Japan Trip, July 2017
Cities visited: Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Tokyo, Yamanouchi
Highlights: Hiroshima Museum, Jigokudani (snow monkey) park, Tounsen (hot baths), Morning Glory Festival, Museum of Nature and Science,
Highlights: Hiroshima Museum, Jigokudani (snow monkey) park, Tounsen (hot baths), Morning Glory Festival, Museum of Nature and Science,
Hiroshima, Iwatayama Monkey Park (near Kyoto), Science Museum, and Morning Glory Festival
This video of the Hiroshima bombing was really powerful. The museum had video diaries, and artifacts from the event. Sobering.
Monkey Park: took a taxi (cuz we could not find the right bus stop!) was only $30, 30 minute drive...then a 20 minute hike up through the trees, then a LOVELY view of Kyoto and lots of monkeys hanging out! We could feed them inside the hut, through the wire mesh...it was so fun.
Science Museum: was amazing...could have spent another day there.
Science Museum: was amazing...could have spent another day there.
Funny Signs
Osaka
Osaka Aquarium was great
Itsukushima Shrine was beautiful!
Owl cafe was depressing
Tried to go to rabbit island but the ferry wasn't running that day (after a 3 hour train ride! UGH!)
The boys enjoyed the samuri lessons.
Itsukushima Shrine was beautiful!
Owl cafe was depressing
Tried to go to rabbit island but the ferry wasn't running that day (after a 3 hour train ride! UGH!)
The boys enjoyed the samuri lessons.
Aburaya Tounsen and Jigokudani Monkey Park
This monkey park was quite different than the other one, which was close to Kyoto. This place was about 3 hours from Tokyo. It was located near a lovely little town that has a bunch of Onsens, (hot baths) so the place we stayed had an onsen on the top floor with views of the town and the mountains and the river that flowed through town.
Took a cab (20 minutes) to the monkey park, then a 20 minute hike near waterfalls and other cool scenery. Once there, we saw lots of monkeys hanging around, not bothered by us humans at all! In the winter, they soak in the hot bath, but in the summer, they just hang around and eat, groom, and play. Lots of babies! So cute. We loved it.
Took a cab (20 minutes) to the monkey park, then a 20 minute hike near waterfalls and other cool scenery. Once there, we saw lots of monkeys hanging around, not bothered by us humans at all! In the winter, they soak in the hot bath, but in the summer, they just hang around and eat, groom, and play. Lots of babies! So cute. We loved it.
Kevin and Reo climbed Mt. Fuji!!!!
Kevin and Reo have been friends since middle school. Reo spends most of his summers in Tokyo with his grandma, so when we reached Tokyo, we hooked up with him so they could hang out. They also planned to climb Mt Fuji...they took a bus to the mountain, and it took them about 5 hours to climb up, and about 3.5 hours to climb down. That's a lot of climbing!
Food and Accomodations
We stayed in AirBNB places and 2 hotels. The AirBNBs were great for us, with 4 people hotels would have been very expensive. One place was bad, the AC did not work and it smelled musty, so we stayed one night then moved to another place that was smaller but much nicer. We stayed at a hotel on the last night, TINY rooms, and only one bed so the kids had to share.
FOOD: was great! We ate lots of sushi (of course), tonkatsu (fried pork cutlets) chicken skewers, eel, soba and ramen noodles, and traditional okonomiaki (pancakes make with noodles and egg and other things), oysters, and other stuff.
FOOD: was great! We ate lots of sushi (of course), tonkatsu (fried pork cutlets) chicken skewers, eel, soba and ramen noodles, and traditional okonomiaki (pancakes make with noodles and egg and other things), oysters, and other stuff.
