Luckily for me, the university where I teach has frequent breaks, which has allowed me to travel a lot.  The longest break of the year is a 2-week break for the lunar new year (Tet in Vietnam). I have been wanting to spend time in Japan and decided that this 2-week period would allow me … … Continue reading →

Luckily for me, the university where I teach has frequent breaks, which has allowed me to travel a lot.  The longest break of the year is a 2-week break for the lunar new year (Tet in Vietnam). I have been wanting to spend time in Japan and decided that this 2-week period would allow me my best opportunity to see the country.  At the same time, I was nervous because this time of year is the peak of winter. Having travelled in other Asian areas during the colder months, I know that heating and insulation can be irregular. I was worried about making a winter trip from southern Vietnam, where it’s always summer.  Fortunately, I brought my warmest outerwear with me from Canada. Not only that but a lot of the big brands that make winter clothing manufacture here in Vietnam. I waterproofed my outer shell, picked up a toque, gloves and a scarf, and I got a new backpack to replace my recently torn old faithful bag.

Unlike the many trips in Southeast Asia that I’ve made rather spontaneously, I put a lot of thought into the logistics of this trip. I checked electrical outlets, which are the same 2-prong style that we typically use in North America. I purchased a Docomo SIM card to pick up at the airport. I bought my air tickets long in advance of the high-demand travel period. Lucky for me, a friend recommended the Japan Rail Pass, which can only be purchased by foreign tourists before they enter the country. Some say that the pass might be more costly than buying individual tickets, but the high-speed trains are quite costly. Also, I know that I’m likely to second-guess trips if I start to get worried about money. In the end, the biggest advantage of the pass was the incredible ease of using it to hop on and off all sorts of trains, without ever scrambling for cash. Every station, big and small, had a gate for JR pass holders. All of the staff at those gates were willing to try to understand and communicate in English, and they cheerfully directed me to the correct platforms every single time. The train system was the single best part of my Japan travel!

I packed my bags days in advance. Even though I’m a chronic over-packer, I managed my load wherever I went. My 3 coats, long pants, waterproof hiking boots, and warmer shirts were all bulky. The only thing I never used was my swimsuit! The VietJet flight left at 0120 hours, arriving in Osaka in the morning. I was busy in the airport, getting my SIM card, JR pass and reserved seat tickets, Japanese yen, and buying long underwear and a sweater from Uniqlo.  I had my only loss of the trip here. My Shinhan bank card wouldn’t work, so I grabbed my Canadian card and left that one behind. Lucky for me, it was immediately turned into the airport police.

Now, I was on my way to Kyoto, where I spent the next 2 nights. What a lovely place!!  If you can only get to one place in Japan, make it Kyoto! My hostel, Downtown Inn Kyoto was awesome, with super friendly, helpful staff and excellent amenities. The whole area was full of fantastic eating and drinking establishments, and the 7-11 next door was handy for $1 breakfast items like 4 pancakes with syrup, or soft-boiled eggs.

On Sunday morning, I met one of my Twitter friends who lives in Shiga Prefecture. We went to Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine to see the amazing Shinto shrine that covers the whole hillside with vermilion gates (torii). Because it had been very snowy and cold the previous evening, we had a lot of solitude on the hillside, an unusual phenomenon. I was glad that I brought my trekking poles because the footing was often slippery. The hill isn’t very steep but there are many steps. Everything looked magical with the fresh coat of snow. It is a fox shrine and the many fox statues had headgear of snow. Once we returned to the bottom, the usual crowds were starting to appear, and the food stalls were opening up.  We got some octopus balls (takoyaki) and then moved on to Higashiyama, to visit Kiyomizu-Dera Temple, another very distinctive shrine. This was a Buddhist temple, to honour Kannon, the goddess of mercy. After our pilgrimage, we found the local craft beer spot and enjoyed an incredibly sunny afternoon while appreciating some real thirst quenchers, as well as some tasty bar food. One of the things that I really liked about Kyoto was that it was virtually smoke-free! They have tiny smoking closets in a few strategic locations but only a few bars allowed smoking and almost nobody smoked on the streets.

View Entire Post