Japan (2013)
Japan is the seventeenth country I visited. We had planned this trip in 2011, but the catastrophic 9.0 (Mw) magnitude Tōhoku earthquake occurred a couple of weeks before our trip. And even though southern and western parts of Japan were not as affected as the eastern regions, it just didn’t seem right to be there vacationing while the nation grieved. So we planned the trip again in 2013. Enjoy our memories and moments as you visit the individual cities below.
Dates visited: March 27, 2013 – March 30, 2013, and April 3, 2013 – April 6, 2013 I planned this trip to Japan for Prachi for two reasons: (i) she has pleasant memories about Japan from reading a book in her childhood by one of her favorite authors, and (ii) she…
Dates visited: March 29, 2013 There’s a famous Japanese saying (translated in English as) “Never say kekko until you’ve seen Nikko.” Kekko means beautiful or magnificient and the city lived up to the saying. We made a day trip to Nikkō (93 miles north of Tokyo) to visit the Shrines…
Dates visited: March 30, 2013 We made a day trip to Kamakura (31 miles southwest of Tokyo) to visit Kōtoku-in, a Buddhist temple famous for Kamakura Daibutsu (The Great Buddha of Kamakura). This serene hollow bronze statue at 44 ft tall is the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan,…
Dates visited: March 30, 2013 – April 3, 2013 My fingers were crossed… …up until the trip since we wanted to be there for sakura (cherry blossoms). And we got unbelievably lucky with our timing as the cherry blossom peak came in about two weeks earlier than usual while we…
Dates visited: April 1, 2013 Nara is 27 miles south of Kyoto and therefore, just perfect for a day trip. We decided to focus only on the Tōdaiji Temple (752 AD), which in addition to being the largest single wooden structure in the world, is also home to the largest…
Dates visited: April 1, 2013 This city isn’t on most itineraries, and wouldn’t have been on mine if it wasn’t for Rohan. He loves ninjas so we made this detour on the way back from Nara to visit the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum. You know you are in the world of…