Well for part two of my vacation, I went to Southern Hokkaido, to the city of Hakodate. Hakodate is a really nice city, it is fairly historic (one of the first ports to open at the end of the Edo era) and well serviced by public transport. The train system in Hokkaido is actually Trams! Adds to the historic flavour. I stayed in a fairly upmarket hotel (all the others were full), and they staff looked pissed off to be renting a room to a dirty backpacker like me. So of course I made sure to wa...
2 weeks ago I went on vacation to Aomori and Hakodate. Aomori is the prefecture and city on the northern tip of Honshu (Japan's main island) and Hakodate is the city on the southern tip of Hokkaido (japans most northern island). For this first installment, I will discuss Aomori. (http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/aomori/index.html) Upon arriving in Aomori via Bullet Train, I noticed it was quite different from the rest of Japan. It actually reminded me on Northam (in West Austral...
There is a lot of crazy Japanese food over here, but nothing beats the pizza. We went to a Pizza restaurant (all you can eat for 787 Yen! Obviously not designed for foreigners!!!) and have a look at what was in store for us From left to right - Corn and Tuna pizza, Dessert Pizza (with chocolate sauce and Oreo cookies) and a fruit pizza! There are other even crazier pizza types here - I have heard of Broccoli and Gravy, Seaweed, Corn and Mayonaise among others!
Well a bit late, but better late than never right? During Golden Week in Japan (one week of holidays from the end of April to the start of May) I went to a samurai festival in Odawara (a city near Yokohama) at Odawara Castle. The festival is to celebrate the feudal lords who used to rule this area, the Hojo clan, during Japan's warring states period (1467-1603). There was a parade, lots of people in costumes, people firing the old Japanese arquebus, and one overenthusiastic samurai who had wh...
Last Wednesday I went to Nikko. Nikko is a world heritage site north of Tokyo, famous for the tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Edo period. For a map location of Nikko and details of justification for inclusion, see here http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/913. Anyway for my review (and future reviews of World heritage Sites) I will list 5 sections, with marks given for each section and a final score. A bit of history about the place before I start - Nikko is a shrine and temple city no...
Cherry Blossom season in Japan is a pretty big event. It happens in Spring, usually around the start to mid April (in Tokyo) and goes for a paltry one to two weeks. The cherry blossoms are really short lived. The Japanese have a picnic during this time, called 'hanami' (literally flower watching). The main foods are sushi and sake (Japanese rice wine). This party became popular for the masses during the Edo period (1603-1867), whereas before, it was the preserve of the nobility. The cherry ...
Well this blog is to describe the places I've been and the things I've seen in Japan, mostly for the benefit of friends and family back in Australia, because I am too lazy to write individual articles to each one of you For everyone else out there, I work as an English teacher for NOVA in Japan. Currently living near Yokohama. Japan really is a unique place, with an incredible mix of the amazing, the amusing and most of all the unusual. Hopefully this blog will shed a bit of light on the p...