Japan Journey - Town by Town

Ricshaw on Miyajima
Riverbus, Tokyo
Shinkansen at rest
The Nozomi Shinkansen prepares to head south...

I recently travelled through Japan from north to south by air and from south to north by train...

My journey commenced in Tokyo, arriving via Qantas in Narita before heading to Tokyo station via JR Express, and from there to Shinbashi where we (my wife was making her first ever trip to Japan) stayed overnight in one of five local Park Hotels!

Ours was the Park Hotel, lobby located on the 25th floor of the Shiodoe Media Tower... our 32nd floor based room had a great view over the Tokyo Tower and the Tokyo CBD.

The pillow fitters were a nice idea! And the Shidome/Shinbashi area is a new tourist facet of Tokyo to be explored...

Lunch on the 46th floor of the Dentsu Building (find the express lift excess in the basement as the front doors lead only to Dentsu offices...) was a plus, located by a Tokyo based Hawaiian athlete/lawyer friend of mine (Thanks Scott!) and was equalled only by dinner, in the basement of the Mitsubishi Building at the back of the Ginza (got to love the economacki food...)

Second day was an express bus ride back to Narita (note to self; use Haneda next time!) and an ANA through flight to Fukuoaka (four hours in Yobobyashi Camera off Hakata station) before flying onwards to Fukue and a week's work with ANA.

From Fukue the return flight took us back to Fukuoka where we transferred to Hakata station and headed for the Shinkansen office where we swapped our paperwork purchased outside Japan for the celebrated JR One Week Rail pass.

Putting this straight to use we reserved seats on the next JR Shinkansen for Hiroshima. Note that the faster through Nozomi service, with it's green cars can not be reserved or used with the JR Rail Pass, so save your money and purchase the ordinary pass, currently 28,300 yen.

Our first journey would take 1h45m, with just 1:15 minutes to cover the 200 plus kilometres from Hakata to Hiroshima and another 20 to the Ferry terminal at Miyamaguchi via local JR Express.

The Ferry journey to Miyajima was another 15-20 minutes but swept us past the fabled Tori off shore of this idyllic island.

Returning to Hiroshima we side tracked to the local trolley line to look over the A-Dome and Peace Park before heading to Kyoto via a new Hikari Rail Star to Osaka and then a local express into Kyoto as the southern JR trains terminate here.

Whilst in Kyoto we also side tripped via local JR Express to Nara and return.

A Hikari 364 was our ride to Gifu, the 117 kms covered in just 43 minutes and the later Hikari 378 taking us the 396 kms to Tokyo in just 118 minutes! That's under two hours!

In Tokyo we used the local subways, JR rail and then a northern JR Shinkansen and another local express train when we decided to visit Sendai and Matsushima.

We also utilised the water bus from the Shinbashi area (actually from Hamarikyu Gardens) into the Asakusa area of Tokyo.

From Tokyo we flew Cathay Pacific to Honk Kong and on to Singapore and home from there by Qantas.

But that's another story.

The far east...

The Tori Gate at Miyajima

The Golden Pagoda
Goju, the 'water' town

The Peace Bell, Horishima

Glassware at Matsushima

I recently went to Japan for work; spending a week in the Goto Islands, south of Nagasaki after a night and a morning in Tokyo.

Fukue is the home of Ironman Japan, and I was based at the delightful Downtown Hotel in that city I once again enjoyed the unique delights of Japan, this year for the first time, accompanied by my wife.

Food, scenery, culture are a wonderful mix here and the off-shore islands are the best way to find a Japan that is not lost in tourism tours and a made for the west environment.

The food in Fukue goes both ways; fish (in any variety of cooked and uncooked you can think of) and beef, as this is the home of the wonderful, if a little expensive Goto Beef!

The race? Ironman in any part of the world is an incredible event; the 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42km marathon run is never easy in any setting and on the island of Fukue, set in rolling hills and lush vegetation it's a great experience...

Heather Fuhr and Chris Lieto from the US were the winners this year.

Following the race I flew back to Fukuoka on the Japanese 'mainland' and from here set aboard the Shinkashen to Hiroshima to overnight on the wonderful if tourist oriented island of Miyajima.

Staying in a not quite so traditional Rykoken here was one of the highlights of a week's touring
I would now share with my wife through Japan.

Our first and final morning on Miyajima was spent roaming through the back trails (away from the tourists) and joining them for the more trodden pathways to the tourist attractions of the red Tora and temples here...

From Miyajima we took the JR ferry back to the mainland and then the train back to Hiroshima, where we found a cleaning shop to care for our luggage while we caught the trolley bus to the A dome and Peace Park.

Both are an emotional experience, made more so by the interaction with the many school groups there and perhaps to by the incredible rose gardens also present.

Our itinerary led us back to the station by early afternoon and back to the Shinkashen and north to Kyoto, via Osaka. Many kilometres and not so many hours later we were in Kyoto via the JR express from Osaka and nestled into the sumptious splendour of the Granvia Hotel, above the newly rebuilt Kyoto Station.

We were to be based in Kyoto for two days, three nights; the first spend making our own way through the varius ancient temples and shrines here. The second on tour and a quick side trip to Nara to see the big Bhudda there.

From Kyoto it was ever northward as we head to Gifu, a quick 43 minute journey by Shinkansen from where, with friends, we visited 'water' town, Guju a quick one hour's journey by car on near deserted freeway!

Goju is a marvellous town, scenic and peaceful and we were very sorry to say our good byes back at Gifu and head once more to Tokyo for the weekend.

In Tokyo we stepped out for dinner, the first night heading to 'hunt' Geisha or Maiko with out success and then catching up with friends for dinner Saturday night, filling in the day with water bus rides and some more tourist type sight seeing.

Sunday we boarded the Shinkasen once again for a ride to Sendai before a local express took us to Matsushima, like Miyajima one of three great sites in Japan.

The highlight for us, apart from the 50 minute island tour was finding a unique glass museum.

The trip back to Tokyo closed our trip to Japan, and a quiet night followed by a last bus to Narita.

Ahead? Hong Kong and Singapore; our next adventure...