Japaaaaaan

Well, we finally made it to Japan! After a 14 hour flight, we got to spend almost 3 weeks in Japan, touring temples, eating sushi, and -primarily- walking up and down flights of stairs.

On the shinkansen

We started with 2 days in Osaka and a day trip to Kurashiki to see the historic denim manufacturing hub, then we spent the night in a Budhist temple in Koyasan. If you like being cold and eating vegetarian tofu and bamboo shoots, this is the experience for you.

Then we spent three days in Kyoto, looking at the cherry blossoms and visiting temples. Kyoto is great if you like big crowds and waiting 90 minutes to get into a restaurant.

After Kyoto, we spent two nights in Kanazawa, way up north on the Sea of Japan. This quiet town is known as “Little Kyoto” and is a much more pleasant experience.

Kanazawa Castle

Then we spent the night an an onsen (Japanese hot-spring hotel) in Takayam, nestled in the “Alps of Japan”

Then it was off to Tokyo for the rest of the trip. We saw the giant Gundam and the tiny Statue of Liberty, ate okonomiyaki (egg and cabbage pancakes, cooked hibachi style).

Okonomiyaki

Then we took a day trip via bus to Fujikowaguchiko to get the famous photo of Fuji.

We got hom April 17th and our class in Alabama canceled, so we had a week in New Jersey to recover from walking 20,000 steps every day for three weeks. Then it was off to our class in Illinois!

Next month: Texas New Mexico (possibly?) Kansas