[Travel]: 2nd trip to Japan this year!~ (Aichi Prefecture)
Hi! 
I know it's been ages.
I'm really sorry, but to be honest I simply had ZERO time to post here on LJ.
Some of you might have already seen the highlights on Instagram - if you have decided to follow me.
As you know I went to Japan for a week end of October / beginning of November.
I then was back in Germany for 2 weeks, just to travel yet again to Japan for 2 weeks until the beginning of this month.
The first trip was a work trip / promo tour connected to my blog.
The second trip was a work trip - and as always I prolonged it by adding a week of vacation.
That also means I didn't have to pay for the flights and apart from the last week I also didn't have to pay for accommodation, food etc.
After all those were business trips.
But you can imagine how busy I was. Within only a few weeks I had 6 flights (4 international, 2 domestic). And don't even ask about my jetlag.
Now that xmas holidays have finally started, I have some time to get the photos sorted and share a few here on LJ as well.
Enjoy!~
For my 1 week+ vacation I went to Aichi Prefecture. I've only been to Nagoya and a few castle spots before, so there were still quite a few things to explore.
In the photo above you see Shirotori Garden in Nagoya.
Nishio Castle.
Nishio is also famous for green tea, especially matcha.
So you can find green post boxes which is rare in Japan as they're usually red.
I also visited Toyokawa Inari Shrine which features hundreds of fox statues (definitely more fox statues than red gates).
I stumbled upon this stunning Japanese-style garden at a temple near Kou Station ...... nobody was there. I had it all for myself.
Yoshida Castle.
Yeah, yeah .... I added yet a few new castles to my super long list. I have lost count, but it must be way over 150 Japanese castles by now.
Traditional fireworks in front of Yoshida Castle at night. The tradition goes back a few hundred years. It's kind of scary, because a person has to hold them and then they simply explode.
Pretty cool to watch, though.
Spent a night and day at Yuya Onsen.
Ate Gohei Mochi quite a few times which is famous for the area.
Soooooooooooo delicious!
Lots of nature out there, but nothing more. There's a train station, but you're better off with your own car.
The footbath came in handy after I climbed / walked a lot that day (see photos below).
I climbed up to Horaiji Temple up on Mt. Horaiji.
Actually you can walk there within an hour from Yuya Onsen. But I was still in the middle of the road after an hour and my smartphone had no connection anymore.
I tried hitchhiking for the first time in my life. After all the road only led up to the mountain anyway, so the people who passed by knew exactly where I wanted to go.
About 20 cars passed by until a couple finally stopped and after I explained what had happened they gladly took me up to the mountain with them.
I thought the couple must have been in their early 20s, but they were actually my age. ^^;;; .....
I was so happy. I really couldn't walk anymore. It was freezing cold, I had no idea how much longer I had to walk as Google maps stopped working ....
Later I found out that there was indeed a mountain path that would have taken an hour, but Google maps send me up the highway road for cars ....................... T_T .....
Some of the mountain trails were completely cut off, so I decided not to hike up to the summit after I had already failed so badly in the morning ......
The nice couple took me back down as well. So lucky!
The mountain temple itself was not what I was expecting. There wasn't much to see or do ... quite underwhelming.
On the next day I went hiking again ..... but I must admit it was completely underwhelming. The photo above already shows the best view I got ..... really not worth it .....
Checking Google maps I noticed that another spot I wanted to go was actually rather close, even closer than going back to the station I came from, so I went all the way down to the ocean ....
Or so I wanted to .... but my feet were killing me so badly and the roads were so steep ... my knees were dying. No cars, the road looked super old. Not sure if anybody was still using it.
After about 5 km down, I finally hit a normal road and decided to scribble the name of the town I wanted to go (which was still about 4 km away) in kanji.
Again a few cars passed as I hitchhiked again. Then finally a car stopped. It was a man in his work outfit. He said he was on his way back to his company and as I had written where I wanted to go and it was close to his company he decided to stop.
I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo thankful.
We talked quite a bit. He was the same age as me. And I was so happy that hitchhiking worked. I wouldn't dare to hitchhike in Germany ...... and my father would have killed me if he knew I got into a car with a stranger XD ...... but everything worked out well and it saved me so much time and my feet were REALLY killing me. They had not hurt that much even after climbing Mt. Fuji .... I guess I'm getting old indeed. :(
Anyway, my goal was this: Takeshima Island.
It's a small island, connected to the main land by a bridge. On that island is a small shrine.
You can also enjoy the rock formations of the small island and go searching for shells, which I did.
My smartphone dropped into one of the puddles filled with seawater. I panicked, got it out immediately and dried it. It still worked. After all it was supposed to be waterproof down to 50m......
Later that evening when I was navigating my way back to the station I noticed the battery is almost empty, so I wanted to connect it to a charger, but ................. then a warning popped up that it's wet inside and that I can't charge it.
I really was in panic! In the middle of my vacation ..... and I can't charge my phone anymore????? ..... I tried to remember the way to the station staring at Google maps and then turned off my cellphone .....
I heard you should put it in a sack of rice as its getting the humidity out of electronics, but as I was on the move the entire time, that was not an option.
Luckily the next morning it worked again and I could charge it .... ^^;;;; WHAT A SHOCK!!!!!
I also didn't bring a camera, so my smartphone was my camera. Continuing the trip without being able to take photos would also have been horrible .....
The next day I visited 2 castles which were in walking distance from each other.
Then I went on to Tokoname wich is famous for pottery / ceramics.
Tokoname is also famous for lots and lots of cat figures ... there's an entire path with cute cat figures created by different artists.
Including a HUGE Maneki Neko!!!!!!!!!!!
There are also some exhibitions and shops where you can enjoy / buy pottery.
I was looking for a nice matcha cup, couldn't find any unfortunately.
Finally I went to Shurakuen Park where a huge Buddha statue is sitting.
The park is also famous for its autumn colors, but unfortunately the weather got really bad later that day and it was about to get dark, so I couldn't take any good photos there.
One of my absolute highlights was the Obara region which is famous for having cherry blossoms (shikizakura) and autumn colors at the same time.
I've been to a similar place previously, but it wasn't as stunning as this one.
The ENTIRE region has cherry blossoms EVERYWHERE .... in autumn!!!!
Shikizakura do bloom in autumn / winter anyway. ;P
The color variety is so mind-blowing ... you don't even know where to look anymore! Blue (sky), green, yellow, red, orange, pink, white .... OMG!!!
Castle, autumn colors and cherry blossoms .... my favorite things in Japan ... ALL AT ONCE!!! If there were cats, I really would have thought I must be in paradise!!! ^___^;;;
The next day I went to another highlight of the trip: Korankei
This is probably the most popular autumn color spot in Aichi Prefecture.
It's really beautiful and you can walk around quite a bit to enjoy the colors from different angles, down at the river, up on the hills.
There are also a lot of food stands where you can enjoy local food.
At night they light the area near the main bridge up as well.
Of course, there were a lot of people, but as it's so wide there, it never feels crowded.
The weather forecast kept changing for every single day and was never quite right .....
The entire time it said it would be clear on that day, but when I arrived it was super cloudy..... and autumn colors only really look good when the sun is setting them on fire.
A few hours later the sun finally came out and I had to walk to all the spot once again so I could take good photos, but it was totally worth it. ^^;
Not too far away was also a mountain castle. The main tower is black like Okayama or Matsumoto Castle. It's called Asuke Castle and for me as a castle fan a must. The view from up there was nice and there were also lots of autumn colors.
The autumn colors were mirrored in the river. There were many different trails, along the river, up to the hills .... so much to explore. Most people stayed a few hours, I spent the entire day there. Mainly because I lost a few hours in the morning when the weather was bad.
I stayed until it got dark (and it got super cold) to see the light-up. With the smartphone I couldn't take any good photos of that, though.
My last day I spent in Tokyo shopping.
I do have photos of Tokyo as well, but I think they're rather boring. I've shared a few on Instagram that should be enough.
I'll share what I've bought ... at least a part of it in a separate entry.
All in all I could enjoy a second autumn in Japan with awesome autumn colors.
However, I think it was the worst trip I had thus far .... and that's absolutely my own fault ... bad planning (although I spent a lot of time on it) .... the biggest problem was false information .... like websites said "go there, awesome autumn colors and lots of other things to do" ... and when I actually got there, there was nothing, not even autumn colors ..... so I had a lot of disappointing days .... and boring days ...... but oh well ... at least I had a few highlights as well, so I really won't complain. I just need to be careful when planning next time.
Another big problem is that I've simply been to too many places in Japan already .... it becomes really difficult to create an itinerary that makes sense without becoming boring ..... *sigh* ^^;;; ....
Need to let go and visit other countries instead.
I'm sorry that I haven't been around so much.
I will never leave LJ, but I just don't have the time to post super regularly.
Thank you for sticking around!!
Happy Holidays!~
I know it's been ages.
I'm really sorry, but to be honest I simply had ZERO time to post here on LJ.
Some of you might have already seen the highlights on Instagram - if you have decided to follow me.
As you know I went to Japan for a week end of October / beginning of November.
I then was back in Germany for 2 weeks, just to travel yet again to Japan for 2 weeks until the beginning of this month.
The first trip was a work trip / promo tour connected to my blog.
The second trip was a work trip - and as always I prolonged it by adding a week of vacation.
That also means I didn't have to pay for the flights and apart from the last week I also didn't have to pay for accommodation, food etc.
After all those were business trips.
But you can imagine how busy I was. Within only a few weeks I had 6 flights (4 international, 2 domestic). And don't even ask about my jetlag.
Now that xmas holidays have finally started, I have some time to get the photos sorted and share a few here on LJ as well.
Enjoy!~
For my 1 week+ vacation I went to Aichi Prefecture. I've only been to Nagoya and a few castle spots before, so there were still quite a few things to explore.
In the photo above you see Shirotori Garden in Nagoya.
Nishio Castle.
Nishio is also famous for green tea, especially matcha.
So you can find green post boxes which is rare in Japan as they're usually red.
I also visited Toyokawa Inari Shrine which features hundreds of fox statues (definitely more fox statues than red gates).
I stumbled upon this stunning Japanese-style garden at a temple near Kou Station ...... nobody was there. I had it all for myself.
Yoshida Castle.
Yeah, yeah .... I added yet a few new castles to my super long list. I have lost count, but it must be way over 150 Japanese castles by now.
Traditional fireworks in front of Yoshida Castle at night. The tradition goes back a few hundred years. It's kind of scary, because a person has to hold them and then they simply explode.
Pretty cool to watch, though.
Spent a night and day at Yuya Onsen.
Ate Gohei Mochi quite a few times which is famous for the area.
Soooooooooooo delicious!
Lots of nature out there, but nothing more. There's a train station, but you're better off with your own car.
The footbath came in handy after I climbed / walked a lot that day (see photos below).
I climbed up to Horaiji Temple up on Mt. Horaiji.
Actually you can walk there within an hour from Yuya Onsen. But I was still in the middle of the road after an hour and my smartphone had no connection anymore.
I tried hitchhiking for the first time in my life. After all the road only led up to the mountain anyway, so the people who passed by knew exactly where I wanted to go.
About 20 cars passed by until a couple finally stopped and after I explained what had happened they gladly took me up to the mountain with them.
I thought the couple must have been in their early 20s, but they were actually my age. ^^;;; .....
I was so happy. I really couldn't walk anymore. It was freezing cold, I had no idea how much longer I had to walk as Google maps stopped working ....
Later I found out that there was indeed a mountain path that would have taken an hour, but Google maps send me up the highway road for cars ....................... T_T .....
Some of the mountain trails were completely cut off, so I decided not to hike up to the summit after I had already failed so badly in the morning ......
The nice couple took me back down as well. So lucky!
The mountain temple itself was not what I was expecting. There wasn't much to see or do ... quite underwhelming.
On the next day I went hiking again ..... but I must admit it was completely underwhelming. The photo above already shows the best view I got ..... really not worth it .....
Checking Google maps I noticed that another spot I wanted to go was actually rather close, even closer than going back to the station I came from, so I went all the way down to the ocean ....
Or so I wanted to .... but my feet were killing me so badly and the roads were so steep ... my knees were dying. No cars, the road looked super old. Not sure if anybody was still using it.
After about 5 km down, I finally hit a normal road and decided to scribble the name of the town I wanted to go (which was still about 4 km away) in kanji.
Again a few cars passed as I hitchhiked again. Then finally a car stopped. It was a man in his work outfit. He said he was on his way back to his company and as I had written where I wanted to go and it was close to his company he decided to stop.
I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo thankful.
We talked quite a bit. He was the same age as me. And I was so happy that hitchhiking worked. I wouldn't dare to hitchhike in Germany ...... and my father would have killed me if he knew I got into a car with a stranger XD ...... but everything worked out well and it saved me so much time and my feet were REALLY killing me. They had not hurt that much even after climbing Mt. Fuji .... I guess I'm getting old indeed. :(
Anyway, my goal was this: Takeshima Island.
It's a small island, connected to the main land by a bridge. On that island is a small shrine.
You can also enjoy the rock formations of the small island and go searching for shells, which I did.
My smartphone dropped into one of the puddles filled with seawater. I panicked, got it out immediately and dried it. It still worked. After all it was supposed to be waterproof down to 50m......
Later that evening when I was navigating my way back to the station I noticed the battery is almost empty, so I wanted to connect it to a charger, but ................. then a warning popped up that it's wet inside and that I can't charge it.
I really was in panic! In the middle of my vacation ..... and I can't charge my phone anymore????? ..... I tried to remember the way to the station staring at Google maps and then turned off my cellphone .....
I heard you should put it in a sack of rice as its getting the humidity out of electronics, but as I was on the move the entire time, that was not an option.
Luckily the next morning it worked again and I could charge it .... ^^;;;; WHAT A SHOCK!!!!!
I also didn't bring a camera, so my smartphone was my camera. Continuing the trip without being able to take photos would also have been horrible .....
The next day I visited 2 castles which were in walking distance from each other.
Then I went on to Tokoname wich is famous for pottery / ceramics.
Tokoname is also famous for lots and lots of cat figures ... there's an entire path with cute cat figures created by different artists.
Including a HUGE Maneki Neko!!!!!!!!!!!
There are also some exhibitions and shops where you can enjoy / buy pottery.
I was looking for a nice matcha cup, couldn't find any unfortunately.
Finally I went to Shurakuen Park where a huge Buddha statue is sitting.
The park is also famous for its autumn colors, but unfortunately the weather got really bad later that day and it was about to get dark, so I couldn't take any good photos there.
One of my absolute highlights was the Obara region which is famous for having cherry blossoms (shikizakura) and autumn colors at the same time.
I've been to a similar place previously, but it wasn't as stunning as this one.
The ENTIRE region has cherry blossoms EVERYWHERE .... in autumn!!!!
Shikizakura do bloom in autumn / winter anyway. ;P
The color variety is so mind-blowing ... you don't even know where to look anymore! Blue (sky), green, yellow, red, orange, pink, white .... OMG!!!
Castle, autumn colors and cherry blossoms .... my favorite things in Japan ... ALL AT ONCE!!! If there were cats, I really would have thought I must be in paradise!!! ^___^;;;
The next day I went to another highlight of the trip: Korankei
This is probably the most popular autumn color spot in Aichi Prefecture.
It's really beautiful and you can walk around quite a bit to enjoy the colors from different angles, down at the river, up on the hills.
There are also a lot of food stands where you can enjoy local food.
At night they light the area near the main bridge up as well.
Of course, there were a lot of people, but as it's so wide there, it never feels crowded.
The weather forecast kept changing for every single day and was never quite right .....
The entire time it said it would be clear on that day, but when I arrived it was super cloudy..... and autumn colors only really look good when the sun is setting them on fire.
A few hours later the sun finally came out and I had to walk to all the spot once again so I could take good photos, but it was totally worth it. ^^;
Not too far away was also a mountain castle. The main tower is black like Okayama or Matsumoto Castle. It's called Asuke Castle and for me as a castle fan a must. The view from up there was nice and there were also lots of autumn colors.
The autumn colors were mirrored in the river. There were many different trails, along the river, up to the hills .... so much to explore. Most people stayed a few hours, I spent the entire day there. Mainly because I lost a few hours in the morning when the weather was bad.
I stayed until it got dark (and it got super cold) to see the light-up. With the smartphone I couldn't take any good photos of that, though.
My last day I spent in Tokyo shopping.
I do have photos of Tokyo as well, but I think they're rather boring. I've shared a few on Instagram that should be enough.
I'll share what I've bought ... at least a part of it in a separate entry.
All in all I could enjoy a second autumn in Japan with awesome autumn colors.
However, I think it was the worst trip I had thus far .... and that's absolutely my own fault ... bad planning (although I spent a lot of time on it) .... the biggest problem was false information .... like websites said "go there, awesome autumn colors and lots of other things to do" ... and when I actually got there, there was nothing, not even autumn colors ..... so I had a lot of disappointing days .... and boring days ...... but oh well ... at least I had a few highlights as well, so I really won't complain. I just need to be careful when planning next time.
Another big problem is that I've simply been to too many places in Japan already .... it becomes really difficult to create an itinerary that makes sense without becoming boring ..... *sigh* ^^;;; ....
Need to let go and visit other countries instead.
I'm sorry that I haven't been around so much.
I will never leave LJ, but I just don't have the time to post super regularly.
Thank you for sticking around!!
Happy Holidays!~