Tag Archives: Sakura

Japan Part 7: Castle on a Cloud

September 19, 2019 · by · in Asia, Japan · 5 Comments

Located 117km southwest of Kyoto is coastal city of Himeji. More like a town really with its 500,000 inhabitants compared to the metropolitan region of Osaka/Kyoto/Nara. Why were we leaving the hustle and bustle of downtown Kyoto to visit this smaller place? Himeji Castle… that’s why! Its a 17min walk up the wide boulevard of […]

Japan Part 3: Miyajima Island

May 5, 2019 · by · in Asia, Japan · 1 Comment

Our next destination would be the nearby island of Itsukushima. It is more popularly known as Miyajima “Shrine Island” and is famous for its large Tori Gate Shrine – Itsukushima Shrine. To get there would involve a train, a boat and a walk to our Ryokan (a Japanese style Inn). It was decided that we […]

Japan Part 2 : Hiroshima

March 31, 2019 · by · in Asia, Japan · 7 Comments

Bullet Club It was time for Karen and I to join the Japanese Bullet Club. We had been on Maglev trains in China but this time it was the real deal – The Nozomi (のぞみ, “Wish”) , the fastest train running on the Shinkansen Lines with top speeds over 300km/h. Getting all excited we made […]

Japan Part 1: 24 Hours in Osaka

February 9, 2019 · by · in Asia, Japan · 5 Comments

Prologue We departed Hong Kong for our next destination. It would turn out to be a short hop across the East China Sea to the Land of the Rising Sun – Japan (Nippon in Kanji). Our port of departure was not on land but actually an artificial island in Osaka Bay – Kansai International Airport. […]