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