Japan day trips - Part 2

TOKYO

Wow! This was a long, exhausting, interesting day. I started out by demolishing all confidence that had built during my Himeji/Okayama trip: Tokyo station is simply huge. My first lesson: just picking a random exit and going outside to get my bearings -- baaad plan. My second lesson: play attention to the signs! You can't get distracted for a second, because you WILL miss a sign. My third lesson, really look at the signs and do so with a frontal view, otherwise the arrows will lead you down a wrong corridor!

Ok, all that being said, I had a great day. At first I felt like an alien, everyone around me wore black business suits and looked very serious and business-like. Meanwhile, I was wearing my orange raincoat, a plaid flannel shirt, green skirt, leggings, wool socks and hiking boots. Hum. By the end of the day though, I was in Shibuya and I was the less conspicuous dresser around!

I spent most of the day lost, but still got to see my main goals for the day:

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Shibuya independent shops shopping street

Shibuya crossing

Onomichi

After my crazy day in Tokyo, it was really nice to have some quiet time with Rie in Hiroshima. On the second day of my visit with her, she brought me to a village called Onomichi, which is where some of my great-grandparents are from. It was an interesting experience to walk streets that my ancestors may have walked, to see views that they might have seen... and the views were amazing:

View of Japan Inland Sea

To get to this vintage point, we walked up the Philosopher's path, which was beautiful in itself. Lots of nooks and crannies, a few temples, a pagoda, a cemetery, and lots of beautiful stone

steps. To fuel ourselves for this climb, Rie and I went to one of her favorite restaurants and had a "catch of the day" lunch. The fish was incredible, fresh, and just so tender. Thanks to Rie for a great day!

Kurama Onsen

A really good days' rest after all those hours spent in the shinkansen! My dad and I hiked up to a nearby onsen. The walk took about 2h30mins, and took us through Kyoto, farmland, valleys, a small village, and up and down two mountains. Gorgeous!