K2Mr on the Move: Amanda Wunzin in Japan
K2Mr Amanda Wunzin went to Japan with her husband and 8 of their friends. The ten day trip was intended to be a ski trip, but Amanda doesn’t care for snow that much, so she and her husband veered off course a bit.
The first night, they arrived in Tokyo and went straight to Akihabara, nicknamed Electric Town and it definitely lives up to it’s name. Being jet lagged and over stimulated is an challenging combination, but the Robot Cafe didn’t let them down. Tokyo is a sprawling metropolis with endless things to see and do. Their random assortment of sights included: a visit a Maid Cafe, a Samurai museum, Tokyo Tower, the world’s largest pedestrian crossing (Shibuya), and a beautiful park in the city to see the Meiji Shrine – Amanda’s favorite part of Tokyo because it was so serene and quiet!
The main reason for the trip was visiting Nozawa Onsen, which is in Nagano Perfecture where the ’98 Olympics were held. For not liking snow, Amanda thought Nozawa Onsen was pretty great. This tiny town is a “hot spring mountain village”, with 24 hot spring Japanese baths throughout the small town. The town uses the hot springs to bathe, cook food, and heat the roads – no plows or salt needed here even when it snows 10 feet in one week! While in Nozawa, they took a day trip to see the snow monkeys and ate okonomiyaki, which are savory pancakes. If you’re wondering about the skiing, everyone said it was the best powder of their life.
Next stop: Kyoto. They visited the Bamboo forest, hiked up to Okochi Sanso Villa for Kyoto views, rode bikes with friends through the city, and hiked up to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. They also visited the Nishiki market (Amanda’s husband got some Japanese kitchen knives) and the Gion district at night, an entertainment district famous for it’s geishas.
To cap off the trip, Amanda and her husband headed to beautiful Koyasan. Mount Koya is the founding location of Shingon Buddhism. With about 120 temples at the top of the mountain, many monks study here while also provided lodging for visitors. Amanda and her husband did a night walk through Okunoin, the largest cemetery in Japan, with a monk as their tour guide and then awoke to an early morning fire ceremony with the monks at Kumagaiji temple. Awesome experience in a gorgeous location.
Enjoy the pictures!
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- Akihabara at night
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- Talk about sensory overload!
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- The show at the Robot Cafe!
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- Akihabara in the day time
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- At the Maid Cafe – Maidreamin
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- Very kawaii (cute)
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- Tokyo Tower
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- The view from Tokyo Tower
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- Shibuya Crossing – a bus got caught in the middle
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- Meiji Shrine
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- The park where Meiji Shrine is located
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- The Samurai Museum
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- The best way to travel in Japan – Shinkansen bullet train
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- The view from our room in Nozawa Onsen
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- Nagano Perfecture where the ’98 Olympics were held
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- Looking down on Nozawa from gondola
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- Parts of the ski trails
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- That car has been there a while…
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- Steamed buns on the street!
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- An onsen (hot spring bath house) in the middle of town
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- The hike to see the snow monkeys
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- Hitching a ride
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- Cuddling
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- Feeding time for snow monkeys
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- Sake in the masu
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- Savory pancakes – okonomiyaki
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- Sometimes you get off at the wrong stop, and it’s not that bad
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- The Bamboo forest in Kyoto
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- Okochi Sanso Villa
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- The view from the Okochi Sanso Villa hike
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- Drinking matcha tea and a green tea cake
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- Riding bikes in Kyoto!
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- Fushimi Inari shrines there are roughly 32,000 of these
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- The gang hiking up Fushimi Inari
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- The group on a hike up to Fushimi Inari
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- Views from the top of the hike
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- Nishiki Market – one hundred shops across 5 blocks
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- The group in Kyoto at night
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- Gion district at night
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- Gion district at night
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- On our way up to Koyasan
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- This cable car took us up the mountain to Koyasan
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- Our room at the monk temple – this is a heated table!
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- Monk food – all vegan and very good!
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- During dinner, the monks make up our beds
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- Kumagaiji temple courtyard at night – the walk to the bathroom
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- All the lanterns have different moon phases on them
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- The morning fire ceremony
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- Fanning the fire
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- Kumagaiji courtyard
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- The small courtyard at Kumagaiji
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- Entrance to the cemetary
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- Japanese cedar are very large!
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- The cemetery has over 200,000 graves
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- The village in Koyasan
