There are many beautiful estuaries in Ago Bay which can be viewed from various spots such as Tomoyama park, Mediterranean village. When we went up to the Yokoyama Observatory it snowed briefly.
Before returning to Nagoya, dropped by Oharai-machi shopping street.
Visited Meoto Iwa (wedded rocks) in Ise coast. Skirted along beautiful coastlines. Sea was deep blue as in Cote d’Azur in France.
Visited famous Mikimoto Pearl Island for the museum and watched a live performance by “sea-lady” diving for big clams as in the old days. It was cold that day around 10C during daytime.
Visited Izu Shuzenji in late February after skiing in Yuzawa onsen. Shuzenji is a small onsen town in central Izu, about 1 hour from Mishima served by local private train.
The town is famous for Shuzenji temple, a small bamboo forest and several historical onsen ryokans. We were lucky to be there while Ume (plum) flowers were starting to blossom.
Visited Nagoya > Fukuchi onsen > Takayama > Gero onsen > Handa > Minami-Chito > Nishiura onsen
stayed in our favourite hotel overnight before heading to Fukuchi onsen on the next day.
3rd stay there. There’s a small morning market about 10min uphill on foot.
Returned to Takayama 3rd time for lunch before heading off to Gero onsen.
Visited Handa as day trip from Nagoya for Manjusaka (曼珠沙華) blossom (Lycoris).
From Handa, travelled south to Minami-Chito Peninsula for this onsen. Nice sunset viewed from balcony and lavish seafood dinner.
Stayed in this onsen in the outskirts of Nagoya with in-room onsen with seaview, before departing on next day.
Remaining snow was on the roads/pavements here and there, while some Azaleas were blossoming.
Easy day visit and stayed in hotel overlooking Otaru Port.
stayed in Niseko Konbu onsen for the first time. Returned in 2008 by car.
visited the Historical Buildings area including the ex-British Consulate where we had a tea set. Had dinner in the warehouse area. Returned in 2008 for Mt Hakodate night view and others.
On next day, went to the famous morning market to have breakfast. Took the Steam Locomotive (SL train) to visit Onuma National Park. Spent about 2 hours there.
2nd stay in onsen hotel. Lucky to have fireworks commencing from 29th April – the first day of the golden week.
Visited Nagoya > Takayama > Norikura Kogen > Kamikochi > Rose garden in Gifu in late May.
Visited Takayama 2nd time since 2000. Strolled in the old town area with many cool local shops. The Hida Kokubunji and the thousand-year old Ginkgo tree should not be missed.
Stayed overnight in Hirayu onsen.
Went up to Tatami-daira @2700m in Norikura Kogen. While Mt Norikura and trail was covered in snow, hiked up to Fujime-dake @2800m. From the summit, Kamikochi and the Japanese Alps could be seen in the distance.
3rd visit in Kamikochi. While we were on the way trekking to Myojin-ike drizzle turned into heavy rain, so we did not stay long nor take any photos and had to return to bus terminal.
Another Hida-style onsen ryokan in Oku-Hida onsen-go. Fukuchi literally means “Land of Fortune”.
Visited in mid-Dec, most of the trees have shed their yellow leaves, filling the pavements in golden yellow as lit up by afternoon sunlight.
A day trip in Hakone by completing the loop.
returned to Osaka for the last 2 nights to avoid peak crowds on the road. Stayed in Tennoji area for the first time. It was less crowded than in Namba/Dotonbori but still has plenty of shops, malls, decent restaurants.
Beautiful ‘White’ castle after major renovations. There were many local and foreign visitors, though it was close to end of year.
Kokoen is just 500m away from the Himeji castle entrance. With less visitors, it was serene with well-maintained gardens, ponds, small bridges. Camelia was in full bloom.
Very nice visit when showers and sunshine interspersed. Visited the Itsukushima Shrine and Senjokaku. Rainbow was on and off for 2 hours over the sea.
dropped by before heading to Himeji castle by Shinkansen.
