For our first full day in Osaka we decided to have a slow morning and hang around the apartment. The weather forecast looks really good for the week, with clear, twenty degree days after yesterdays rain. The boys spend some time on school work and catch up on their classroom news via SeeSaw. They also … Continue reading Osaka: Dōtonbori and Shinsaihbashi – Day 35
Today we checked out of Kyoto and headed to Osaka, with tickets to the Gamba Osaka vs Vegalta Sendai soccer match that started at 4pm. It was another rainy travel day, so we caught a taxi from the apartment to Kyoto Station – learning the Japanese word for station from the taxi driver: eki. We … Continue reading Osaka Gamba – Day 34
Today we said goodbye to Nana and Papa who headed back from Kyoto to Tokyo and then few back to Adelaide via Cairns. After pancakes for breakfast we all caught the bus into Kyoto Station, to have a look around the shops before they caught the Shinkansen to Tokyo and the Narita Express to Narita. … Continue reading Kyoto Pottery – Day 33
Our time in the Iya Valley region had concluded and our next stop was onto Naoshima, a small island on the Seto Inland Sea. Naoshima is not far off Shikoku, but we needed to first return the hire car and then head to Uno where we had a short ferry ride to Naoshima. Like most … Continue reading Travel to Naoshima – Day 7
For our third day in the Iya Valley region we decided to drive to one of the main cities of Shikoku: Kochi. We had read that there is a castle worth visiting – one of the few castles surviving in its original form. Also on Sundays, the Main Street is closed with an open-air market … Continue reading Day Trip to Kochi – Day 6
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
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