Oh Japan! Nick has been here three times and Amy and Addy twice, but it truly is remarkable. The ease of travel, kindness of the people, the amazing landscape, the food…all of it. As we wind down our most amazing trip, we couldn’t think of a better place to close this adventure.
We landed in Tokyo on July 27th and (as always) promptly jumped back into city life once again. We scrambled across Shibuya square, the kids wanted to find any and all things Pokemon and of course we had to belt our hearts out at a local Karaoke bar. Check, check and check. With a gracious offer by a family friend of Nick’s, we were able to leave the bulk of bags in Tokyo and travel extra light for the rest of our adventures in the country…Yipee. Thanks Akemi!
The rail system in Japan makes travel so easy. Our original plan was to spend five days on the island Shikoku. However, we didn’t quite factor in the rainy season for hiking plans and so we cut our time short on the island, thus giving us more time to visit the cities of Okayama, Hiroshima, Osaka and Kyoto. This worked wonderfully.
First stop was the Iya Valley. Nestled deep in the heart of Shikoku Island, the enchanting Iya Valley offers a refreshing escape from the hustle bustle of urban japan. As we venture into this secluded paradise, we are greeted by emerald-green mountains, cascading waterfalls, and crystal-clear rivers. The Iya Valley is renowned for its traditional thatched-roof houses, 88 temple pilgrimage walk (that takes 3 months in total to complete), and unique natural vine suspension bridges that hang precariously over many of its rivers.
We stayed in a lovely little hotel with a very cool lifestyle bar/restaurant in the town of Awa-Ikeda, and used this as our base for exploring the northern and South ends of the Valley. On our first day we stayed local. In the morning we explored the 66th temple on the pilgrimage (with hundreds of life-sized buddha arhat or disciple statues). The kids had fun trying to find the disciple that most resembled them. The rain was intense, so we cabbed it back to town and decided to visit a local sake brewery, where we had an incredible tour by the wife of the brewer. His family has been making sake for five generations; before that they were samurai!
On the second day we visited the longest and most famous of the vine bridges in the valley and had a lovely hike where we ended up at a local Onsen/ Hotel by the river. We had the place all to ourselves, only seeing people arrive to soak when we left. We got lucky and had such a lovely peaceful time.
Perhaps the most unique of all our experiences in the valley was on day three, when we visited the scarecrow village. The scarecrow village is the brainchild of an elder in a rural village deep in the south of the valley. As the population of her village declined, she began to make scarecrow replicas of the people who had once lived there. Walking through the village felt like stepping into a surreal fairytale. Hundreds of whimsical scarecrows populate the fields, school and small shops – seemingly frozen in time.
Leaving the tranquility of Iya Valley behind, we journey to Okayama, a city steeped in history. We visited Okayama Castle, also known as “Crow Castle” due to its black exterior, stands as a testament to Japan’s feudal past. Strolling through the meticulously landscaped Korakuen Garden, one of Japan’s three most beautiful gardens, we found a little bit of peace in its serene ponds and meticulously pruned bonsai trees.
Our next stop took us to Hiroshima. Here, we payed our respects at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. In preparation for the visit, Amy read the kids the book ‘Sadako and the thousand paper cranes’ and taught the kids to make paper cranes. The kids were able to leave their cranes at the children’s memorial for peace monument in the park. The experience was very draining emotionally for us all. To lift our spirits Amy found an incredible grandma/grandpa run sushi restaurant that served up some of the freshest most delicious sashimi we have ever eaten. The place only seated 9 people and through our broken Japanese, we mingled with the locals, well the kids made paper cranes for the owners. Such an incredible experience.
The next day we ventured to Osaka. A lovely city with vibrant markets and history, but perhaps most memorable for us because we arguably enjoyed some of the best Ramen of our lives. We lined up at the restaurant at 10:30am, finally got in by 11:30am and were told by the lovely hostess to remain quiet while we enjoyed our soup. Totally worth it and I don’t think we can remember Jacob not speaking for a straight 20 minutes:). Ever.
We had three days in Kyoto and found the city much more touristy than the rest. For good reason I suppose. We packed in as much as possible, and pushed the kids a little hard here…but there really is so much to see. A highlight was the golden temple and bamboo forest, so magical. Oh and lots of good food as well.
In our final days of this most incredible around the world trip we find ourselves in Tokyo. We have shopped, played…found yet more Pokemon for Addy and Jacob and lots of Outdoor shops for Nick. It’s hard to believe, but we fly home tomorrow!
Thank you Japan for wrapping this trip up for us so nicely! We will see you again, no doubt.
