Japan

Why go? Why not!

In November 2017 we went to Japan for ten days, creating our own itinerary. Planning for this involved, yes you guessed it, buying maps! But not only did this trip combine my love of maps and travel guides but also of trains. If you like trains, Japan is the place for you (more on that later). There are a hundred reasons to visit Japan but mostly you should go because it's beautiful, easy to navigate, the food is gorgeous and it's pretty bonkers.

The itinerary

We stayed for three nights in Tokyo (having landed at Narita airport which is only 30 minutes away from the city centre via the express train) and chose Shinjuku as our base. It's pretty central and is said to be the entertainments district - the Soho, if you like. From here we could access everything fairly easily. In fact, you can access most things easily because the metro is so efficient. And with our Japan Rail (JR) passes (available for around £190 per person for 7 days) we could use all JR rail services including the Shinkansen (bullet train). Some services aren't included if they're run on privately owned lines. Once you've had a couple of long-distance bullet train trips you've made your money on the passes, trust me. In fact, we planned three destinations during our stay. From Tokyo we headed to Kyoto for a couple of nights and then to Kamakura via Tokyo for the rest of the trip.

 In Tokyo we visited some interesting gardens (gyo-en) in Shinjuku and came across a Chrysanthemum competition (we assumed) where lots of different varieties of the daisy were on display. There was also a large display of what looked like several plants but in fact turned out to be multiple stems and flowers from one single plant... impressive. The label informed us that it was known as the 'thousand stem chrysanthemum' (or something). Here it is (one of many we saw):

That's one plant. Yes, I know! Crazy. The hours that must have gone in to these displays unthinkable. Well done everyone.

Kyoto

What was once the imperial capital of Japan, Kyoto is a couple of hours west of Tokyo by bullet train. On the JR pass you can't catch the express trains that go a few miles an hours faster but it makes no difference to your bullet train experience as the one we caught travelled at something like 185mph. These incredible feats of engineering are (a) always on time (b) cleaned within a 7 minute target, including seats that revolve so that you can talk to your friends behind you and (c) incredibly good value for money (with the JR pass). Now where in the world have I experienced the opposite of that? Let me think. So here's one highlight from Kyoto - not only did we visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine which was about half an hour south of the city centre via JR and climbed Mt Inari - and visit the amazing bamboo forest grove in Arashiyama (another fab train trip via a purple coloured tram!) - FOOD! Food is one highlight I'd like to make. I love food but I especially love fish-related food. And as an island-nation Japan has a lot of fish. My favourite was a simple prawn tempura: quite a popular dish but I really loved this place in Arashiyama. Yum.

Not only did I love the simplicity of the dish but I really enjoyed the simple style and atmosphere of the restaurant itself. Here it is (I can't remember the name but it is almost opposite the railway station in Arashiyama):

Kamakura

The ancient capital of Japan had been on my list of places to visit for many years. It has some Buddhist connections for me and I just wanted to have been there. It's quite a 'surfer' place. Fairly quiet (well it was in November) and chilled. Nice shops and restaurants and, of course, an awesome train which goes along the coast. We caught the electric train (a green two-car service) from near our hotel to Enoshima as we wanted to walk to the lighthouse that we could see from our hotel bedroom window.

 We ate prawn tempura (of course) in Enoshima and had a good walk around, including a few moments on Tatsunokuchi beach (which if any of you readers are Buddhists of the Nichiren school, you'll know to be a significant place) so I was very happy. We watched the sun rise and set from this very glamourous hotel and could hear the ringing of the level crossing bell on the railway line below the cliff. Quite romantic.

One day I would like to go back to Japan and perhaps visit some other places: Osaka for their amazing looking food and Hokkaido for the snow monkeys!

Arigato.