-
Okayama City
My first time in Okayama was by chance. I was riding the shinkansen and needed to get off at Okayama station in order to board yet another shinkansen. Since I had thought about visiting Okayama before, I pondered the idea of exiting the station, staying overnight in Okayama and doing a lot of sightseeing the following day.
-
Kagoshima Fail
The idea of going to the southernmost part of Japan via shinkansen is thrilling. Of course, ideas and realities are two different things and if it isn’t already obvious from my title, my visit to Kagoshima was a fail.
First of all, I wasn’t supposed to be in Kagoshima; I was supposed to be in Hiroshima. The plan was to visit Hiroshima’s WWII areas. If time was on my side, I figured I’d just visit Miyajima Island again.
So, how in the world did my trip itinerary change from Hiroshima to Kagoshima? (The cities are 550 km apart!)
-
Cherry Blossoms at Yoyogi Park
Having seen the cherry blossoms in Okinawa, I couldn’t understand the hype over hanami or cherry blossom viewing. I found the dark pink flowers overrated. To think that people would actually look forward to these flowers blooming annually, I couldn’t help but to find it a tad bit strange and a tad bit ridiculous. They were just flowers that were nice to look at but nothing of the extraordinary.
-
Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine
In Kyoto, there’s a shrine that’s super popular, open 24 hours and free. It’s popular thanks to its many tori. Chances are high you’ve come across photos of famous instagrammers in front of the famed red gates (tori) before.
Nothing wrong with that but it does make Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine rather crowded.
-
Nanzoin Temple: Banned to Foreigners
Yes, you read that title correctly. The funny thing about it is that I had no flipping clue it was banned to foreigners until long after I had visited it but after learning about it, I now understand why some of the temple personnel looked so off (cold, uninviting, mean and judgmental). Fortunately, I encountered two staff members that weren’t like that but that’s just two out of their many staff members!