Japan vacation

Well, after spending 10 days in Japan enjoying the Christmas and New Year's holidays with my brother Michael, Meg and I are back in Bangkok. We tried to do and see as much as possible while we were there. Most of our time was spent in Tokyo, with the exception of a 3 day excursion to Hakone and Hiroshima. In Tokyo, we explored various temples, the Tokyo National Museum, the Imperial gardens, and some of the more popular Tokyo wards - like Harajuku, Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Roppongi. We sampled a number of different Japanese restaurants, enjoying sushi bars and other local dishes as often as our appetites would allow. We also had sake for the first time...and second, third, forth, etc...yum!





On Christmas morning, we went to a small cafe to eat breakfast and open presents. It wasn't exactly a traditional Christmas as we lacked a tree and music (and family!) but we still had a great time. The turkey dinner we had for supper at an English pub definitely made it feel more like home.



On the 27th, the 3 of us travelled by Shinkansen (the express train) to Hakone. It is a beautiful area with amazing scenery. The highlight was taking a gondola lift up a mountain which had an incredible view of Mt. Fuji...although Meg might argue that soaking in the hot springs was even better. :) We all agreed that it would have been worth staying in Hakone for a few more days to go camping and hiking.



On the 28th, we continued southwest by train to Hiroshima. The Peace Memorial Park was incredible. The museum offered a frightening look into the horrors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Still standing in the park are the remains of the only structure to have survived the bomb, the A-bomb Dome.



From Hiroshima, we caught a ferry on the 29th to Miyajima where we found the Itsukushima Shrine. There were tame deer everywhere, following us around and boldly nudging our hands in search of food. That night we got the train back to Tokyo where we spent the next couple of days exploring more of the city.



On New Year's Eve, we went with Michael to a huge 3-story club in the Shibuya ward. It was incredibly packed and we counted down to the New Year with a very energetic and friendly Japanese crowd. Since we had an early 6am rise to go to the airport, we left the club around 1am - not before we indulged in some public drinking on the streets of Tokyo first though.



Well, that's a brief summary of our trip. More pictures can be found here. Happy New Year!