Chapter 2

📖 This chapter is about going from Hong Kong back to Toronto by buses 🚌 , trains 🚂 and boats 🚤 Read more

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Chapter 2 World Vagabonding
Day 77: Tamaudun Royal Museum
March 22, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
We spent our day in the must-go area in Okinawa, Naha city. Our focus is visit the Shuri Castle Site. But on the way, we passed through this Mausoleum. So we decided to drop by and take a look.

The Tama-udub mausoleum is the final resting place of the royal family of the second Sho Dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom. It was built in 1501, as a symbol power over the Rykyu Islands. It suffered damage in WWII. The burial chamber has three rooms - central, eastern and western. In the central room, the royal remains were stored for purification, before being interred in the eastern room. The eastern room was exclusively for the remains of kings and queens. The western room was for the remains of other members of the royal family.Read more
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Day 77: Shuri Castle
March 22, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
Shuri Castle, probably the must-visit place in Naha Okinawa. It was the royal residence for the king and his family, and at the same time, it functioned as the Shuri Royal Government, a governing institution of the kingdom. The Castle was left in ruins after the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 and was restored after 1992. It was restored, once again, after the severe fire in 2019. Therefore, we can just see the construction of the castle now.Read more
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Day 77: Kokusai-dori
March 22, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
It’s the most famous and touristy street in town. It is full of souvenir shops and such. A good place for shopping.
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Day 79: Kunigami Forest Park
March 24, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
We planned for an adventure today around Nago, trying to hike at the Kunigami Forest Park. We did not have much agenda and just walked the hiking route. Once we reached the top, we decided to take a different route to go down. However, part of the road chosen was washed out due to recent storm. We took our chance to follow the road to see if it would lead us back to the main road. If not, we would have to stuck here overnight as there is only one bus out back to Nago. Lucky that the road was walkable and it brought us back to the bus stop eventually. It was an adventurous journey.Read more
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Day 80: 21st Century Forest Beach
March 25, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
A short walk around The city of Nago today. We went to a beach. Nothing fancy, but we loved a simple day like this.
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Day 81: Overnight ferry leaving Nago
March 26, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
It’s time to say Goodbye to Nago, Okinawa. Today, we took the overnight ferry back to Kagoshima. It wrapped up our island trip in the South and to the north we go.
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Day 82: Arriving at Kagoshima again
March 27, 2025 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 19 °C
After staying on the ferry for 1 night, we arrived back to Kagoshima. Weather was not very stable. We got a bit of rain while walking to the bus station for our bus ride back to Fukuoka, then a train ride to Kitakyushu (Kokura)Read more
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Day 82: Arriving at Kokura
March 27, 2025 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 22 °C
We were exhausted after a day of long journey. But now we are back to a little bit north at Kitakyushu, in a city called Kokura.
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Day 83: Munakata Taisha
March 28, 2025 in Japan ⋅ 🌬 12 °C
We made a short trip to the town called Togo nearby Kakuro to visit the Munakata Taisha. It is a collection of three Shinto shrines. It is the head if the approximately 6000 Munakata shrines all over the country.Read more
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Day 83: Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tombs
March 28, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
Nearby Munakata Shrine, there’s an area with mounded tombs. So we decided to check it out. The area is called the Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group. It comprises the tombs of the Munakata clan, an ancient powerful family that led interactions with overseas countries. From the 5th-6th centuries, the Munakata clan constructed a group mounded tombs on a plateau, which once overlooked a sea inlet. To date, 41 mounded tombs have been well-preserved, including some key-hole shaped tombs with round read mounds.Read more
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Day 83: Fukuoka again!
March 28, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
Yes, we were in Fukuoka again. As we calculate the wrong days for our JR pass, we ended up having the JR pass activated earlier. So, to fully utilize the pass, we just took the high speed train to Fukuoka for a bowl of Ramen. There’s a Ramen plaza just inside the Fukuoka JR station.

It seems luxurious to transit on a high-speed train for a bowl Ramen. But, why not?Read more
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Day 84: Yamaguchi
March 29, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
On our way to a small town called Odashi. Before that we had to take the bullet train and transfer to the local trains for connection in between.
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Day 84: Odashi
March 29, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
It’s such a small town. When we walked from the train station, we could barely see anybody. The reason why we came to here was for the famous Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine World Heritage Site. We will explore more tomorrow.Read more
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Day 85: Oda station
March 30, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
We were back nice and early to the Oda Station to catch a train to the nearby station to connect a local bus to our final destination.
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Day 85: Nima Station
March 30, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
The train took us to this small station for a local bus to Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine World Heritage site area.
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Day 85: Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine
March 30, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
The area around the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine was very pleasant to walk around. It comprises a few former samurai’s residences and the Okubo Mabu Mine Shaft. We spent a few hours walking around the area before finding the world heritage center.Read more
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Day 85:Iwami Ginza World Heritage Center
March 30, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C
We finally arrived at the World Heritage Center. Originally we planned to go in and check out the underground silver mine, However, the price was way too expensive. We thought that it’s way over-priced. So we decided not to join the tour.

It was the largest silver mine in Japanese History. It was active for almost 400 years. One-third of the world’s 16th century silver were sourced there.

We also said goodbye to our Italian friend whom we met in the hostel here.Read more
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Day 85: Former Samurai Residence
March 30, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C
We decided to use the saved money from going to the silver mine to visit 2 former samurai residence. The Kawashima Family Residence and Kumagai House were the ancient Japanese house. It was nice to see the layout of the house and how the people in the past decorated their houses.Read more
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Day 86: Oda Station
March 31, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C
The next day, we were back to the Oda Station. It’s time to say GoodBye to Odashi. We were going to make a brief stop to a hot spring district nearby.
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Day 86: Yunotsu
March 31, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C
Welcome to Yunotsu! The reason why we made a stop here is for the Hot Spring (onsen). Since Chris hasn’t tried to be in an Onsen, this is a perfect place for him to try the public onsen. Men and Women are separated in the onsen, so we took turn going to the onsen separately. In Yunotsu, there’s some nice cherry blossoms. It’s a town for onsen and for relaxation,Read more
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Day 86: Gotsucho Station
March 31, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
A brief transfer at the Gotsucho Station, waiting for the train to bring us to the city!
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Day 86: Welcome to Hiroshima
March 31, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
Back to the city! Arrived in Hiroshima! It’s time for a rest!
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Chapter 2 World Vagabonding
Day 87: Atomic Bomb Dome
April 1, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
The building now known as the A-bomb Dome was designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel.

At 8:15 a.m., August 6, 1945, an American B29 bomber carried out the world's first atomic bombing. The bomb exploded approximately 600 meters above and 160 meters southeast of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, ripping through and igniting the building, instantly killing everyone in it.

Because the blast struck from almost directly above, some of the center walls remained standing, leaving enough of the building and iron frame to be recognizable as a dome.

After the war, these dramatic remains came to be known as the A-bomb Dome.Read more
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Day 87: Hiroshima Peace Museum
April 1, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum - this is the place to learn about what had happened on Aug 6 1945.
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Day 88: Miyajimaguchi Station
April 2, 2025 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
From Hiroshima, we took the train to get to the Miyajimaguchi Station（宮島口站）. Then, we took a ferry to the Itsukushima (嚴島）
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