Shirakawago/Takayama: 7th Feb 2016

We woke up pretty late today as our tour was to begin at 10am. We checked into Daiwa Roynet Hotel Nagoya-ekimae and I must say this is a very value-for-money hotel. It is much cheaper to stay in Nagoya than Tokyo for sure and the shopping over at Nagoya is no less comparable as compared to Tokyo, away from the big crowds that you may face in Shinjuku.

So at 10am, we assembled at the fountain in front of JR Nagoya station. Wow, there were many groups with Club Tourism Japan that day. Mostly heading to Shirakawago for its night illumination during winter. It was said that this illumination event happens every year for certain weeks on Saturday and Sunday in Jan and Feb. So there is bound to be many people visiting this quaint, if not touristy village, during these weekends. Visiting in different seasons gives a different feeling as well. We chose winter as our season to visit!

We took up this bus day tour with Club Tourism Japan. The price included all transport to and fro from Nagoya station and also entry fees and food. There were many foreigners on board for this tour.

And off we went on a bus to enjoy some Hida-beef in sukiyaki style.

A chance encounter with the wild at our lunch place within the mountains. Not sure where the location is, but the scenery around there was breathtaking.

Our first stop was to Takayama (高山), a quaint old town present within the Gifu Prefecture. It consists of many narrow streets that are lined with wooden shophouses dating back to Edo era.

It seems that the Hida-beef at this area is also very famous as within a few footsteps away, you will see shops selling this specialty. 

After an hour and a half exploring Takayama, we slowly made our way to Shirakawago (白川郷). This place was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. The farmhouses were built in a way similar to construction as hands in prayer. This style was known to be very hardy as it could withstand all challenges from the weather. Being located within the mountains, there will be heavy know and unpredictable weather. What was more fascinating was that these roofs of the houses were constructed without any nails!

Since it is in the winter, sunset happened early at 430pm. By the time we reach there, it is already sunset time. Temperature started to decline, I think it was near 0 degrees when we were there.

There were many many people. Probably all ready for the light illumination. You can enter some houses to view the interior at a charge. For instance, the Wada and the Kanda houses are open for visiting.

We didnt spend much time exploring the interior as I was busy finding spots to shoot the starry night sky with the houses in a frame. Finally I found one but it was filled with many photographers. So I have to squeeze my camera setup in a very small space, side by side with other photographers, awaiting for the illumination to begin!

The whole experience ended at about 8pm and we bade farewell to Shirakawago before taking our long bus trip back to Nagoya station. It was indeed a interesting and fulfilling trip to have visited Takayama and Shirakwago! Well worth to plan a trip to cover these two places as they are located in the same area :)

Shizuoka: 6th Feb 2016

After breakfast this morning, we finally met up with Hiro! It's been about 7 months since I last saw her and I remembered her hospitality and guidance during my solo travel at Shizuoka. I was very happy to see her and she provided me with many suggestions to enjoy a road trip at Shizuoka.

So, we went to Toyota car rental office at the hotel lobby to get our car. This time, we drove a Toyota Ractis for three of us. The comfort was good and there we went off, hoping to capture nice pictures of Mount Fuji in winter.

We went to Nippondaira Hotel to take a look. Unfortunately, Fujisan was shy and shrouded by thick clouds. We felt a little disappointed but it was ok. So we left and decided to visit the strawberry farm! This was one of the adventures that I felt excited for this trip!

We reached the farm and paid tickets to enter the strawberry farm to pick strawberries of course!

Boy, they were huge and tasted really juicy! We had an hour there to eat all we can... we start stuffing ourselves silly with yummy strawberries. Both of us agreed that this is the best strawberry we have ever eaten so far haha

After this wonderful strawberry feast, we made our way to S-Pulse Dream plaza at Shimizu, which had several interesting museums like Chibimaruko Museum, Sushi Museum. We spent some time walking around and were very lucky to see Maruko-chan in the house! And she was happily waving to us haha

We moved off shortly to go Satta pass, where you get to see a different scenery with Mount Fuji inside. A really scenic area. The weather was good and Mount Fuji revealed its beauty! Very nice place out of nowhere.. even GPS has issues locating it but we were glad to have found it. There were many people that day.

We were really hungry after Satta-pass and drove to a restaurant which Hiro has kindly offered to bring us and have cherry shrimp meal. Cherry shrimp is a yummy delicacy found in Suruga Bay surrounding Shizuoka. Suruga Bay is the deepest bay in Japan. With great abundance of seafood from the sea, it is real blessing to taste the rich flavors of seafood in that area.We were too hungry so I ate it up without taking any pictures..here is one from Google Image to show you how it looks nice..goes really good when eaten with rice.

(http://japan-highlightstravel.com/en/travel/shizuoka/070030/)

After a hearty lunch, we drove to Fujinomiya Sengen Shrine, hoping to catch view of Fujisan with the shrine. However, weather was cloudy. 

We did explore around the shrine and did some prayers for blessing before bading farewell. The original plan was to go to Shibakawa Onsen but I wasnt feeling well that day, so we made our way to a nearby animal farm called Makaino Farm, hoping to see some animals haha...

However, this farm I felt was not as fantastic as Mother Farm which we had visited in July 2015.

A very long trip indeed but a fulfilling one! I was very glad that Hiro could make time for us to bring us around Shizuoka. She also sang Mount Fuji song during the trip and I must say she sang very well!

Great thanks to her for creating beautiful memories for this trip.

Me with Hiro

 After we returned the car, we said farewell to Hiro and started to make our 1h journey to Nagoya via bullet train!

Opportunity to explore Yamanashi/Mount Fuji in Japan!

Hello all! Here is an opportunity to explore Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, where all the amazing seasonal fruit-picking, winery, onsen, Fuji 5 lakes and scenic landscapes near Mount Fuji can be found. This prefecture encompasses the northern part of Mount Fuji. An alternative choice to explore Mount Fuji aside from Hakone. By joining this discovery project (doing survey with no cost incurred), you will get to enjoy free experimental tours to explore this region!

<Image taken from http://www.yamanashi-kankou.jp/foreign/english/english027.html>

Click on Mount Fuji Yamanashi Endless Discovery Project to join!

Below are my recent shots taken in this region. Enjoy!

Shizuoka: 30th June 2015

The weather on this day was beautiful as I began my day having the buffet breakfast offered by the hotel. I opted for an outdoor seat to absorb the view of the hectic train situation at the nearby Tokyo station.

After breakfast, checkout was smooth and I was really happy with the overall impression of Maranouchi Hotel, Tokyo. I think I will come back again in my future trips :) I made my way to board the train going towards Shizuoka. It's about an hour train ride on the Shinkansen Hikari. Feeling excited along the way!

So I was supposed to meet Ms Hiroyo Aizawa, who will be my guide in Shizuoka (contact below). I have contacted her a few weeks before the trip. I was very pleased with the places that she has suggested me to visit in this half-day tour. Our only hope is for good weather as according to weather forecast, it was said to be cloudy and Mount Fuji is unlikely to be seen from the areas that we had planned to visit.

I saw Hiro at the station with a signboard written my name. Felt kinda embarassed though haha..but I was so glad to see her :)

She brought me to a nearby coin locker at the station to deposit my luggage before we set off in a local train to Shimizu station. In the short train ride, Hiro was very interactive as she filled me information to understand the various aspects of Shizuoka.

 Chibimarukochan (樱桃小丸子) is from Shizuoka!

After reaching the station, we took a cab going to our first destination, Miho Pine Grove (三保の松原) along the Miho Peninsula, Shizuoka prefecture. The taxi driver was a 71 year old man, who looked extremely friendly and energetic. We made small chats together and it was a pleasant ride before we reached the Grove.

And there it was, Mount Fuji! The weather was just right. We could see Mount Fuji with the waving pine trees along the beach. Hiro said we were very lucky to have seen Mount Fuji as for the past few days, Mount Fuji was shrouded by thick clouds. I'm really pleased with this!

So Miho Pine Grove had a mystical legend, which was also known as Hagoromo (The Feathered Robe). The following description was taken from Wikipedia: "The story of Hagoromo concerns a celestial being flying over Miho no Matsubara who was overcome by the beauty of the white sands, green pines, and sparkling water. She removed her feathered robe and hung it over a pine tree before bathing in the beautiful waters. A fisherman named Hakuryo was walking along the beach and saw the angel. He took her robe and refused to return it until she performed a heavenly dance for him. As the angel could not return to heaven without her robe, she complied with Hakuryo's request. She danced in the spring twilight and returned to heaven in the light of the full moon leaving Hakuryo looking longingly after her." 

Mount Fuji

The entrance to the beach

The Pine Tree in the legend

I took a couple of shots of the vicnity as the scenery was simply lovely with the pine trees. We said farewell to Mount Fuji and continued with our cabride to Nihondaira Ocha Kaikan. This was the place where one can experience tea picking and it has the green tea plantation fields and also see Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji is a shy mountain, as quoted from Hiro. I find this comment really apt as it seems to appear and disappear at times. I was really happy to see it again at Nihondaira. I did not do any tea picking but took some pictures of the lovely fields and the hydrangeas (Ajisai), which are blooming in season.

From Nihondaira Ocha, we walked to a nearby park to see more hydrangeas. The flowers were so lovely that I cant help but took more pictures of them. It was my first encounter!

The Hydrangeas in Bloom

The green tea leaves

Me and Hiro

 
We then visited a nearby hotel named as Nippondaira Hotel. This hotel was really posh and has a strategic location with great views of Mount Fuji on a clear sky. I hope to stay there in the future in winter perhaps to see Mount Fuji! Hiro kindly brought me there to their observatory deck to see the mountain and surroundings. 

I did some shopping at the hotel's shop and we waited for the shuttle bus that brings us back to Shizuoka station. Kinda helped me save some transport cab fees back to station! Appreciate this thought as advised by Hiro.

Along the shuttle bus journey, Hiro sang a short verse of her Mount Fuji and tea picking song. I bet it would have been real fun if she sang the entire song as she sang really well! When we reached the station, based on my request, we walked about 10min to Nanaya Matcha shop for some green tea icecream. I get to know about this shop from a blogpost and was really excited to try their icecream as they have 7 different grades of matcha icecream based on the intensity of matcha in it. They also have the roasted tea flavor. I tried the middle grade matcha icecream and the roasted tea. It was heavenly taste!!

We spent some time speaking to the staff and to understand about the history and origin of this interesting ice cream shop before making our way back to Shizuoka station. Along the way, Hiro introduced me to the various shops selling famous produce of Shizuoka which includes wasabi, tea leaves, sakura-ebi. It was an enlightening trip to have learnt so much about Shizuoka from Hiro and I really appreciate her effort in making this a wonderful trip for me. We bade farewell with several souvernirs given to me by Hiro and I was really happy that the weather turned out to be great on that day =)

If you are looking for a customised day trip/tour suggestions in Shizuoka, you may contact the following:

Mt. Fuji Shizuoka Guided Tours

To check out the status of Mount Fuji from viewing at Shizuoka, you may refer to the following website. An awesome one which has updates every hour!

http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/~live/english/index.html

Attractions covered:
1. Miho Pine Grove (三保の松原)
2. Nihondaira Ocha Kaikan
3. Nippondaira Hotel
4.  Nanaya Matcha