For our final night we stayed at probably the “kitschist” and pinkest hotel in Japan. It is a popular wedding destination and had pink lights and decorations all around. They even had a princess theme with Cinderella’s chariot and glass slipper on display. The breakfast restaurant had a sea of bright flowers with a white piano set in the middle. For a final day, I … Continue reading Day 7 – Final tour

It’s our last full day in Japan – and the week seems to have flown. We had another 8 am start and we checked out of our hotel in Kyoto and headed to Nara. Nara is the sister city to Canberra, however it appears it’s not that big of a deal here. Nara is best known for its deer population and we walked through the … Continue reading Day 6 – Deers, Castles and Shopping

Our luck with the weather finally ran out today. As we awoke and looked out the winter the heavens had opened and it was pouring down. For most of the morning (till about midday) there was a steady stream of rain – enough that we needed umbrellas – which made trekking around the different locations difficult. Our first stop was at the Kiyomizu Temple which … Continue reading Day 5 – Day in Kyoto

We had an early start today and needed to be down at breakfast by 6.30. Unfortunately it was too early for even our preferred coffee shop to be open. So I enlisted the help of Google Translate to try and order a proper coffee to our liking at the hotel. Fortunately it worked. We spent a couple of hours on the bus heading out to … Continue reading Day 3 – Mt Fuji and a very Japanese Experience

We got picked up from the hotel at 9 by our tour guide. Our first stop was the Imperial Palace, which is the official residence of the Emperor of Japan. The previous emperor was the first ruler in the history of Japan to abdicate his throne, which is now occupied by his son. The palace, in itself, is not visible from the road or any … Continue reading Day 2 – Tour Around Tokyo

The flight from Hong Kong was relatively short and we both slept for most of it. We arrived on time and worked our way through immigration and customs – which was all a breeze – and we were out in no time. Given the distance between Narita airport and Tokyo city (and our hotel), we decided to take the train. The one thing we were … Continue reading Day 1 – Tokyo Food Tour