Just Amleth

Sunday, January 29, 2006

My trip to Japan (summary)

Wow! What a trip! This trip to Japan is actually the first true overseas holiday trip I've ever made (company trips do not count), and it was really nice to be able to travel with a bunch of friends, if only for a short while.

On the whole, it was an enjoyable trip, although at this point in time, I must confess that I am suffering a little from temple-fatigue -- I must have seen like twenty or thirty Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines (not to mention a few churches) ever since arriving in Japan.

Language was a serious barrier. Using a combination of broken Japanese and pidgin English, we were generally able to get around to finding places and asking for directions. Gesturing and good drawing skills help somewhat when words fail. However, broken Japanese / pidgin English does not always work, especially when it comes to disputes with shopkeepers (which I will describe in detail when I talk about Hakuba).

For most of the first week of the trip (to be precise days 1-3, 5-7), I was travelling with Priscilla, Mervyn and Gabriel, Pouyan and my sister. After that I mostly travelled on my own as I hopped from one place to another around Kansai and Kyushu.

Before I go into details of the trip, I shall provide a high-level summary of the trip (geee, this is starting to sound a bit like work) so that it will be easier for reading, and for me to organize my thoughts when I document my escapades in Japan.

This was my itinerary in Japan:
DayDateLocationPlaces visited
115 Jan (Sun)Tokyo (東京)Harajuku (原宿), Shinjuku (新宿)
216 Jan (Mon)Kyoto (京都)Kinkakuji (金閣寺), Gion (祇園)
317 Jan (Tue)Kyoto (京都)Kiyomizu Dera (清水寺), Way of the Philosopher (哲学の道), Ginkakuji (銀閣寺), Heian Shrine (平安神宮)
418 Jan (Wed)Nara (奈良)Nara Koen (奈良公園), Kofukuji (興福寺), Daibutsuden (大仏殿)
519 Jan (Thu)Tokyo (東京)Tokyo Disneyland
620 Jan (Fri)Tokyo (東京)Akihabara (秋葉原), Asakusa (浅草), Shinjuku (新宿)
721 Jan (Sat)Tokyo (東京)Chiba (千葉), Harajuku (原宿)
822 Jan (Sun)Tokyo (東京)Imperial Palace (), Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社)
923 Jan (Mon)Hiroshima (広島)A really loooong 7 hours journey (90 minutes from Chiba to Tokyo, and then 5 hours by Hikari Shinkansen to Hiroshima
1024 Jan (Tue)Hiroshima (広島)Miyajima (宮島), A-Bomb Dome (原爆ドーム), A-Bomb Museum ()
1125 Jan (Wed)Nagasaki (長崎), Fukuoka / Hakata (福岡・博多)Temple Street (寺町), Chinatown (新天地), Dejima (出島), Atomic Bomb Museum ()
1226 Jan (Thu)Okayama (岡山), Himeji (姫路)Koraku-en Park (後楽園), Himeji Castle (姫路城)
1327 Jan (Fri)Nagano (長野), Hakuba (白馬)Hakuba Town
1428 Jan (Sat)Hakuba (白馬)Hakuba Goryu Ski Resort (白馬五竜スキー)
1529 Jan (Sun)Hakuba (白馬)Hakuba Goryu Ski Resort (白馬五竜スキー)
1630 Jan (Mon)Chiba (千葉)7-11, Olympic (*lol*)
1731 Jan (Mon)Narita (千葉), Singapore (シンガポール)Home sweet home


These are the cities I visited:
Honshu
- Tokyo
- Chiba
- Kyoto
- Nara
- Hiroshima
- Okayama
- Himeji
- Nagano / Hakuba
Kyushu
- Nagasaki
- Fukuoka / Hakata

All of these cities are south and west of Tokyo. To get an idea of where these cities are, refer to the red dots on the following map (click to see a larger version of the map):
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Hakuba is not named on the map, but it is about 40km west of Nagano.