Tim's visit: Mt. Aso

After our awesome day in Miyajima, be boarded the Sakura shinkansen to start our travels to Mt. Aso.  Mt. Aso is on Kyushu, one of the main islands of Japan.  We took the shinkansen to Kumamoto, which took about two hours.  This train had wide comfy seats, I think maybe it was the retired green car of an older model of train?  Tim enjoyed some Miyajima beer on the train.

We changed trains in Kumamoto and took the Kyushu Odan limited express to Aso.  This train was very retro compared to the shinkansen, but it was fun!  We traveled in the evening, so we didn't get to see much out the windows.  This was the only time it really rained on our trip, so we were lucky that we were traveling during it!

 The next morning we got up early to take the first bus up to the crater of the volcano.  We were amazed at the scenery around us!  Mt. Aso is the site of one of the world's largest volcanic calderas, with at 75 mile circumference!  In this picture you can see the steamy volcano from the bus ride - I think Tim hung his head out the window to take this picture!

 There are many peaks around Mt. Aso itself, and many secondary volcanic craters too.

 On this day Mt. Aso was especially active, letting off a constant stream of volcanic gas.  This meant that the ropeway and paths up to the crater were closed.  We waited for a little while, but eventually realized that the volcano wasn't going to calm down for quite a while.

 We looked at the surrounding scenery...

 ...and took some more pictures of Mt. Aso.  Not far from the ropeway station there was a museum about the volcano.  We stopped there and saw all of the exhibits.  They have a camera in the crater that is remote controlled, but all we could see was white from the fumes!

Tim was especially fascinated with the ice crystals on all of the small plants!

 We had some lunch and then went back into the town.  Since we had some free time we checked out the onsen at the big hotel next to where we were staying.  It was pretty nice, and there was a good view of Mt. Aso from the baths.  Also, it was nice to be warm again - it was very cold up on the mountain!  But, maybe the onsen was a little too hot for Tim, he was pretty red and sweaty afterwards!

The next morning I checked the website for the ropeway and it said that the volcano had calmed down and all areas for viewing the crater were open!  We quickly packed up our stuff and made it to the bus station.  Up the mountain we went again, but this time we got to go all the way up to the crater!  Hooray!

 Deep inside the crater was an aqua blue lake.  It reminded us of the hot spring pools in Yellowstone!

 These men look like scientists taking some kind of readings.  Tim was jealous of how close they were to the edge of the crater!  Also, those little huts were all around, probably as an emergency shelter in case the volcano erupts!

After viewing the crater for a while, we started to walk back down to the bus stop instead of taking the ropeway.  Along the way we saw a path through what was called a volcanic desert.  We explored a little bit, and saw this lava bomb sitting there!  The soil here was very dark and grainy sand - a very interesting texture!

 This is one of the smaller craters from the side.  It is crazy to think of how active all of these volcanoes once were!

Once we made it back to the ropeway station, we decided it was time to have some lunch.  Tim was excited that the restaurant in the station served the local specialty, horse meat.  (Figuring this out took some Kanji detective work!)  I didn't try it, but he said it was good.

This was the last stop on our 6 day trip!  After the morning viewing of the crater we had to travel to the airport and fly back to Tokyo - boo!  It wasn't too sad though because we still had a couple of days of sightseeing to do after I made an appearance at work on Friday.  

Thumbs up for Kyushu and Mt. Aso!

Tim's visit: Miyajima

Miyajima is a small island not far off the coast near Hiroshima.  It was a nice day trip to take from there.  A short train ride and then a 10 minute ferry ride got us there easily and quickly.

The most famous sight on Miyajima is the "floating" torii.  This picture was from the ferry on the approach to the island.  Luckily we were able to time out visit with high tide, otherwise it would have just been the torii sitting in the mud!

Also on the island are a lot of deer!  Unlike Nara though, you are discouraged from feeding them (although I saw a few rebels doing it anyway!).

 Aren't we cute?  I'm glad we had the tripod with us this day!  I am wearing so many layers of clothes in this picture!  I was too cold all the time during this trip - I should have packed a heavier coat!

 Itsukushima shrine is right on the water, and it also appears to be floating.  It provides a lot of great spots for pictures of the torii.  This might be one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.

 Here is Tim in the best spot for pictures!  We had to wait in line to take this one.  Also, you can tell I took it because it is crooked.  Sorry Tim.

 The shrine itself isn't much, but there were some crazy animal hybrid statues.

 It's fugu!  We saw this off the walkway of the shrine, in the sea!

 Our original plan was to go up the mountainside by ropeway, but the ropeway was closed for renovation.  If only we'd gone the day before, it would have still been running!  But, instead we went to the Miyajima aquarium.  It was pretty standard, but it did have this one really active horseshoe crab.  Also, an awesome octopus and penguins for petting.

 After the aquarium we had lunch, and then walked around a little bit more and did a little shopping. Also, this deer tried to eat my map.  Bad deer!

 Pagoda!

 Miyajima was a nice little side trip for a half day or so.  After this we went back to Hiroshima and began our journey to Kyushu!

Tim's visit: Hiroshima

We got up early in the morning to travel from Kyoto to Hiroshima by Shinkansen.  This time we had reserved seats, so the entire journey was very comfortable!

Gnomes like the Shinkansen too!  

 Our first stop in Hiroshima was the Peace Memorial Park.  I have been feeling like this is a place I should visit for a few months, and I am so glad that I did not go alone because it was an emotionally heavy place.

This is the atom bomb dome.  It was almost directly under the hypocenter, but like a few other ferro-concrete buildings, remained mostly intact.  A few years after the bombing it was decided that it should be preserved as a reminder of the horrendous damage caused.  I would have to say it has the intended effect.

 This is the Children's Peace Monument - to remember the children that were killed.

 There is an eternal flame that will continue to burn until all nuclear weapons in the world have been destroyed.

 This arch is the Cenotaph.  Inside is a coffin like structure that holds the names of everyone killed by the bomb and the after effects of the radiation.  Each year on the anniversary of the bomb any new names are added.

 After viewing the peace park we went to the Peace Memorial Museum.  I was surprised at how plainly the facts of the war were laid out.  It was a very neutral presentation of the roles of all countries involved.  Also, it was completely devastating to see.  I think it can be compared to going to the Holocaust Museum, but to me it had a different perspective, coming from the country that dropped the bomb.  (I know that there are many theories about the direction the war would have taken without it, and that all parties in war commit grave atrocities, but the feeling is still there.)

After all the museum we walked to Hiroshima castle, a much lighter experience!  It was rebuilt after WWII.  Here is the outer keep and the moat.

 Hiroshima castle might be the largest castle I have visited in Japan!  It is so tall!  Inside was a museum with a lot of samurai swords, and the view from the top was great.

 For dinner in Hiroshima we had Hiroshima style okonomiyaki.  I'm sad now we didn't take any pictures of it - we sat right by the grill and watched them make it.  It was pretty tasty with the soba noodles mixed in!  We also had some fried oysters - oysters are famous in Hiroshima!

After dinner we took the tram back to the peace park to see the atom bomb dome lit up at night.  It had a different feeling without the daytime business of the tourists.

Overall, I am glad we went to Hiroshima.  Parts of our day were heavy, but it is an amazing city and we only got to see a small glimpse of it.  Although Tim was probably glad we didn't have more time for the shopping arcades that I always seem to find in every city!

Tim's visit: Nara

After seeing the sights in Kyoto we spent one day in Nara.  It was a nice change from the large city of Kyoto where most temples are far apart.  In Nara almost everything is concentrated in Nara park, and it is easy to walk around to see all of the temples and shrines!

We started at Yoshiki garden.  Even though it was the off season, it was very beautiful and peaceful.

 After the garden we went to Todai-ji to see the Daibutsu.  This temple is one of the largest wooden structures in the world, and it is currently only 2/3 the size it once was!  It was rebuilt after a fire.

 Inside is one of Japan's largest Buddhas.  It was extremely impressive!

 There are lots of deer in Nara.  They are protected there and you can buy "shika-senbei" (deer crackers) to feed them.  The deer are very smart and know when someone has bought a treat for them.  They swarm you until you feed them!

 I'm not sure what this was, but it is a stone wheel outside of a temple.  It was fun to spin.

 There were so many stone lanterns in Nara.  A lot of them looked very old with a lot of moss growing on them.  Tim was a little fascinated with them!

 Well hello there!

 More lanterns - they were everywhere!

 Another creepy dragon fountain for hand washing.  This one looks very spiny!

This deer became my friend.  I think it just wanted to eat my map.

 Randomly there were some disco balls hanging off the trees as we walked down a path.

 After we got back to Kyoto at the end of the day we went up to the roof of the train station/mall and watched the sun set!  It was a nice end to the day!

Tim's visit: Kyoto

I have a lot of pictures to share of Tim's visit to Japan!  We had a great time, and he took a bunch of amazing pictures - it was so nice not to have to worry about taking any photos the whole time he was here!

Our first stop was Kyoto (after a day of jet-lag recovery for Tim).  We took the shinkansen from Shin-Yokohama to Kyoto on Friday night after I got off work.  It was a very crowded train and we weren't able to reserve seats, so we had to stand for the first hour.  Luckily there was a very popular stop and most people got off the train so we were able to snag some seats!

In Kyoto we stayed in a traditional Japanese ryokan.  I love sleeping under heavy warm futon covers!

 There was a little pond inside the "courtyard" of the building.

 Here is Kyoto station - it is very modern looking, which is different than all of the old temples that are there!

 Our first stop early in the morning was Fushimi Inari.

 We followed the torii gates all the way up to the top of the mountain behind the temple.  It was super fun!  There was a little snow falling and it made some of the steps slippery though.  But the snow was really pretty!

 This cat wasn't too sure about the snow...

 The view of Kyoto from about 3/4 of the way up the path.  It was hard to believe we were still in such a big city!

 This dragon doesn't make hand washing a very inviting process!

 Outside the temple we ate some mid morning yaki-soba.  Yum!

 We visited a few stone gardens.  They are so beautiful, but they seem like so much work.

 This was at Tofukuji.  Unfortunately most of the beauty of this temple is in the autumn, so we didn't pay to go in.

 I think that this was at Nanzen-ji.  I was surprised to see an aqueduct!  This temple was very beautiful.

 Fishes!

 Of course we went to Kinkakuji!

 After all that walking, I had to eat my favorite Japanese treat - taiyaki!