Our first extended bullet train ride to Hiroshima was a great event. Once there, we spent time exploring the beauty of Miyajima Island and also visiting the important and sobering sights associated with the atomic bombing at the end of World War II.
We began our second week in Japan by visiting Kyoto and the wonderful temples in the city. Also included in our time there was a day trip to Nara.
Nearly everyone has heard of Japan’s famous bullet train. Our first experience was not actually riding one. Instead our first experience was in a train station. We were waiting for our train to come when, whoosh, one flew by at full speed.
Our last stop before returning to Tokyo was in Nagano, the site of the 1998 Olympic Games. In addition to visiting this city and large temple, we took a day trip to Matsumoto to visit one of the few surviving castles in Japan.
We’ve started week two of our vacation here in Japan. One of the things that struck me about how Japan is different from the U.S. is their use of slippers.
As most people know, Japan is a very homogeneous culture. An interesting contrast from the people who live here is the cars they drive.
Well, tomorrow we return to the U.S. So I thought I would take a few paragraphs to summarize my thoughts in a fun way. The 10 most surprising things I found in Japan were…
China is a unique destination and we spent three weeks exploring this country. Our goal was to go from Beijing to Hong Kong, relying primarily on trains.
Beijing was the first stop on our three week trip. We visited the Forbidden City in addition to our day trip to the Great Wall.
Yesterday we went to the Great Wall. It is a portion of the wall that sees very few visitors. With all the buses and subway, it cost us Y66 or $7 per person. Pulling the whole thing off wasn’t easy though.
