Road Trip to Yamaguchi Prefecture (山口県)

In the summer of 2012 on August 15, my friend from Jamaica and I were discussing about places to do a one day road trip since he had just acquired a car and Japanese driver's license. (I had a Japanese driver's license but no car)

Originally we wanted to drive across the Seto Ohashi Bridge (瀬戸大橋) from Okayama (岡山) to the island of Shikoku (四国) but we wanted to see the scenery of the Inland Sea from the bridge and since the weather was not cooperating with us on the day we wanted to go (it was cloudy), we choose to instead drive to neighbouring Yamaguchi Prefecture (山口県) from where we lived in Higashi-Hiroshima (東広島) in Hiroshima Prefecture (広島県).

It was hard to find tourist attractions worth visiting in Yamaguchi Prefecture, but after looking at some travel magazines at the local Tsutaya, a book and video rental store, we decided to visit Hagi city (萩) and then Yamaguchi city (山口市).

Yamaguchi city, the capital of Yamaguchi Prefecture, also known as "Kyoto of the West" in the tourism propaganda.

Biking in Kyoto in January

On the 5th and last day of my trip to the Kansai area during the school winter vacations in 2012, on January 4, 2012, I decided to explore the "local areas of Kyoto" by renting a bicycle and biking around Kyoto.

I had been to Kyoto many times in the past and I always thought that it was the perfect city to explore by bicycle because it is mostly flat and the city streets are laid out in a grid-like pattern meaning that it would be hard to get lost unlike in other cities of Japan like Tokyo for example.

It started out with perfect weather, but as I would experience in later visits to Kyoto during the same month, the weather in Kyoto in January is really unpredictable...

My primary interest in biking in Kyoto was to explore the urban areas and local neighbourhoods and only by bike can you explore less touristy areas like this one. The Toji Temple (東寺) area south of Kyoto station.

The City of Uji (宇治) and Fushimi (伏見) in Kyoto Prefecture

On the 4th day of my trip to Kansai during the winter school vacations in 2012, on January 3, 2012, I went to the city of Uji (宇治) and Fushimi (伏見) which is just south of the city of Kyoto.

Kyoto is one of my favourite cities to visit in Japan because a lot of the nice traditional city atmosphere of "old Japan" still remains, unlike most other cities in Japan. Because I had basically visited most of the attractions in Kyoto at least once, I wanted to find another area near Kyoto that I had not been to before. After looking at some tourist guides, the city of Uji and Fushimi looked like an interesting place to visit.

In Uji, the main attraction is the Byodoin Temple (平等院) which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto".

Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka (宝塚), Nishinomiya (西宮) and Ashiya (芦屋)

On the 3rd day of my trip to Kansai in 2012, I went to the area of Kansai between Osaka and Kobe. I visited the cities of Takarazuka, Nishinomiya and Ashiya. Previously I had gone to Kobe and Koya-san on December 31, 2011 and January 1, 2012 respectively.

There were a couple of reasons why I choose to visit these un-touristy areas. (1) Due to my interest in railway plus property urban planning and development, I wanted to see what the areas along the Hankyu Railway lines looked like since Hankyu Railway was considered a pioneer of this urban development model in Japan. (2) Since the Hankyu lines went through Takarazuka, I could also make a visit to the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum on the way. (3) Because of the New Years, Hankyu was selling its 1 day unlimited pass as the "New Year Ticket" for only 1000 yen (US$10) compared to the normal price of 1200 yen (US$12).

The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka.

2012 New Year's Trip to Koya-san/Mount Koya (高野山)

On January 1, 2012, during my winter trip to Kansai, I went to Koya-san/Mount Koya (高野山). One of the reasons I choose to go to Koya-san on New Years is because nothing is open on New Years Day in Japan and going to a commerce-free mountainous temple town seemed to be a good idea and it would be interesting to soak up the atmosphere of a temple town.

Koya-san is the centre of Shingon Buddhism which was introduced in 805 by the monk Kukai (空海) (Kobo Daishi, 弘法大師) and Koya-san was first settled in 819. Koya-san is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name of the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range".

The main gate of Koya-san, the traditional entrance to Koya-san before the advent of modern transportation means.

Kanazawa (金沢)

I went to Kanazawa two times, once on Dec. 10, 2010 on a school field trip to see the "compact eco-city" of Toyama and once again approximately two years later on Jan. 5, 2012 while on a trip to visit the Historic Village of Shirakawa-go. Therefore this post this is a compilation of the two trips.

Because of it's remote location, on the two times which I visited Kanazawa, I used the city as a stepping stone or transfer point to visit other cities (like Toyama or Shirakawa-go) because the cost of transportation was too expensive to justify a dedicated visit.

One of the main attractions of Kanazawa was because it was the second largest city (after Kyoto) which escaped bombing raids and destruction during the Second World War and hence you can still feel a lot of "traditional Japan" that is long gone in most of the country.

One of the historic Chaya districts in the city where geisha perform in teahouses.

The Historic Village of Shirakawa-go (白川郷) - UNESCO World Heritage Site

The historic village of Shirakawa-go (白川郷) is one of the UNESCO designated World Heritage Sites and is featured prominently on one of the many promotional brochures for tourists coming to Japan.

I went on this trip almost one year ago on Jan. 6, 2012 and the original purpose was to share a ride with a Japanese classmate who was going back to his hometown in Hyogo Prefecture (near Kobe) so I could go to the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe) for sightseeing.

Since I had mostly visited most of the mainstream tourist attractions of Japan and I wanted to find some place "off the beaten track" to visit, I figured it would be convenient to combine my visit to the Kansai region with a trip to Shirakawa-go and Kanazawa.

The main attraction to Shirakawa-go are the traditional "gassho-zukuri" (合掌造り) farmhouses that were built hundreds of years ago in response to the snowy winters and the deep isolation from the rest of Japan.

Bird's Eye Views from Tokyo-Hiroshima Flights

Due to 3 internships at 3 different times of the year and 1 field research in Tokyo, I have taken the flight from Tokyo Haneda to Hiroshima more times than any other route that I have previously flown. In total, I have this segment 8 times on both Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways including one time on one of the first Boeing 787s ever delivered.

There are various reasons why I choose to take the plane over taking the Shinkansen (high speed rail) and the main reason is cost. Shinkansen tickets are expensive (15,000 yen one way, $180~) and are never discounted while if you book airplane tickets more than 1 month in advance, the price can be as low as 11,000 yen, $133~.

The Shinkansen takes 4 hours from train station to train station and the flight takes 1.5 hours so if you add in access time, the time required is around the same.

The side benefit of taking the flight is that you get to see spectacular bird's eye views of Japan ^^

In this post, I complied the pictures I took from various flights that I had taken.

Tokyo Haneda to Hiroshima 787 Flight

After doing internships in Tokyo from mid-February to April, it was time for me to once again head back to my university in Hiroshima to start the second last semester of my graduate program.

Although there aren't many "upsides" to studying in such a remote place as Higashi-Hiroshima (our school campus is not actually in Hiroshima city), I was lucky that All Nippon Airways (ANA) scheduled their brand new Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" airplanes for the Tokyo to Hiroshima route. If I am not mistaken, the only other two routes that ANA currently (April 2012) uses their 787s for are the routes from Tokyo to Okayama and Tokyo to Frankfurt, Germany.

Last summer, when I was doing an another internship in Tokyo, I took the plane back to Hiroshima and I was lucky enough that the plane used the "correct runway" so that in going eastbound, the plane flew right over Tokyo in a counter-clockwise direction and I could see the entire city from a bird's eye view. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera that time so I could not get any pictures. 

This time I brought out my camera just in case we used that "correct runway" and surely enough we did and the resulting photos are a result of ignoring all the warnings about not using any electronic devices during takeoff!

The Boeing 787 at the gate at Haneda Airport Terminal 2.