Japan 2018

AMc

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We took a family trip to Japan over the Easter holidays. It's a place we've wanted to visit for years, big fans of the food and interested in the culture. To say it met our expectations sounds like faint praise - it was fun, confusing, cool, confusing, crazy, confusing, delightful and a million other things. We ate some fabulous food, saw some extraordinary sights and explored until our feet were sore. We walked about 5 miles a day for 14 days. We'll definitely be back though if someone could invent a quicker way to get there I'd be delighted, my 6'2" frame really doesn't suit long haul and I can't afford to travel in business!

If you're planning a trip I recommend a read and post here in the Travel section.
I got a lot of useful advice Japan Travel Thread

I'll be updating the thread as I process and upload pictures in the order I took them.

Everything was taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mkii which is an ideal travelling companion.
Mostly using the 17mm F1.8 or the 14-42mm EZ pancake lens from Olympus.

Constructive comments are always welcome, any questions about the trip I'll happily answer if I can thanks for looking :thumbsup:

Day 1 - Norwich to Amsterdam
For us it's quicker to hop over the North Sea to Amsterdam than to get to the big London airports and cheaper if you do the whole trip with KLM.

#1

North sea wind turbines
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Beautiful clear weather :)

Day 2 - Osaka

We arrived at 8.30am and the accommodation wasn't available until 4pm by which time we'd been going for +24hrs without any sleep. A day wandering Osaka like zombies wasn't ideal but we survived.

#2

Welcome to Osaka
by AMcUK, on Flickr
We'd been expecting busy and crowded, we weren't quite prepared for it being busy and crowded pretty much everywhere pretty much all the time!

#3

Super signage
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Biggest TV screen advertising I've ever seen.

Day 3 - Osaka Castle
The Japanese make a very big deal about the cherry blossom - Sakura.
They have festivals were they picnic under the trees - Hanami, celebrating the start of spring.
It's an amazing thing to see and it's very beautiful so I can understand the enthusiasm.

#4

Osaka Castle grounds Panorama
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#5

Sakura at Osaka Castle
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#6

Osaka Castle with Sakura
by Andy McNair, on Flickr

#7

Hello Kitty
by Andy McNair, on Flickr

#8

Mario kart on the streets of Osaka
by AMcUK, on Flickr
 
A very interesting set showing a nice mix of the modern, traditional and strange (the go-karts in the last shot). I must get there one day.
 
A very interesting set showing a nice mix of the modern, traditional and strange (the go-karts in the last shot). I must get there one day.
Surprised you haven’t been John, having seen pictures from so many places you have been ;) ?

It’s an amazing place. The people are very welcoming. The culture was completely unlike anywhere else I’ve ever visited. I’ve never felt so “foreign” anywhere before but I’d go back. I now feel a lot more empathy for Asian tourists in the West too having been a clueless illiterate wally in Japan :rotfl:
 
Great set so far. Looking forward to the rest
 
I reckon I'm going to become clueless in a month's time lol [emoji28]
It's fun. One of us walked onto the matted area of a restaurant in her boots and despite the terrible faux par the world didn't end ;)

Great set so far. Looking forward to the rest
Thanks. It's great looking back but I took so many pictures that processing them all carefully and working out what to post is taking ages!
 
Day #4 Osaka to Kyoto
We took the subway then the train to Kyoto. Shinkansen was not running that day but the trip wasn't very long and we got our first taste of the confusion of the Japanese rail network and the entertaining queuing systems.

#9

Osaka Street
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Japanese electrical installations look a bit haphazard. I assume it's partly to minimise the damage in earthquakes as everything can wobble around a bit.

#10

Osaka Subway
by AMcUK, on Flickr


#11

Vending Machine
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Red means it comes out hot, blue means it comes out cold, Pocari Sweat is just a sports drink but it can stay in there ;)

#12

Higashi Honganji Temple - Fisheye
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#13

Higashi Honganji Temple
by AMcUK, on Flickr
One of the largest wooden buildings in Japan you need a fisheye lens to get it all in.

#14

Everything on the grill plate
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Okonomiyaki etc. on the grill - he's cooking all the food for the whole restaurant on his own. Believe it or not each one of those pancake based things has a different set of ingredients and as far as we could tell they all went to the right people.

#15

Tasty evening meal
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Looked beautiful, tasted delicious.

#16

Plastic Fantastic Window Display
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Window displays look delicious even if they're plastic ;)
 
Day #5 Kyoto
We'd read that Kyoto is one of Japan's most beautiful cities so we were a bit surprised to encounter another massive train station/shopping centre complex surrounded by high rise developments. Things got a bit more picturesque as we went away from the station.

#17

Sentō Imperial Palace
by AMcUK, on Flickr
We took at subway up to the Kyoto Sento Imperial Palace - there's a large beautiful park but access inside is by appointment only.

#18

Stamps for everything
by AMcUK, on Flickr
I guess with a complex character set there is a big advantage to using stamps for common phrases.
Not reading any Japanese we could only guess what all these were for but the shop only sold and made stamps.

#19

Nijō Castle in a Kimono
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Lots of Japanese people and a few foreigners dress in Kimonos to visit the sights.

#20

Icecream is a serious business
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Choosing an ice cream is a serious business. We ordered crepe from one of these kind of places by showing the id number on my phone, they had well over 100 combinations of fruit, cream, icecream and sauce :)

Next a bit of shopping...
These were taken in Loft, a household goods department store we came across in several places.
This is not a camera shop they mainly sold stationery, bags and kitchenware!

#21

Camera accessories
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Reconditioned Polaroids if you have the stomach for the prices.
Link to the shop translated by Google.
Loft Polaroid range- translated

#22

Vintage and Retro
by AMcUK, on Flickr
A selection of vintage, reconditioned lenses, some were Leica they also had 1970s Sony TV lenses and other more obscure options along with samples.
Makes Lomography look lightweight!
They had C mount to M43 adapters but I wasn't going to spend >£100 on a bit of vintage glass. If you had the money you could have gone mad :)

#23

Instax display
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Instant photography, funky camera straps and bags were a big thing. Note all the different types of Instax film!
I even saw one of those multicoloured Pentax DSLRs in the wild :eek: but couldn't get a snap of its owner :)

#24

Lunchbox fun!
by Andy McNair, on Flickr
These are to add to the contents of your kid's bento box (lunch box) to encourage them to eat their food!

#25

Torri gate near Heian Shrine, Kyoto
by AMcUK, on Flickr
More Sakura! The gate is three or four storeys high.

#26

Heian Shrine, Kyoto
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#27

Wishes and Prayers
by AMcUK, on Flickr
At first glance I thought this was cherry blossom, only on closer inspection did I realise they're individual prayers.

#28

Sakura and Sunset in Kyoto
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Walking back from the shrine we followed the river and saw the most amazing array of cherry trees in bloom. As the sun was setting we paused to take some pictures. I'm very pleased with this one, there has been some lightroom work and split toning. It was a very beautiful sight I can see why people would take boat trips along the canal.

#29

Shimokorikicho, Kyoto
by AMcUK, on Flickr
We hit the old town for dinner and had some amazing sashimi and tempura. This was more what I'd expected to see but to be honest it was a bit of a tourist trap and westerners outnumbered Japanese by a margin.

#30

Japanese Parasols in Kyoto
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#31

Kyoto Tower Hotel
by AMcUK, on Flickr
And so back to the hotel.
We walked 9 miles and were quite tired by the time we got back!

[spelling edits]
 
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Day #6 Kyoto

#32

Sakura Forecast
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Start the day with the Sakura forecast brought to you by the local train company and carefully updated by the hotel reception staff. The outlook is pink with a scattering of cherry blossom in most areas.

#33

Unknown sentiments
by AMcUK, on Flickr

I have no idea what "Promise for you Make lovetoxic" might mean, I'm fairly sure she doesn't either.

#34

Kinkaku-ji Tickets
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Beautiful tickets to the Kinkaku-ji officially named Rokuon-ji, a Zen Buddhist temple.

#35

Kinkaku-ji Buddhist Temple - Fisheye
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Quite something to behold. Very pleased with the little Olympus 8mm Body cap Fisheye lens here.

#36

Hanami Food Stalls Hirano Shrine
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Came across a Hanami festival in the park around the Hirano Shrine. Food stalls and covered areas to picnic and drink large mugs of Asahi Dry beer.

#37

Hanami
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#38

Hanami beer stall
by AMcUK, on Flickr

These ladies were keeping a sharp eye on the youngsters serving and the money coming in.

#39

I say a little prayer
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, every little board is a handwritten prayer.

#40

Saying your Prayers
by AMcUK, on Flickr

The tubs on the left have the names of Saki brewers on them - I don't know if this is an offering or a place to worship booze.
Sometimes you wish you could ask! Beautiful and serene place on a hot sunny afternoon though.

#41

Monk
by AMcUK, on Flickr
A monk going about his business with a wheelbarrow.

#42

Busy train station
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Only 4.30pm and the train station is already rammed

#43

Kyoto Tower Hotel
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Next to go and see the view from the Kyoto Tower

#44

Taxi!
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#45

Bullet Train
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Shinkensen Bullet Train

#46

A Passholder to make you hungry
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Because you want to carry your travel card in a snack

#47

Rolly's Ice cream - rolling out
by AMcUK, on Flickr
Ice cream made on a very cold plate, scraped into rolls and delivered in a cup!

#48

Rolly's Ice cream
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#49

Comfort and Cedric Taxis
by AMcUK, on Flickr

....
 
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Day #6 Kyoto continued

#50

Who knows what this is?
by AMcUK, on Flickr

A quick trip to the 100 Yen Shop to marvel at the stuff we didn't understand. We think these were instant meals.

#51

Making Food Fun
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#52

Container head
by AMcUK, on Flickr

These vending machines were everywhere and there were hundreds of them. I'm not sure what you do with a shipping container robot toy, but clearly someone does!

#53

Sashimi
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Another awesome meal and so to bed.

Thanks for looking! :thumbsup:
 
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Brilliant again !! , was that 500 yen for the Asahi ? , how big was it 500ml ?
Cheers - yes 500 yen for roughly a pint - probably 500ml - in a plastic cup.
Food (in general) was cheap - a main course in a reasonable restaurant coming in 1200-1500 yen under £10 but beer was more expensive 450-650 yen for a large glass.
One thing is the Japanese have a very relaxed attitude to beer - cold beer vending machines in the streets - beer for sale on the trains :)
 
Cheers - yes 500 yen for roughly a pint - probably 500ml - in a plastic cup.
Food (in general) was cheap - a main course in a reasonable restaurant coming in 1200-1500 yen under £10 but beer was more expensive 450-650 yen for a large glass.
One thing is the Japanese have a very relaxed attitude to beer - cold beer vending machines in the streets - beer for sale on the trains :)
I'm a happy man now !!!
 
Day #7 Kyoto and then on to Hiroshima

First a couple of beautiful Buddhist temples in Kyoto.
Hongwanji Temple then the Pagoda and Bhuddas at Toji.

#54

Hongwanji Temple, Kyoto
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#55

Temple Steps, Hongwanji Temple, Kyoto
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#56

Eichi Previous, Kyoto
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Then an impenetrable bit of Japanese English on the way to the next temple

#57

Pagoda at Toji with blossom
by AMcUK, on Flickr

The Pagoda is quite a sight, especially when you consider this country is in an earthquake zone.

#58

Toji with Blossom
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Inside were some fantastic, massive Bhuddas but photography was forbidden.

#59

Kyoto train tracks
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Walking back to collect our bags we followed a railway line and the geometric nature of this appealed to me.
Then for our first rather eventful Shinkensen Bullet Train journey to Hiroshima.

#60

Step back!
by AMcUK, on Flickr

The platform attendant was not impressed with me standing on the yellow paving as the Shinkensen arrived. It wasn't close or going fast but he was genuinely panicking! Whoops :blush:

#61

Hiroshima from above
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Checked in on a high floor at our hotel the Candeo Hirsoshima just as dusk was setting in.

#62

Hiroshima Okonomiyaki
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Finally dinner, which we had at Micchan Souhonten Hacchobori. Apparently this chain of restaurants were started by the inventor of Okonomiyaki
お好み焼みっちゃん総本店
 
Day #8 Hiroshima

A day spent wandering around Hiroshima. Another very busy city. It's obviously known to us as the place where the first Atomic Bomb was dropped. Mostly you aren't reminded of that but the Peace Park is a very sobering place.

#63

Hiroshima street detail
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Lots of details in the pavements


#64

Okonomi Republic
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Okonomi Republic has over 20 restaurants over 3 floors all serving the same basic dish.
It's been there 50 years. You have to be good to survive in that enviroment, we picked at random and weren't disappointed :)

#65

Okonomi chef
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Start with a pancake on the super hot grill, then add cabbage, noodles, shrimp, bacon, squid, eggs and pretty much anything else you fancy!

#66

Okonomi Yaki
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Top it all off with brown sauce and if you're Western its put on a plate. The Japanese kept theirs warm on the edge of the grill.
Chop it up with a spatula and eat it with chopsticks.


#67

Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome
by AMcUK, on Flickr

The iconic building that survived being below the first atomic bomb blast.
Very moving place to visit.

#68

Hiroshima Children's Memorial
by AMcUK, on Flickr

A paper crane memorial to the children who died as a result of the A bomb.
There are thousands and thousands of origami paper cranes around the central monument.
Beautiful and very sad.
Paper Cranes and the Children's Peace Monument

#69

Hiroshima Peace Memorial
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#70

Hiroshima Carp Toys
by AMcUK, on Flickr

They're very found of their local baseball team The Carp, you can get anything from mints to Saki with their brand.
This was part of a Taito Game Station arcade which was full of grab machines for gigantic soft toys.

#71

Escalator Selfie
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Fisheye fun on the escalators

#72

Hiroshima shopping street - Fisheye
by AMcUK, on Flickr

One of the many, many covered shopping streets in the city centre.

#73

City car
by AMcUK, on Flickr

One of the tiny micro cars you see everywhere in the cities. The owner had put a lot of effort into lowering it onto those crazy wheels.

#74

Restaurant, Hiroshima
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#75

Shintenchi Okonomimura
by AMcUK, on Flickr
 
Brilliant again , Hiroshima is one of the places we want to go to , it's a canny journey from Tokyo even on the shinkansen though !!!
 
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Brilliant again , Hiroshima is one of the places we want to go to , it's a canny journey from Tokyo even on the shinkansen though !!!
Yup, we went from Kyoto to Hiroshima then Hiroshima to Tokyo.
The trip from Hiroshima to Tokyo took out most of a day. Not sure it's a really worth a round trip on it's own.
It's 5 hours on the Shinkansen or 4 on the Shinkansen Nozomi but that is not included on the standard JR Rail Pass so you've have to pay an upgrade.
If you're doing the JR Rail Pass anyway and you have other destinations on the way then I'd definitely recommend it. I wouldn't (I don't think) do an overnight from Tokyo as you'll mostly see the inside of the train.
Something I hadn't fully understood is a lot of the Shinkensen lines are tunnelled through the mountains so there isn't as much to see as you might hope - and everything goes past at 185mph!

You'll want a day to visit Miyajima if you go all that way. We had a lovely time, photos will be up soon as that's Day #9!
Miyajima : One of the top three scenic spots in Japan | Miyajima Official Website - Japan
 
Cheers , was thinking about getting the Shinkansen to Hiroshima and stopping over for the night , hotel prices don't see to bad if it's only one night .....

Sent from my SM-G965F using AVForums mobile app
 
Day #9 Miyajima

You can take the tram from Hiroshima near our hotel to Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi Station.
Then you catch a JR Ferry to Miyajima.
"One of the top 3 scenic spots in Japan"
Miyajima : One of the top three scenic spots in Japan | Miyajima Official Website - Japan

Famous for Oysters cooked over a charcoal grill, rice scoops, shrines, maple cake and a very impressive Torii gate in the bay.


#76

Tram from Hiroshima to Miyajima
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Tram fun


#77

Miyajima Ferries
by AMcUK, on Flickr

It was chucking it down when we took the ferry


#78

Deer in a doorway
by AMcUK, on Flickr

The island is famous for the Shinto shrines and Torii Gate and also for the ridiculously tame deer.


#79

Torii gate
by AMcUK, on Flickr

The floating Torii gate is really quite something. The light was very strange, lots of very heavy cloud following the rain and extremely bright.
It made exposure really tricky.


#80

Torii gate
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Quite hard not to take millions of pictures from subtly different angles :)


#81

Shinto Shrine
by AMcUK, on Flickr

The shrine looks out through the gate into the bay.


#82

Deer under sakura
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Deer not eating cake this time.


#83

Momiji Cake
by AMcUK, on Flickr

The island is also famous for rice scoops and Momiji cakes shaped like maple leaves.
This chocolate filled one was very tasty!


#84

Hiroshima Bay
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Ferry back then a faster train into Hiroshima station to book seats on the next Shinkensen.


#85

Japan Synthetic Detective Agency
by AMcUK, on Flickr
JSD is apparently a real private detective agency but "Japan Synthetic Detective Agency" sounds like something out of Bladerunner. In fact I spent a lot of time in Japan being vaguely reminded of Bladerunner.
 
Brilliant !! , Quick question , can you only book shinkansen on the day you travel or can you do it in advance ?
 
Brilliant !! , Quick question , can you only book shinkansen on the day you travel or can you do it in advance ?
No, you can book them in advance - in fact I would strongly recommend you book as early as possible if you're the kind of person who's organised about timing.
It doesn't cost anything and you can still travel on the JR Pass on a different train in the unreserved seats.
The queues in the JR ticket offices can take a few minutes too so if you can arrange them all at once all the better.
If you can write down your journeys, dates and times you'll find that easier as lots of ticket office staff don't speak much English.

We had the Green Car 1st class passes - all green car seats are reserved. We weren't able to stop at Himeji Castle because there were no seats on the morning trains out of Hiroshima to Tokyo that stopped there when we tried to book 24hrs in advance. We spotted it from the train station but that was as close as we could get!
 
Day #10 Hiroshima>Osaka (station)>Tokyo Ueno

5 Hours on the Shinkensen plus an hour wait at Osaka station because we made a mistake with our connection. When the ticket person said the same platform they meant the same platform but cross from one side to the train on the other. He was confident 3 minutes to change was enough, which it would have been if we'd not been expecting the first train to leave so we could catch the next one :facepalm:

#86

Carp Sake
by AMcUK, on Flickr

They're very proud of The Carp Baseball team in Hiroshima. They have almost every possible branded item from the obvious shirts to sake and biscuits.


#87

Shinkensen Fisheye
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Regular Shinkensen carriage and baffled backpacker


#88

Japan at 185mph
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#89

Railway Station
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Fisheye fun while waiting for the superfast Shinkensen to go past.


#90

Parallel lines
by AMcUK, on Flickr

#91

Little and Large Shinkensen
by AMcUK, on Flickr


#92

Himeji Castle
by AMcUK, on Flickr

We weren't able to stop and see the Castle, given we had all our luggage with us and it's 1.5km from the station that may not be a bad thing.
Something to see next time. Quite pleased with how this turned out given it's taken from the train door through the window of the station with the plastic fantastic 40-150mm lens.


#93

Mount Fuji
by AMcUK, on Flickr

We weren't sure if we might catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji from the train, turns out we needn't have worried!


#94

17:51 on Saturday, welcome to Tokyo!
by AMcUK, on Flickr

Just Saturday evening on a local train from Tokyo central to Ueno.

#95
Ueno station railways by AMcUK, on Flickr

This is one of the levels of train tracks at Ueno station. There are three levels of trains covering local, express and subway trains. Next door is another Keisei Ueno station that serves the Narita Airport express and even more commuter lines.
 
Lovely set (especially 28)! Looks like you had a blast, it's an amazing country. Looking forward to seeing the rest of them, particularly Tokyo.

Picking up on a preference for Okonomiyaki :D Not surprising as it's delicious. I discovered I was a bigger fan of Ramen than I thought, as the last time I had it in UK before going to Japan it was a fairly insipid bowl with few ingredients. Completely opposite to how Japan does it! We are now making our own family version :D

I tried to restrict my photography while we were there, still came back with 600 images :facepalm:
 

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