Tokyo Day 1 - Shinjuku 新宿区 - Hanazono Jinja 花園神社 - Harajuku 原宿 (Takeshita Street 竹下通り) - Meiji Jingu 明治神宮 - Shibuya - 渋谷区

Tokyo Day 1 - First Stop - Shinjuku 新宿区

After spending a day in Yokohama I was gonna say bye bye to this great and vibrant city. It was a pity I couldn't see any football match but there will always be another visit and now I have the perfect excuse. 

Shinjuku street overlooking at the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower (新宿区とモード学園コクーンタワー)

Yokohama - Landmark Tower - Chinatown - Red Brick Warehouse - Osanbashi Terminal Pier - Korean BBQ - 横浜市 - 横浜ランドマークタワー - 大さん橋 - 横浜赤レンガ倉庫 - 横浜中華街 - 横浜の焼肉

I left early in the morning my two friends in Shimizu and she kindly took me to the Shizuoka station where I could catch the Shinkansen to Yokohama. The night before I had texted my friend in Yokohama to let him know at what time I was going to arrive at the station. However, it was time for another challenge, because my friend did not live in Yokohama as such but in another station nearby, in Konandai Station (港南台駅). After Osaka and Nara did was not going to be a problem but rather a good experience.

A day in Shizuoka and Shimizu 清水町-静岡県

Well it was time for me to say good bye to my long time friend in Kurashiki and head east towards Shizuoka where another friend was waiting for me.

I thanked many times my friend in Kurashiki, because she let me spent with her and her family New Years Eve and also visit many places that I hadn’t dreamt of before like Miyajima and Hiroshima.

So that day I left quite early because the first train was at 05:30 am and I was there on time as well as the always punctual shinkansen that was going to take me to Okayama and then change for a faster shinkansen to go to Shizuoka.

Kurashiki-eki to Shizuoka-eki

Day 5 - Kurashiki - First day of 2012 – Jūnihitoe Ceremony and Bikan Area

2011 was in the past and I was already in 2012. On top of that, I was blessed to be in my favourite holiday destination – Japan.

After such a nice day in the mountains and amazing food the first year of the year was going to be a truly religious experience. I went with my friend to give the first pray of the year in 2012.  According to the tradition we went to the most important shrine in Kurashiki called Achi-Jinja or  阿智神社  located on the top of a hill called  Tsurugatayama or 鶴形山.

This hill is located right in the middle of the cultural and touristic area called Bikan. Bikan due to its beauty and proper has been used in many movies and series that are uncommon on this side of the world.

View Achi Jinja - Kurashiki in a larger map

Day 3 in Kurashiki – City Escape to Hiroshima and Miyajima -広島市 宮島

The day before today, whilst visiting the shrine outside Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture, we were joking about doing something different since we had one spare day and we could leave Kurashiki day tour for the 1^st of January since almost everything was going to be closed.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park - 広島平和記念公園

Day 4 Okayama & Kurashiki - Japanese New Year 正月 - Saijou Inari 最上稲荷神社 - The unexplored Japan

Let's forget about the breakfast part and let's go straight to the point of today's trip to this amazing place which I didn't have a clue about.

Saijou Inari 最上稲荷神社 - vermilion torii

The first thing I'd like to tell you is that the place even though it was in Kurashiki, it was a bit outside of the actual city. We had to use to GPS to get there and to be honest with you at this very point I don't even know how we managed to get there since the GPS was giving us the wrong directions.

Day 2 Okayama –岡山 and the Beautiful Okayama-jo -岡山城

Good Morning Kurashiki!

View from my friend's terrace at 7:45am

Oh I slept so well the night before that I was ready for a great day. And as usual I had been very lucky in terms of weather. Not a single cloud in the sky even though other cities in Japan some snow had fallen on the last couple of days.

Both of us woke up quite late so we didn't have breakfast and instead waited a bit to have a proper lunch. We drove to Okayama and parked very close to the Okayama castle. I don't know if it doesn't look good but we parked in a stationary shop some 300 mts away from the castle. My friend was a bit worried but honestly, what could happen? Nothing, so we left the car and headed towards to castle.

Just before crossing the bridge I saw this motorbike that caught my attention because it has one particular thing that I really liked, the happy face on the exhaust.

Happy-face Motorbike Exhaust in Okayama