For our second day in the Iya Valley region all three of us families headed out to the historic hamlet of Ochiai (落合) in the eastern part of Iya Valley. Ochiai is of significance as it was registered as an important national preservation district due to its collection of traditional homes, terraced farm plots, and … Continue reading Ochiai Village and Zip Lines – Day 5
On our first full day in the Iya Valley region, we headed to the top of Mount Tsurugi. The other two families had booked in for white water rafting, and seeing it was a beautiful clear day we decided to head to Mount Tsurigi. Mount Tsurigi (剣山 Tsurugi-san) – meaning sword – is a 1,955 metre high … Continue reading Mount Tsurugi – Day 4
Rejuvenated by the soak in the onsen we departed early from Tsumago heading towards the Iya valley. A taxi from the hotel to Nagiso station we then train back to Okayama (four trains) where we pick up our hire car from Toyota car rental. It is also at the car rental where we meet up … Continue reading Travel to Iya Valley – Day 3
The Nakasendō (中山道) was a 534km trading route that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto. It was one of the five routes of the Edo period 1603 and 1868. There were 69 stations – or post-towns – between Edo and Kyoto. Today (Wed 27 Sept) we walked the 8km stretch between Magome-juku, the forty-third post-town, … Continue reading The Nakasendō – 中山道 – Day 2
We awoke to a bright clear morning in Ginza, Tokyo where we had spent the night getting in to the hotel around midnight. We all slept well and decided to have the extra sleep in to take the 10:30am train. We found a coffee shop across the road for a quick breakfast. Egg and bacon … Continue reading Arrival at Tsumago – Day 1
After months of planning and anticipation the day for our departure has arrived. An early start was required, with a 6:25am departure from Canberra heading to Brisbane. We had a two hour stop over in Brisbane at the Qantas club before boarding the nine hour flight to Narita. The boys did a great job on … Continue reading Departure – 出発
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