Blog | Deena

Kobe

Posted on Saturday, December 6th, 2014 at 12:09 pm.

We caught a shinkansen to Kobe where we met with Shingo, a family friend that is currently living in Tokyo but is from Australia and joined us for a day trip. Our first destination was Mt Rokko, where like Hakone, a few methods of transportation had to be taken to get to the top. We […]

Himeji

Posted on Friday, December 5th, 2014 at 11:27 am.

We headed out to Himeji, which was a short distance from Kyoto by the shinkansen. The renovation of Himeji was still ongoing so we were only able to tour the surrounding areas. At least the scaffolding had been removed recently so we were able to see the newly reformed castle. Famous stone wall […]

Nara

Posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2014 at 11:12 am.

We said farewell to Chynna who stayed with us for 2 nights, and headed on a day trip out to Nara. To get there, just catch the JR Nara Line from Kyoto Station 🙂 It was a gloomy day of pouring rain and very cold too. We spent the day in Nara Park as the […]

Hikone

Posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014 at 12:11 pm.

Chynna stayed at our apartment and joined us for a day trip to Hikone. A town on the shores of Japan’s biggest lake, Lake Biwa. It is also home to a castle like Himeji but a lot smaller. Himeji is currently getting renovated so we thought it was worth the visit to check out the […]

East Kyoto

Posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014 at 10:51 am.

We started our day off at the bottom of East Tokyo with Sanjusangendo. That was extraordinary, we weren’t allowed to take photos. In the temple there are 1001 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. It’s actually an amazing sight to behold due to simplicity and repetition. We then met my old high school friend, […]

Miyajima

Posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2014 at 8:00 am.

We embarked on a day trip to Miyajima, an island not far from Hiroshima. If you have the Japan Rail pass the ferry is also covered. It is famous for it’s large torii gate which appears to float in water in high tide. In low tide you are able to walk to it […]

Hiroshima

Posted on Saturday, November 29th, 2014 at 9:44 am.

We had to wake up at 6am to catch the very infrequent shinkansen from Odawara to Hiroshima. We quickly had our last private hot spring bath which was so refreshing in the cold morning then headed off.. First the one hour tram, then the train.. and finally to the shinkansen. It was a 4 hour […]

Hakone Machiko

Posted on Friday, November 28th, 2014 at 8:48 am.

For our second whole day in Hakone we first headed to the Hakone Glass Museum. It’s more so the atmosphere that has been created rather than the glass that makes this place appealing. It’s heavily inspired by European architecture and you can find crystal trees placed amongst natural ones, ducks in the ponds, a […]

Owakudani

Posted on Thursday, November 27th, 2014 at 8:23 am.

We headed to Hakone. This trip is catching up on me so it’s going to turn into more of a photo blog with captions. Hakone is confusing as each leg of the journey is replaced with a different mode of transport. We headed to Owadara by bullet train, then changed over to a train […]

Stormy Shinjuku

Posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2014 at 3:24 pm.

The weather was still absolutely horrible.. but we had to push on as it was our last day in Tokyo before we embarked to other destinations. We were yet to check out Shinjuku, home of the busiest train station in the world. We started with Lumine Est department store. The weather was so bad I […]