we were collected from the hostel by a lovely chap by the name of Tommy, whom we had arranged to be our guide for the day. First up he drove us to a local washi paper maker where Ijima San (who spoke almost no English) successfully guided us through the art of making our very own washi paper. Tommy was there as the essential translator so between great gesticulation by Ijima San, Tommy and a lot of nodding and hai's, we had a fantastic few hours.

    We had choice of making a large sheet of thin washi or a smaller thicker postcard size. Being the practical types, we opted for the postcard size to be easily transported home.

    Firt we each had to map out a design for five separate cards using some provided scrap-booking supplies that included dried leaves, coloured paper, string, seeds, glitter and even little tiny origami love hearts. After that we grabbed the postcard frame and dipped it into one vat of thin, slushy washi mix and give it a good shuggle. That got taken to a bench and we then attempted to translate our design in reverse into the moulds. Then it was back to a different vat of slightly thicker washi mix for two more washes. After that there was some wet/dry vacuum extraction, some rolling over a towel to extract more moisture, removing the frame, tamping down the edges to smooth the paper, before transferring it to a large heated frame with a fire behind it to dry.

    Thinking we were at the end, Ijima San says that we then had to make five more! Which meant five more little creative inspirations etc etc. This time we chose to use a pink tinged washi mix just for a bit of variety. I struggled coming up with five more different designs....

    At the end we had a bit of a tour around the sheds to understand the process right from the native timber. It is only able to be made about three months a year, and Ijima San is paid by the local council to do this to keep this traditional cultural art alive. Otherwise he has a restaurant making handcut soba noodles and also looks after the mountain rest stops and restroom facilities. What a guy! We will have our dried paper delivered to our hotel either tomorrow morning or the next day depending on how long it takes to dry.

    Tommy then drone to a road-side truck stop to use the restrooms which had a fascinating supermarket type shop attached to a rsmall eatery that sold a heap vacuum packed food stuffs, many of which we struggled to identify. We then drove another 20 mins to a local soba noodle restaurant for lunch which just happened to be right next door to our hotel for tonight, Atera Onsen, so we left our big packs and then drove back down the valley to a railway station where we left the car to start a 8.4km walk to (took an hour) and then into the Kakizore Gorge and up and over the Kansoi Pass. (about 90 mins). The water in the river we walk along a ways was crystal clear, the pools and waterfalls were beautiful and the tinkling bear bell worn be Tommy, a constant sound. At the end of the hike we emerged at the other end of our Onsen hotel, which was convenient for us, but not so much for Tommy, who had to walk the 2 kms to the Nojiri train station to catch a train back to his car .

    Our Onsen looks like its heydays were in the 1970s but it is still quaint. An onsen is basically a public hot bath and so today Gabby and I took our relationship to a whole new level with our first onsen experience together. This first involved working out how to wear the yukata (dressing gown), googling the "how to" of onsen etiquette, feeling the anxiety of trying to make sure we get it right, wearing weird slippers we have to take on and off all over the place, trying not to put your towel in the onsen water but rather keeping it on your head. All of that occurred before then (and this is the point of all that activity) getting naked and bathing together. Not something Gabby and I normally do together, but hey, when in Rome, and all that...

    After we had sweated it out in the hot bath for long enough, we emerged ((slowly) to find the two Australian ladies from the tea room a few days ago in the change room. They had been outside the bath house working up the courage to come in, so because we were now old hands we were able to ease them into taking their relationship to a whole new level too 🙂.

    Dinner was a seven+ course visual feast. Beautifully arranged, tiny dishes of (for me) more types of mushrooms than I had ever seen before and lots of small pieces of pickled or just steamed vegetables, and soba noodles. We had just finished, and still hadn't eaten everything when the waiter brought out more food of miso, pickled veggies and a bowl of rice. Gabby had just finished reading about how rude it is in Japan to leave uneaten rice because of the amount of effort to make it, but we struggled to eat another thing (except dessert which then also followed, obviously).

    Fantastic day all round. Just when we think our holiday can't get any better, it does!    Read more

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    Day 8 - Nojiri to Kiso Fukushima

    December 12 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 1 °C

    We started today with our first proper Japanese breakfast which was full of unfamiliar dishes but still very yummy, and included frying our own egg over a burner.

    We then checked out of the onsen and left our packs at reception in preparation for a quick hike into Atera Gorge, meeting Ijima San who delivered our postcards to us. Talk about service!!

    Turns out there was no shuttle bus running to the gorge (out of season, I assume) so we hoofed it the 10 mins to the entrance and then walked along the road that follows the river up the gorge to reach the centre. At that point, there was a track that crossed over the river via a suspension bridge and a path that leads up into the hills. It was a very pleasant walk, albeit I was very glad I had my walking sticks, especially for the down hill return part of the loop. Then we walked all the way back to the onsen again. All up it was a beautiful walk, if not a little bit on the chilly side when the wind caught us.

    At the onsen, we grabbed our bags and walked the 2.5 kms into Nojiri proper to catch the 12.30 train to Kiso Fukushima, our stop for tonight. Luckily, we had time for a quick and very welcome cafe latte at a tiny coffee shop run by a lady who welcomed us warmly and even gave us a little hand decorated, carved wooden souvenir to remember the cafe by.

    Then it was back to the station to catch the train. Thankfully we ended up on the right platform and only tried to get on at the wrong door for a minute or two before all the locals showed us the error of our ways...

    In Kiso Fukushima we put our packs in the station lockers, where we were not allowed to store any dead bodies (party poopers), and headed out to explore the town. We first stopped for another warming coffee, and then heading to Tommy's coffee roastery just before it closed for the day, and drank yet another coffee. Buzzing!!!

    Then we walked to a very underwhelming temple to look at a very small zen garden and the dead centre of town. People had been dying to get in there for centuries.

    This was followed by a visit to a public footbath (41 degrees!) for a relax before going back to the station to wait for the hotel bus to collect us at 4.30pm.

    Nukumorino-yado Komanoyu is another onsen hotel and quite flash. They offered a private onsen experience so we didn't have to mix with the plebs this time. That was followed by another huge multi-course dinner. Good thing we didn't eat lunch!!

    The hotel runs a nightly star gazing experience for free, so we took them up on this offer and spent a chilly 30 or so mins on the top of a hill behind the hotel (after a 10 min bus ride), having different stars and constellations being pointed out to us with a nifty laser pointer. Fortunately, no planes were harmed in the making of our evening's entertainment. It was apparently about -5 degrees and felt like the arctic circle....

    Back in our room now trying to warm up enough to go to bed....    Read more

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    Day 9 - Kiso Fukushima to Narai

    December 13 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    Today we walked the last leg of our Nakasendo Way journey, with a train to Yabuhara and then a hike from there to Narai (where we are staying tonight and so dumped our bags at the train station) and onwards to Kiso Hiraswa.

    Gabby made me live life on the edge this morning by not letting us get the 8am shuttle bus for the 10-15 min drive back to town and only getting the one at 8.30am. Our train was at 8.55am, so you can imagine my distress at only being 10 mins early for something and not at least 40 mins early! Apparently, it is allowing me to grow as a person, or some such rubbish. I just think she is trying to drive me into an early grave from heart palpitations over potentially, maybe, having an ever so slight chance of, being late and missing the train!!!! The things I do for my friend! Spoiler, we didn't miss the train...

    Anyways, breakfast was yet another Japanese feast that was just way to much food for anyone, but we soldiered on regardless.

    The walk from Yabuhara took us over the Torii Pass (apparently, the most difficult pass for travellers to traverse back in the day, but not so bad these days). It was only about 3.5 kms up to the pass and then basically 3 kms to Narai and another 2.5 km to Hirasawa.

    It was quite nippy going over the pass and we had some frost/snow/ice in patches on the road. No bears were encountered. Must have been our diligent ringing of the bear bells and the melodic tinkle of the one I wore on my pack, keeping them at bay.

    We left Yabuhara about 9.30, got to Narai by about 12-ish, and stopped for coffee and cake and booked our accommodation for tomorrow night (the only day we didn't already have planned). We then took another 45mins to walk to Hirasawa and back, just along normal roads.

    Narai has about a kilometre of traditional post-town style shops and houses running down the main street to the train station. We ended up walking its length 4 times over the afternoon, first on way to Hirasawa via the luggage lockers and then wandering up and down waiting for check in time at La Terra, our accommodation, which was not until 3.30 pm.

    This place appears to be a small house converted to be a bespoke guest house that is on the expensive end of the places we have booked this trip. As a result it is very well appointed with lots of little luxuries including padded winter yukatas and fluffy winter pyjamas. Very swish. Unfortunately, we are struggling getting the Wizz bang electronic toilet to flush, so not so happy news on that front.

    Dinner tonight was Italian influenced and a fantastic change from the Japanese style food we have been having. The chef has just finished training and did an excellent job of both the venison (for Gabby) and frittata (for me), along with leek potage, pumpkin risotto and walnut chocolate brownie for dessert. Yummy!!    Read more

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    Day 10 - Narai to Himeji

    December 14 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    My time-related anxiety therapy continued this morning with a breakfast at 8am followed by a rapid march the 900 meters to the station in the rain to buy tickets and catch an 8.43am train.

    Breakfast was again amazing, albeit a bit rushed. It would have been nice to start earlier or leave a bit later but I think the idea of having to get up earlier horrified our young chef and the next train was not until 11am.... So, 8am was our compromise timeframe.

    You can relax, yes, we made it in time, and I wasn't at all stressed (believe that if you will).... I am getting good at this!

    Our train journey took us first on a local slow train back to Kiso Fukushima. From there we changed to a slightly more express train to Nagoya before hopping on another speedy Shinkansen for the final leg to Himeji. All up, it took about 4 hours, arriving about 12.45pm.

    Himeji's claim to fame is the White Castle 🏯, that looks over the city, about 1.5 km or so from our hotel, which is near the station. So we dumped our packs at the hotel, stopped for a quick lunch at the station and walked up to the castle for a tour which took as a couple of hours. It was amazing.

    We also ducked into an adjacent garden as part of the ticket, which was nice but not as good as the one at Kyoto.

    From there it was back to the hotel for a luxurious onsen experience involving not one but two separate baths (one indoors and one outdoors) plus a sauna. Very posh. And they have a fridge with free ice-creams after you finish. How good is that!!

    We then went out to a nearby Nepalese restaurant for some very yummy curry and the biggest naan breads ever seen, followed by a stroll back up to the castle to see it all lit up at night. Himeji has got lots of Christmas lights as well, and is the first place we have seen make any kind of big deal about it.

    Back at the hotel now so having grab another free ice cream for dessert...    Read more

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    Day 11 - Himeji to Hiroshima

    December 15 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    After a quick breakfast and coffee at a local bakery, we caught another Shinkansen through to Hiroshima this morning. This time our hotel was a 2.5km walk from the station (because why catch a bus or tram when you can walk!). We dropped our packs and headed out to visit the local Hiroshima memorials that were all relatively close to where we are staying.

    We started at the furthest point from the hotel and visited the Shukkei-en Garden. Then we after a pick-me-up coffee, we walked a short distance to visit Hiroshima Castle, which was destroyed by the atomic bomb and one section rebuilt, so is actually relatively new.

    From there we came to the Children's Peace Monument and across the road to the Atomic Bomb Dome. Then we wandered through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, seeing the eternal flame and then reaching the museum that had a full history of the bombing. It was very moving and quite sad.

    By the time we did all that and got through the museum (it alone took 2 hours) we were a bit weary, so we came back to the hotel to check in and shower before heading back out for dinner.

    Hondori Street is the local hotspot for food and shopping, so we headed there to track down a place to try the Hiroshima version of okonomiyaki, a special dish from the area. We found a place on the second floor of a shopping area, and were pleasantly surprised by people and the food (we were however a bit concerned about the actual h&s aspects of the restaurant itself...). It was a great meal and a lot of fun to experience.

    We are now back at the hotel ready for bed and planning tomorrow's journey to Miyajima Island...    Read more

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    Day 12 - Hiroshima to Miyajima

    December 16 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    Itsukushima (better known as Miyajima, Japanese for 'shrine island') is a small island a short ferry ride away from the coast of Hiroshima. We decided to splurge just a little and catch an 8.30am boat to the island from near the Peace Park, a short walk from our hotel), instead of catching a train all the way to the ferry terminal proper and then a ferry. The actual boat trip is longer and we got to travel down the Miyajima-Motoyasu River before heading out to sea across to the island, which took us about a hour all up. We will do the ferry trip tomorrow on the way back.

    Miyajima's claims to fame are a huge "floating" Tori Gate, that has been built out in the bay and gets surrounded by water when the tide is in. The also have lots of wild deer, some other shrines, a ropeway (cable) car up Mount Misen, and lots of interesting laneways that we had to investigate.

    Our first stop, after dumping packs at hotel, was the Tori Gate and Shrine, but the tide was on the way out so we decided to make our way to the ropeway to go up the mountain instead. That turned out to be a good decision based on the number of people waiting to get on the cable cars when we came back down. At the top we walked about 30 mins to get from the end of the ropeway to the actual top of Mt Misen. Well worth the effort.

    After coming back down we wandered about town looking for something to eat for lunch and to search out a place that might be open late enough for dinner. As it is off-seasoon most shops shut when the day trippers leave, before dark, and that leaves only a small handful of restaurants open and an even smaller number that possibly have any vegetarian options. Fortunately, we did find one that wasn't going to close till 7.30pm. Otherwise it would have been a 4pm dinner for us....

    Anyways, we went back to the hotel at 3pm to check in, then left to look for a place for dinner then back to the hotel for a hot, outdoor foot bath and then into the hotel onsen for hot baths and then out again for dinner (vegetarian tempura sitting on the floor at a low table, for the first time) and to see the Tori Gate all lit up at night and with the tide in again.

    It was all very beautiful, and quiet without lots of pesky tourists. We are glad we decided to stay overnight here. Well worth it....    Read more

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    Day 13 - Miyajima to Koyasan

    December 17 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today we managed to cover almost every type of public transport possible in Japan to get to our next destination, a Buddhist Monastery in a small place called Koyasan, south of Osaka. We had an early start for this epic journey, that took us by foot from our hotel to Miajima Ferry, ferry across bay to Miyajimaguchi Station, local train to Hiroshima Station, Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka Station, subway train to Namba Station, a local express train to Hasimoto Station, then a local slow train to Gokorakubadhi Station, a funicular cable car up a mountain to Koyasan Station, a bus to Karukayado-mae and then a final walk to Komyo-in Temple (Pilgrim's Lodge).

    We left the hotel this morning about 7am and got to our monastery about 1.45pm. So, not bad going for that number of transfers... They whole process of getting here from Namba Station was very streamlined and geared to get lots of 'pilgrims' up the mountain as smoothly as possible. Very easy to navigate they whole way though. I think only the things that threw us a little was the fact there were two separate stations when we got off the ferry and the totally unusual lack of an easily found toilet in Osaka Station (don't worry, we eventually found one).

    The final bus dropped us only a short walk to the monastery towards the far end of the village we are in. After checking into the monastery, we walked back up the beginning of the village to visit a temple complex with a very, very, huge pagoda. From there we wended our way back down through the village main street looking at sights (more temples, usually) and stopping in shops to mooch around looking at souvenirs. Our end goal for the walk was the cemetery that this place is renowned for. Nestled in amongst a forest of ancient looking trees, the path through the cemetery goes for 2 kms and houses over 200,000 grave shrines/mausoleums. It was almost magical just wandering through as dusk was creeping in and darkness fell....

    Then it started raining, so we hot-footed it back to the monastery to get out of the rain and make sure we made it in time to change into our yukatas for dinner at 6pm.

    Dinner was another Japanese feast, this time completely vegetarian. We were pretty hungry by this stage as we had only grabbed food from a konbini on the way here, and hadn't eaten very much all day. So, I think we did justice to the meal this time!

    Next on the schedule was a group meditation at 7.30 for half an hour and then an onsen bath before bed.

    I normally meditate lying down, completely relaxed. This meditation had us sitting cross legged with straight backs. This was fine for a few minutes, but I was very happy when the bell rang to signal the end of the meditation. Thank goodness for the hot onsen afterwards is all I can say....    Read more

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    Day 14 - Koyasan to Nara

    December 18 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Today started with two more Buddhist ceremony, intermixed with a Japanese breakfast. Firstly, at 7am, we started the day with a Morning Ceremony that involved three monks and a lot of chanting for about 30 mins. We were the fed and at 8am, we watched a fire ceremony, where a single monk burnt a lot of kindling and threw some leaves and herbs on the fire. They also burnt our prayer sticks that we each wrote wishes on. All very dim and mysterious with lots of incense.

    That was the official end of our visit and we finished packing up and left the monastery about 8.45am to catch a bus, furnicular, train, train and train to Nara, where we walked to our accommodation to drop our packs, just after 1pm.

    Nara is renowned for lots of deers that wander around harassing innocent bystanders for food, which people are encouraged to give them (prepuchsed crackers). Walking around watching this, my mind was rebelling, thinking 'don't feed the animals!!!'

    The deer park is part of the Kasugayama Primeval Forest, so we spent an hour or two wandering through that, looking at trees, temples and tombstones (actually they were more like shrines, but that doesn't start with T...).

    On our way back to the guest house to check in, we found a nifty kimino shop where we got great deals on a second hand yukata each, which we are currently sitting around in.

    Dinner tonight was baked omelette with rice, kind of like a baked risotto, which was very yummy. Lunch had been an equally yummy, but different, soys bean meat and cashew Chinese stir fry. We also tried our first matcha flavoured soft serve ice cream when in the park, so I am a bit full now....    Read more

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    Day 15 - Nara

    December 19 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    Today has been a relatively lazy day in comparison to others, although we still managed to fit in about 16,100 steps. We are staying two nights here in Nara so we had a bit of a sleep in and didn't get out of the guest house till close to 9.30 this morning. We went on a morning ramble, looking for a place to have breakfast on the way to visit a (free) historic townhouse in the Naramachi district. We managed to find a place that did a great coffee but not food.

    Then we stumbled upon a fabulous mechanical toy museum that had examples of toys that you could actually play with. The lovely lady who was working there showed us how to use the toys and play the games. We even played with an early version of spinning tops like modern Beyblades and I beat Gabby at a different kind of Chinese checkers/ draughts. We had a lot of fun and it was a terrific way to start the day.

    Still on the hunt for food, we found the historic townhouse and spent a short while wandering through that. After that we eventually found a patisserie that did some delicious breakfasty types savoury breads and sweet pastries, and not so great coffee.

    We are on the hunt for obi sashes to tie up our yukatas so we kept diving into likely looking new and used kimono shops everywhere we found them. Only one obi was found in this fashion today.

    We then popped into the Nara Prefecture Museum of Art for a quick sqizz before taking a walk down a street with a deer and then heading back to accommodation for a bit of a pause in our exhausting day!

    The hunt for dinner drew us out again after 4pm, looking for a pizza place that was actually open. This hunt took a lot longer than it reasonably should have (and involved dropping into a craft museum as well) but in the end we found a nice place to eat but not before wandering around for 90mins or more, and then stopped for ice-cream on the way home again.

    Big day all round, really. Relaxing but still quite entertaining.    Read more

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    Day 16 - Nara to Osaka

    December 20 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Today is my penultimate day in Japan as I fly home tomorrow night, whilst Gabby continues on to a skiing holiday with her husband Craig and daughter Kate who flew into Osaka last night.

    This morning we left Nara for the short train trip back to Osaka to join them for the day. Well...it was short-ish, aside from walking all the way to the wrong version of our hotel which was in completely the opposite direction to where we needed to go. Not happy, Jan, especially as my pack is heavier due to the Yukatas and Obi I had purchased in Nara. Sigh....

    Aside from that, all was well and after leaving our gear at the right hotel we joined up with Craig and Kate for a stroll around Osaka. Our meanderings took us past a mochi pounding gathering which we stopped to take a look at and ended up participating in. We then continued on through the grounds of the Osaka Castle, and to a very, very, very long covered street with lots of shops and LOTS of people, culminating in a bridge of some fame or another in the Dotonbori district. Along the way we had lunch, almost but not quite went in a cafe to pat a capybara (we decided it was too expensive for the effort) then had an ice-cream before going back to hotel to check in and have a short rest.

    Late afternoon saw us heading to a very, very, very long shopping arcade running the length of 10 city blocks, called Semba Central. Then we went in search of dinner, which we eventually found on the side of a canal, near the aforementioned famous bridge. We tried the Osaka version of okonomiyaki, which was different again, but still very nice. It was more pancakey this time.

    By this time, my feet had decided to go on strike, so I was very glad when we headed back towards the hotel for an early night.    Read more

  • Japanese Journeys

    Day 17 - Osaka to Brisvegas

    December 21 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today was the last day of my Japanese Journey as I had a flight home booked for 9.45pm. it didn't end up leaving until 11.45pm, but what is a couple of hours between friends...

    Sadly, I was casually abandoned by my erstwhile travelling companion, now that she had better friends to play with. After an early breakfast with them at 7am, Gabby, Craig and Kate left Osaka to go on another (not quite so) epic series of transport journeys to get to another mountain to start their skiing holiday.

    That left me with a whole day, and more, to kill, and a wet, miserable day at that. Fortunately, we got a late check-out arranged when we booked in yesterday, so I didn't have to officially give up our room until 2pm, so I hung out there until closer to 10am and then bravely ventured forth out into the wet, after borrowing an umbrella from reception. I was on the hunt for souvenirs and ended up at one of the shops we took a photo of yesterday (although I didn't realise it at the time), called Don Quixote Dotonbori. (It was the one with the Ferris wheel and cartoon characters...). It was 7 floors of tourist and travel and snack paraphernalia. All I ended up with was a set of chop sticks that I obviously mis-read the price tag on, because they cost more than double what I thought they were, but they are very nice, so I still got them (and I could not be bothered trying to find the place I actually found them again, to be honest).

    After a couple of hours of wandering, I went back to the hotel, and hung out till check out time, having a shower and trying to work out how best to re-pack my now overstuffed (and, did I mention, heavy) bag.

    I didn't have to start heading to the airport until 5.30pm so I still had several hours to kill, so I left my bag with reception, borrowed another umbrella and ventured out again, to continue the hunt for a couple more souvenirs and to get some food for lunch.

    It was around this time I got the message that the flight was delayed (happy days!), so I ended up dragging out the afternoon by slowly eating lunch, and then later sitting in a coffee shop having coffee and chocolate mousse and then sitting in the hotel lounge, until I decided to have a change of scenary and headed to the airport to sit in one of their lounges instead...

    I am urrently in the air about half way through the flight and looking forward to being home with the fam (and my bed!!). Due to land about 9.20am Brisbane time.

    It has been a fantastic trip, and Gabby has been great to travel with, only slightly marred by the whole abandoment issue on the very last day. She will have to lift her game next time...    Read more

    Trip end
    December 22, 2025
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