Kyoto

It took us eight hours to get to Kyoto from Mt Fuji, a total of 2 buses, 4 trains and the struggle of carrying our bags up about five flights of stairs. But we can say it was well worth it. Kyoto is very pretty and has a lot of charm. Restaurants line a river that runs down the middle of the city, you can also sit down beside it with a few drinks, which is how we spent our first night. 

Day 1


Our first day in Kyoto was spent visiting Kiyomizu Temple & Fushimi Inari Shrine.
It was an incredible hot day! reaching about 36 degrees. 

Kiyomizu Temple

We were stopped by a group of young school girls who were at the shrine to practise their English, describing local sweets to visitors. They were giggling most of the time but did very well.

 Fushimi Inari Shrine

The  Fushimi Inari Shrine is most famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates. Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice.  The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, you can find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The hike to the summit of the mountain and back takes about 2-3 hours. Our hike up was intense, we were definitely sweating off our wontons! We got about 3km to the top when we passed a man on his way back, we asked him if the peak was worth it, when he replied "its really just more temples", we high-fived on our achievements and turned back.

Our reward: some shaved ice!

Our hostel is located above a sake bar, so on Thursday night we did a sampling of sake from Kyoto. Heres what we thought.

Day 2 

Bamboo Trail Walk 

Mt Fuji

After spending a night in a capsule hotel, we caught a bus to Mt Fuji.
It took us two hours to get to Japan's highest mountain, which could be seen perfectly
on this beautiful clear day. 

Our hostel is located at Lake Kawaguchi, one of the most popular of the five lakes that surround the mountain. 

We rode a cable car to the top a mountain adjacent to Fuji, we were able to see amazing views of Lake Kawaguchi and Mt Fuji. 

Tokyo

26^th July. 6:00am Arrive Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan

We have arrived, look out Tokyo! 

As we pull our backpacks off the conveyer belt it is immediately agreed that we have over packed, the 20kg in our bags is enough to wheel, let alone put on our backs.

After deciphering the train lines we buy a ticket and head through to the train terminal. Stopping on the way to buy some chips off a little Japanese lady, we make our first mistake. Missed the train.

Don’t worry, another one comes in 15minutes. So at 7:15am we board our super flash train, that even has its own café on board. As it stops at the next station a train attendant approaches us saying what we assumed was “tickets”, or we thought perhaps he was taking our coffee order, but it was in fact “last stop”. We were on the wrong bloody train.

After speaking to a few locals we figure out that we are looking for the blue line, not the red. And so an hour later we are on a train headed towards the city.

At first we are the only people aboard, but by the time we reach the next few stations we become two among thousands of morning commuters. So jammed packed in, that when transferring to another train we were unable to board as every single door we ran past was packed full to the last centimetre.

After successfully arriving in the district in which our hostel resides, we check in and set off for the day.  Our first stop was Electric City, hundreds of stores filled with electronic goods and all things high-tech. After that we caught the train to Shibuya, a district for the youth with thousands of stores displaying the latest in Japanese fashion, food and music.

Electric City 

Shibuya 

Day 2

Our second day was spent at Tokyo Bay area, Odaiba. Set along side a man-made beach, Odaiba has enormous shopping malls, a giant sky wheel, the Panasonic centre and the Mega Web- where you can see and ride the latest electric cars.

A highlight in the Panasonic centre was a play ground made entirely from cardboard. 

Day 3

We went on a cycling tour around Tokyo.

Riding through local residential areas, visiting Tokyo’s busiest crossing in Shibuya, the Yoyogi Park Shrine, Harajuku's district aimed at Japanese teenage youth, Baseball batting cages and a Japanese cemetery in the middle of Tokyo.

Saturday night was the Sumida River Firework festival. Originally used to ward off evil spirits, fireworks have a long history in Japan and are an integral part of Japanese summers.

We ventured down to the festivities with some fellow backpackers from our hostel. A German, an Irish and three French people were amongst the mix. We sat in the middle of streets that had been closed off for the occasion, seeing glimpses of the fireworks through the building that line the river. 

Day 4

A lazy sunday hanging out in Shibuya, then went to the Tokyo Government office viewing tower.

Day 5


Tsukiji Fish Market. 
Every morning, except Sunday, the market opens at 5am for the morning auctions, at which about 15 000 restaurants and food sellers from all over the city buy 450 types of sea produce from about 1, 700 stalls. The market itself is kind of like a huge hanger, inside is a maze of tiny stalls crammed together. The place was buzzing! And the smell was not as bad as we anticipated.