Asia

We start our time in Tokyo with a visit to the very popular Ueno Park exploring this large park while looking for the National Museum

We spend the reminder of the afternoon exploring Kencho-ji a Zen shrine and the beautiful park surrounding it before driving to Tokyo

One of the main Shinto shrines and a quite popular one in Kamakura is Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu built in 1063

Today we have planned to visit Mount Fuji but due to low visibility we just make a short hike and then return to explore something else

In our opinion you cannot come to Japan and not visit a Ninja Museum so we make our way to Iga to visit the museum of one of the most well known schools of ninjas

Nara was the capital of Japan in the 8th century and is now famous for the tame Sika deer and the largest bronze Buddha statue in Japan

We purposely stayed overnight within walking distance of the famous Osaka Castle and explore the huge castle early in the morning

In the evening we explore downtown Osaka eating dinner and enjoying both window shopping and actual shopping in this modern town

We stop in the historic town of Kurashiki to visit the canal side area of Bikan in the middle of the day exploring canals and old streets

We end the day with some light hiking on the beautiful karstic plateaus of Akiyoshidai Quasi-National Park enjoying the views and interesting rock formations