Japan
After the museum we caught a local train to a small ferry that would take us to Miyajima, a small island in Hiroshima Bay known for its lush forests and ancient temples. Just offshore is the giant, orange Great Torii Gate which is partially submerged at high tide. It marks the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine. By this point we were a little “shrined out” so...
Since we weren’t too far, we took the almost 2 hour bullet train journey to Hiroshima. Our first stop was the A-Bomb dome and the Peace Memorial Museum. This building was one of the few to remain standing after the first atomic bomb was dropped in the world onto Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The bomb was released about 160 metres from the building and detonated 600...
Fushimi Inari Taisha is the head shrine of the god Inari located in Fushimi award in Kyoto. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari which is 233 metres (764 ft) above sea level, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines which span 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) and takes approximately 2 hours to walk up. It’s said that there are over...
Kinkaku-jI Temple literally means “Temple of the Golden Pavillion” and is a zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto. It’s one of the most popular buildings in all of Japan attracting large numbers of people annually and today was no exception. It’s designated a National Special Historic Site, one of only 17 locations making up the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, which...
After the bamboo forest we walked down to the river on our way to the Monkey Park. The park is home to 160 Japanese macaque monkeys. They live on the top of Mount Arashiyama, which was about a 1km hike up a path of switchbacks. Although they’re wild, you can feed food purchased from the park from within a feeding house where you can hand them peanuts and apples...
The next morning we got up early, out the door by 7am to beat the crowds at the Bamboo Forest. Even getting there that early we still found ourselves In the middle of pockets of people.
This a natural bamboo forest in the suburb of Arashiyama. It was so peaceful walking through the paths that wind through the forest.
On our first full day in Kyoto we did a walking tour of all the temples near us. I think we ended up getting through 6 of the 8 on our list. There is so much to see that we only brushed the surface of each one. It would take too long for me to describe each one so here is a gallery of photos from the day. You’ll also notice the sun returned as...
Kyoto was our next stop on our week of travel outside of Tokyo. Just a short 45 minutes journey by bullet train got us there in the afternoon. We had to take the subway and change trains a couple times to get from Kyoto Station to our Airbnb apartment. Luckily this one was a 3 min walk from the station. Studio apartments in Japan must all...
Here are a few more photos of the inside of Todaiji Temple. The photos really don’t do it justice.
Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall houses the world’s largest bronze statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese as Daibutsu. The temple also serves as the Japanese headquarters of the Kegon school of Buddhism. The temple is a listed UNESCO...