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 1 - Okayama and Kurashiki - 中国地方: 岡山 倉敷

Arriving in Okayama 岡山

So I finally left Kansai and now I was all the way West in Okayama.
That was just my last stop with the Shinkansen and I have to say the Shinkansen express might be a bit expensive but it is extremely comfortable.
Please make sure you ask someone in the train station where your carriage actually stops and don't be like me who pretended to know where exactly it was going to stop because that's only going to cause you some troubles.

Nara Station Shinkansen

Inside Shinkansen Hikari

In my case, and now I can laugh about it I wasted some 15 minutes walking from one carriage to another. I repeat don't think the train is not going to be packed in case it didn't in the station you go it. I'm saying this,because most likely you'll have to move in the next train station.

I recorded a video on my way to Okayama so you can have an idea of how things look like inside the Shinkansen.