The main museum that we visited on that day, the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) from the outside, designed as a fusion of 1960s architecture combined with traditional Chinese architecture.
2011 Taiwan Trip: Taipei - National Palace Museum, Official Residences and Markets
On our second day in Taipei on March 30, 2011, visiting museum and museum-like attractions took up the bulk of our day.
The main museum that we visited on that day, the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) from the outside, designed as a fusion of 1960s architecture combined with traditional Chinese architecture.
The main museum that we visited on that day, the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) from the outside, designed as a fusion of 1960s architecture combined with traditional Chinese architecture.
2011 Taiwan Trip: Taipei - Presidents and Towers
March 29, 2011 was the second full day of our week long trip to Taiwan. It was my first trip to Taiwan and my mom's first trip to Taiwan in 20 years. On this day we mostly spent the time exploring Taipei.
My mom had heard that Taipei had been "completely rebuilt" after the devastating 1999 earthquake and wanted to see how "modern" Taipei had become since the last time she had visited ages ago.
The symbol of Taipei, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
My mom had heard that Taipei had been "completely rebuilt" after the devastating 1999 earthquake and wanted to see how "modern" Taipei had become since the last time she had visited ages ago.
The symbol of Taipei, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.
2011 Taiwan Trip: Flight from Tokyo Haneda to Taipei
On March 28, 2011, as a continuation of the almost one month long trip that I took with my mom when she visited me in Japan while I was studying there, we flew to Taiwan for a 1 week trip.
I booked the hotel and flight package from Rakuten Travel and it was surprisingly cheap. The 7 nights, 8 days package including the airfare cost 140,000 yen (US$1400) for 2 people. That is like 70,000 yen (US$700) per person for 7 nights in a hotel and the airfare!
The airline in the package was All Nippon Airways and the flight was from Tokyo Haneda airport to Taipei Songshan instead of the much farther Tokyo Narita airport. Because international flights from Tokyo Haneda airport are usually targeted to business travellers, the flight tickets are usually much more expensive, thereby making this hotel and flight package even more of a deal!
Historically, Tokyo Haneda airport was designated for domestic flights while Tokyo Narita airport was designated for international flights. At the time, they changed the laws to allow for short distance international flights to Asia at Tokyo Haneda airport so an international terminal was newly built.
The brand new international terminal at Tokyo Haneda airport.
I booked the hotel and flight package from Rakuten Travel and it was surprisingly cheap. The 7 nights, 8 days package including the airfare cost 140,000 yen (US$1400) for 2 people. That is like 70,000 yen (US$700) per person for 7 nights in a hotel and the airfare!
The airline in the package was All Nippon Airways and the flight was from Tokyo Haneda airport to Taipei Songshan instead of the much farther Tokyo Narita airport. Because international flights from Tokyo Haneda airport are usually targeted to business travellers, the flight tickets are usually much more expensive, thereby making this hotel and flight package even more of a deal!
Historically, Tokyo Haneda airport was designated for domestic flights while Tokyo Narita airport was designated for international flights. At the time, they changed the laws to allow for short distance international flights to Asia at Tokyo Haneda airport so an international terminal was newly built.
The brand new international terminal at Tokyo Haneda airport.
The JR East Railway Museum in Omiya in March 2011
During the week at the end of March when me and my mom were visiting the Tokyo and Yokohama area, on March 25, 2011, we took a day trip to the northern suburbs of Tokyo, to Omiya in Saitama Prefecture to visit the JR East Railway Museum.
Now normally visiting a railway museum would seem like a dull experience for people who are not railway fans but this museum seemed designed to cater to everyone of every demographic.
One of the reasons is that railways are to Japan how cars are to America. Railways are embedded in the ordinary life in Japan and also in the cultural psyche. If one lives in a large city in Japan, he would most likely take the train to go to work or to go shopping and if he was to do any domestic traveling, he would probably also take the train to get there.
In fact, one of the high speed Shinkansen rail lines in Kyushu was opened on March 12, 2011, one day after the 3/11 earthquake/tsunami disaster, and as a result, all the opening ceremonies were closed and an excellent heartwarming commercial produced to advertise for the Kyushu Shinkansen was not aired on TV. (Its popularity exploded on the Internet and it ended up winning international awards for advertising)
The entrance of the railway museum, because of the ongoing power shortage caused when all nuclear reactors were ordered to be taken offline following the nuclear disaster, the opening hours were cut short to 10 am to 4 pm.
Now normally visiting a railway museum would seem like a dull experience for people who are not railway fans but this museum seemed designed to cater to everyone of every demographic.
One of the reasons is that railways are to Japan how cars are to America. Railways are embedded in the ordinary life in Japan and also in the cultural psyche. If one lives in a large city in Japan, he would most likely take the train to go to work or to go shopping and if he was to do any domestic traveling, he would probably also take the train to get there.
In fact, one of the high speed Shinkansen rail lines in Kyushu was opened on March 12, 2011, one day after the 3/11 earthquake/tsunami disaster, and as a result, all the opening ceremonies were closed and an excellent heartwarming commercial produced to advertise for the Kyushu Shinkansen was not aired on TV. (Its popularity exploded on the Internet and it ended up winning international awards for advertising)
The entrance of the railway museum, because of the ongoing power shortage caused when all nuclear reactors were ordered to be taken offline following the nuclear disaster, the opening hours were cut short to 10 am to 4 pm.
Tokyo and Yokohama During the 3/11 Disaster
I visited Tokyo and Yokohama from the March 23 to March 27, 2011 when my mother came to visit me in Japan during the spring of 2011. This is a continuation of our trip that started in Osaka on March 10, 2011, one day before the biggest disaster to hit Japan in recent memory occurred. After visiting the Kansai region, we went to Okinawa and then flew back to Fukuoka, stopping at Nagasaki for a day before spending a couple of days in Hiroshima. Afterwards we took a night bus (never again) to Tokyo on March 23, 2011.
At this time, it was my first time back in Tokyo after I had left in 2006 when I was as an exchange student at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Because the Tokyo area was moderately affected by the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster (the 3/11 disaster), many foreigners living in Tokyo at the time were hysterically leaving for home via their embassies or for "safer" areas like the Kansai area or even places like Hong Kong because paranoia over radiation concerns. Instead because we had already booked and planned everything, we decided that it was safe to visit and it was indeed safe during our time there. In addition, there were less crowds!
The only odd thing that happened was that due to all the nuclear reactors being in shutdown mode as a precautionary measure, there were fears of a power shortage so in order to conserve energy, the train operators decided not to turn on any of the lights inside the trains during the overground sections. It felt weird to be riding the JR Yamanote Line in the dark with only sunlight coming through the windows.
The Nakamise-dori in front of the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.
At this time, it was my first time back in Tokyo after I had left in 2006 when I was as an exchange student at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Because the Tokyo area was moderately affected by the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster (the 3/11 disaster), many foreigners living in Tokyo at the time were hysterically leaving for home via their embassies or for "safer" areas like the Kansai area or even places like Hong Kong because paranoia over radiation concerns. Instead because we had already booked and planned everything, we decided that it was safe to visit and it was indeed safe during our time there. In addition, there were less crowds!
The only odd thing that happened was that due to all the nuclear reactors being in shutdown mode as a precautionary measure, there were fears of a power shortage so in order to conserve energy, the train operators decided not to turn on any of the lights inside the trains during the overground sections. It felt weird to be riding the JR Yamanote Line in the dark with only sunlight coming through the windows.
The Nakamise-dori in front of the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.
Kansai Trip During the 2011 3/11 Disaster
More than two years have passed since the devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster (3/11 Disaster) that hit the Tohoku area in northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011 and during that time, I was an international student studying in graduate school in Hiroshima on the opposite side of where the disaster hit in Japan. While going through my files, I discovered some photos I had not yet posted and those were the ones taken while I was traveling in the Kansai region during that time.
In the beginning of 2011, my mom made travel plans to visit me during the Japanese university academic calendar spring vacation (from February to the end of March) and we started off by visiting the Kansai (Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto) region.
So what was it like to be in Japan during the 3/11 Disaster in the Kansai region in western Japan? Surprisingly normal.
The Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社) that we visited in Kyoto on March 12, 2011.
In the beginning of 2011, my mom made travel plans to visit me during the Japanese university academic calendar spring vacation (from February to the end of March) and we started off by visiting the Kansai (Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto) region.
So what was it like to be in Japan during the 3/11 Disaster in the Kansai region in western Japan? Surprisingly normal.
The Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社) that we visited in Kyoto on March 12, 2011.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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.
