Japan
Cherry blossoms in Tokyo
Is is near the end of April now and almost all the cherry blossoms in Tokyo are gone. But in the second week of April when I went to see them properly they were everywhere. I visited two well known cherry blossom viewing places, Sumida Park, and Ueno Park. The Japanese get very excited about cherry blossoms. They get a warm up to the cherry [...]
Getting a Japanese driving licence
I recently got my full Japanese driving licence. I already had a UK driving licence; so much of the information here will be specific for people who have UK driving licences. For example with a UK licence you don’t have to do a physical driving test, whereas I know that if you have an American driving licence you do. Also I got my [...]
Plum blossoms in Ritsurin Park
Japan’s most famous type of blossom is the cherry blossom, but if you can’t wait until March/April to see them you can see the plum blossoms in February. Ritsurin Park in Takamatsu has one of Japan’s most famous gardens, and in that garden are two groves, each filled with 80 plum trees (also known as Japanese apricot trees). The [...]
Seto Inland Sea sunset photos
Whilst living in Takamatsu, Kagawa I had the opportunity to observe the Seto Inland Sea sunset many times. Here is a small selection of my photos. This first one was taken from the Naoshima to Takamatsu ferry. The Seto Inland Sea is always busy with passenger ferries taking people between the islands. There are many interesting islands to [...]
Bowling in Japan at Round 1
If you want to go ten pin bowling in Japan there are plenty of bowling alleys in the cities. I went to a big chain called Round 1 which has locations all around Japan. The one I went to was in Takamatsu, Kagawa. If you are thinking that this building is a bit big for a bowling place that’s because there is much more inside. They have [...]
Ryoanji Temple and Yudofuya Restaurant in Kyoto
Ryoanji is a famous temple in Kyoto, Japan. It is most famous for its rock garden, consisting of small white raked stones, with 15 larger rocks positioned in the gravel. Just outside the garden is a model that shows the positions of the rocks. When viewed from the ground you can never see all fifteen rocks at once. Fourteen is the most that [...]
Staying in the Akihabara Washington Hotel, Tokyo
During a recent visit to Tokyo I stayed at the Akihabara Washington Hotel for 8 nights. Here are my photos and a small amount of information about the hotel. The hotel is in Akihabara on the East side of central Tokyo. It is a three minute walk from the JR Yamanote line – this is the line that circles central Tokyo and goes to many of the [...]
Can you walk across Tokyo in a day?
Once you’ve seen all the main tourist sites in Tokyo what can you do next? Why not try walking across the city! I recently did two walks across central Tokyo, one from Akihabara to Shinjuku, and one from Shiba area (Hamamatsucho station) to Shibuya. Both these walks are from East to West from one side of the Yamanote loop train line to the [...]
Viewing Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji (known as Fuji-san) makes one of Japan’s classic and most famous images. It can however be notoriously difficult to view as clouds and mists often obscure it (see the film Cherry Blossoms for an example). Winter can be a good time to view it as the air tends to be clearer. I went at the end of December. Your best bet for seeing [...]
Tokyo New Year’s Eve fireworks in Yokosuka
On New Year’s Eve most of the major cities around the work have large free organised fireworks displays in the city centre. Unfortunately Tokyo doesn’t – at least not in the main city. There are several paid displays if you are prepared to travel a bit outside the centre, but if you made the journey to Yokosuka [...]
