Living There
We recently spent a few weeks in Japan, traveling to Fukuoka from Busan in South Korea by ferry the day after New Years Day. We had purchased a 14 day JR pass before we left Australia, which gave us unlimited rail journeys around the country, and we made the most of it.
Below are six of the great spots we visited on our trip, places I would highly recommend to anyone planning a trip similar to ours. More detail on the below can be found in the Japan section of my travel blog here
1 – Nagasaki
Famous landmark in Nagasaki, one of the first arch bridges in the country, built in 1634.
Our port of entry was Fukuoka, which is towards the south of Japan. We decided to take advantage of our location and explore the bottom part of the country for a few days, taking a train down to Nagasaki
There is a lot to see and do in Nagasaki, and it was also one of the cheapest places to stay in Japan. Accommodation, food and transport were all cheaper than Osaka and Tokyo. By the end of the trip I had developed a way to judge the relative expenses in a city by comparing the prices of ‘supermarket sushi’. Twelve pieces of sushi in Nagasaki were by far the cheapest, coming in at around 450 yen.
We set off to explore the town just before dusk. It was much warmer this far south compared to places we had been, but it was still winter and it got dark early. We got to a famous landmark, Spectacles or Megane Bridge, just as it was getting dark and was able to take some good pictures. From there we passed through a large market mall, eventually making our way to the local Chinatown.
Other highlights included the night view from Mt Inasa, riding on a street car, eating the local Chinese influenced Champon Noodle dish and a sobering visit to Peace Park, the site of the atomic bomb blast.
2 – Harborland Kobe
After getting back from Hiroshima we walked from our hotel down to Harbourland, passing the iconic Port of Kobe tower.
The Osaka – Kyoto – Kobe area is a highlight of Japan and a must visit area for anyone prepared to venture out of Tokyo. Due to the close proximity of the three cities, it is viable to stay in any one of them and transit between at will. On our previous trip to Japan we stayed in Kyoto, so this time decided to try Kobe.
We used Kobe as a base to explore the surrounding area. With the amazing speed of the Shinkansen and our 14 day unlimited JR Pass it was quite practical to zoom around between cities for day trips. Within Kobe itself we visited the Harborland, area, an Owl Cafe and the Kobe Herb Gardens, which was just behind the main Kobe station, via yet another cable car.
The signature dish in Kobe is of course Kobe Beef, world famous variety of Wagyu that can run into hundreds of US dollars per kilo depending on the marbling. We found a small restaurant in Harborland overlooking the water and purchased a set meal for 14000 yen, which included various cuts of beef including a beef sashimi which was bit much for us so we ended up lightly singeing it. The beef was excellent.
3 – Takayama, Gifu
We visited the Hida Folk villange at Takayama in the Gifu Province.
Our most ambitious day trip from Kobe was to the Gifu prefecture. We had seen a tourist booklet that showed these amazing historic houses covered in snow and planned to visit the area. To get to the houses you first need to take the train to Takayama, which is a gorgeous two hour train trip from Nagoya through thick snow coated forests.
We arrived in Takayama town around 3:00pm and immediately booked our tickets on the return trip just after 7pm, so we would not become stranded.
We rushed over to the tourist stand and got the low down on the historic houses, which were a further 90 minutes away by bus. This proved impossible to meet due to timetables, but there was a secondary option to visit the nearby theme park that had historic houses in them and we thought we might as well have a look. We will come back another day to visit the houses and stay overnight to avoid excessive traveling.
After the park we made our way back to town and hunted down some dinner, enjoying a delicious serving of the local Hilda beef in a ramen broth. We then went for a stroll around Old Town, enjoying the Edo era architecture and souvenir shops full of interesting samples.
Shortly after night fall in began to snow, really snow, and we finally understood how the houses in the park became so thickly covered.
As we walked around the picturesque streets of Takayama it began to snow heavily.
4 – Tokyo Bay, Tokyo
We vistited the Tokyo Bay area today, visiting Diver City and Aqua City, where I took this picture of the Rainbow Bridge.
There is so much to see and do in Tokyo that you could easily spend two weeks there alone, which many tourists do. One area I would recommend visiting is Tokyo Bay, and definitely time your visit to end at night, when the area really lights up.
Tokyo Bay is an interesting and unique place, and well worth a visit. Getting there is also fun, as the main access is via a completely automated driverless train with rubber wheels that travels across the magnificent Rainbow Bridge.
There is a bit to see and do in the area, mostly centred on the large shopping malls, but there are some sights to see outside as well, including the giant Gundam robot and replica statue of liberty. If possible, plan to be there after dark when the skyline really lights up, showing an amazing view of the Rainbow Bridge.
There is a big robot outside Diver City in Tokyo Bay.
5 – Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park
We walked into the Snow Monkey resort and visited the main hot spring pool where the monkeys all gather.
We had decided in the planning stage of this trip that we wanted to visit the famous bathing hot spring snow monkeys, and had done some basic research on how to get there before we left, including looking at Google Maps.
It seemed a bit complicated online, but the reality was fairly straightforward. We took a train from Shibuya to Nagano Station and visited the tourist info desk, who handed us a pamphlet that dealt solely with getting to the Monkey Park. We followed the directions to a ticket booth and purchased a day pass, which included entry and transport via a bus. We found the correct bus stop and boarded the appropriate bus, which took around forty minutes to get to the entrance to the park.
The hot spring pool was the sole property of the monkeys; no people were allowed to bathe with them, which would have been a risky proposition as the Japanese always bathe in the nude. The monkeys are very much at home in the pools and enjoy the experience much as we would. The area around the springs is active with many of them squabbling and having mock fights. There is a lot of movement and you need to be careful not to get in the way.
If you have enjoyed this article and would like to read more, please visit my independant travel blog Travelonthego.net.
