Continuing on from yesterday's post... On the second and final day of our trip we woke up and ate a light breakfast followed by some udon and soba at a nice little restaurant on the way to the Kirifuri Highlands 霧降高原. We were originally planning on hiking up to the observation deck around 880 meters up the mountain, but it proved to be a little farther than we thought it would be an had to stop at around 650 meters as there was a massive staircase to reach the observation deck and not everyone in the group was up for the challenge lol. Not having the proper gear didn't help much either. Most people had on snow shoes and they could easily trek through the snow but wearing just boots or tennis shoes we were a bit under-equipped and decided it'd be better not to overdo it. We got to see some really amazing views and talk to an 85-year-old man who told us what gear we should buy if we're planning on hiking in the snow, about how the dam located on the mountains across from us rises and falls during the day/night, and how this was his ~60th time climbing the mountain but the woman he came with has done it more than 300 times. She had to turn back early that day, but those are some impressive numbers! After enjoying the outdoors we headed over to Nikko Edomura/Edo Wonderland 日光江戸村 and had a blast exploring the theme park. We arrived at about 2pm so we got a nice discount on our all-day passes. Walking around we got to see all of the different buildings that gave the theme park its Edo-Period-feel. We also got to see the oiran procession 花魁道中 which was really awesome as well. It seemed like they tried to make it as accurate as possible too. The way the courtesan walked was in the traditional figure eight style which, from what I've read, is not easily done, so I assume that this is a sort of special type of profession as she was doing it to my untrained eye perfectly. One funny thing was that the girls in red in front of the courtesan had to slouch somewhat because they were too tall and the theme park obviously can't employ children to play the role like they would have traditionally. We also got some temporary "tattoos." They got some cute Nyan-mage tattoos and I got a Shinsengumi tattoo lol. After that we watched a really awesome performance inside of the ninja theater, but we weren't allowed to film or take photos so I don't have anything to post unfortunately. It was really cool seeing the ninja actors jumping off of rooves and fighting though. On top of that we also tried out the ninja maze where I was unfortunately the last one to make it out as I got unlucky and hit a dead end at the last part of the maze. This was a really fun experience as there were a lot of hidden and revolving doors that you had to find to escape the maze. We also did the shuriken experience and I managed to get 3/5 but I gave one of my shuriken to my girlfriend in the hopes that she would stick one in the target but unfortunately she wasn't able to lol. I guess I was technically 3/4 because of that. Overall the whole trip was a blast and we got to make some awesome memories out in Tochigi. I definitely recommend it as a travel destination!

This is a shrine visit at Ebisu Shrine in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. We wish for the healthy growth of the baby and visit him around one month old. Even after that, there are many people who visit milestones in their lives, such as Shichi-go-san and adults. Visiting the temple is the first of them, the first appearance to God. It's kind of reassuring to think that there is a god watching over you.

I Mt. Konpira climbed to the top for the first time!! I have a lot of muscle pain and it hurts. I'm😁 glad I was able to climb it. Revenge Success ✌️😆

Take a 😆 walk in the Bikan district of Okayama Prefecture I don't know anything about the old days. Just walking is exciting A place ☺️ I love no matter how many times I go Nothing but ♡ happiness to eat and drink delicious

Demon Dance Setsubun Luzanji Temple

It was a very cute place decorated with 20 colorful Japanese umbrellas and 300 wind chimes in the "Restoration Townscape", which reproduces the castle town of the Ichijoya Asakura clan ruins in Fukui City. When the wind blew, the sound of wind chimes was pleasant, and the summer sky, the sound of wind chimes, and the colors of Japanese umbrellas made the visitors forget the heat, and the visitors were happily and enthusiastically taking pictures.

Decided to donate some clothes I wasn't wearing anymore over the weekend so I decided to go to the Second Street in Minami-Senju. Managed to find some cool stuff along the way. I was walking from Minowabashi and saw this nice looking temple, apparently called Koshunin 公春院. It was a really lovely spot and I would have liked to take more photos but I had some luggage with me and also wanted to avoid taking any photos of the tombstones as I thought it might be rude. It seems the temple focus on memorial services though and looked like a nice place. The next spot I came across was just a really small shrine that seemed so randomly placed that I wanted to take a picture of it. There wasn't much space inside the shrine are so it was quite difficult to get a decent photo, but I did the best that I could and tried to take a photo from the side street next to it which was also incredibly narrow lol. The last thing I ended up finding was a statue of Matsuo Basho! I'd not been to Minami-Senju as I've never really had a reason to go there, but I saw the statue from the corner of my eye and thought "Hmm I wonder if that's Basho" and sure enough it was. It even has "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" 奥の細道 written below it. Also, apparently there is debate about which "Senju" he started at Adachi or Arakawa, so this is one of the statues depicting the place where he started his journey! It ended up being a pretty interesting walk. I'd like to visit the area again as there was a ton of cool stuff.

"The Beginning of the Flame Dance" Onisube One of the three major fire festivals in Japan. It is said that it was started in the 2nd year of Kanwa 986 by Sugawara no Michishinko's great-grandson Sugawara no Michishinko. It is a sacred ritual of extinguishing calamity and fire to exterminate demons, which is a symbol of calamity, It is a festival where many worshippers pray for happiness for the whole year to the huge flame that burns every year.

"Horse Festival" held in Honsu City, Gifu Prefecture It is an annual festival of Nagaya Shrine held on August 1 and 2 every year. It is said to have been held since the shrine was built. It is designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Gifu Prefecture. Dance of children, floats are towed. At the end of the festival, riders dressed in layers of haori hakama ride horses, open flower umbrellas and fans, and run around the precincts. The layered haori is gradually taken off and scattered with confetti. Although it was canceled for two years due to Coronavirus pandemic, the sight of local high school students running looks brave.

Japan Events Naritasan Shinshoji Temple

【Spring, full bloom】 Speaking of spring events in Japan, cherry blossom viewing! At Adachigahara Furusato Village in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, you can enjoy the superb view created by the cherry blossoms in full bloom and the five-storied pagoda!

Managed to stop by Ueno Zoo the other day for a little bit and while I didn't get to see much of the animals because we were short on time, we did get to see a few of the attractions around the park. The first one is "Sala Thai" a gift from the Thai Government to mark the 120th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Japan, as written on the plaque. The second one is the five-story pagoda of the former Kanei-ji Temple. The pagoda was built in 1631 and rebuilt in 1639. Besides that are just some photos of the scenery around the park, and you can see some of the autumn colors on the trees and even in Shinobazu Pond. We also managed to get some tasty lunch. This looks like steak but it was actually like a pork-steak cutlet type of thing. It tasted great though. Hopefully I'll have some more time to actually see the animals next time I go lol It's was registered as an Important Cultural Property in 1911.

"Kita-ku, Osaka" A natural Japan landscape with changing seasons.

"Winter View Osaka City Kita-ku" A natural Japan scene with the changing seasons.

This empty road of Kibitsu Shrine in Okayama Prefecture is so empty that it seems to be sucked in. Why 🤔 do I feel strange? People walking slowly, jogging, walking There were many things, but everyone seemed 😆 to be comfortable It's a sacred path, isn't it?😊

The last of the photos that I took at Asukayama Park. The first one was a nice statue of Shibusawa Eiichi and the second and third were taken at a shrine inside the park. I had to do a little bit of research to learn more about the shrine, but I was already quite sure it was an Inari Shrine because of the fox statues, but apparently it's called I believe Kabuto Inari Shrine Ruins 兜稲荷社跡, although I could be wrong about the reading for the first kanji. I liked that the shrine had a really small wooden shrine of what I believe was what the original shrine actually looked like, and the stone lanterns were aesthetically pleasing as well. I foolishly forgot to take a picture of the torii gate unfortunately... The last two photos are the statue of Shibusawa Eichi which took us forever to find lol and the plaque below it. I can only make out a few characters that are written on the plaque but there's another plaque on the back of the pedestal which I forgot to take a picture of, so if you're visiting the park be sure to look at that if you're struggling to read it as well lol.

Some more photos from Asukayama Park! The first monument is a bit difficult for me to read so I had to do a bit of research, but it seems to be a commemorative monument signifying the planting of various trees throughout the park to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration, and as such, was constructed in 1968, so it's about 50 years old, probably one of the newer monuments of its kind within the park. When I was walking back around the area I saw the dance stage from a different angle and managed to take a photo of the participants through a nice gap in the trees. There were a lot more participants this time so I stopped and watched it for a little while again. At the other end of the park I found this statue of a woman which is actually a statue of the "Goddess of peace" and it was erected in 1974 to wish for world peace and happiness. Even cooler, it was erected by the famous sculptor Seibo Kitamura who erected the "Peace Statue" at Peace Memorial Park in Nagasaki. Really cool to see his works all the way in Tokyo as well!

Some more photos I took at Asukayama Park the other day. I really liked this statue of Avalokitesvara, as I felt like it was really well crafted. I included the description to this monument as it's hard to read what is carved onto the stone and it's written in older Japanese too so my friends couldn't even read it lol. I think it has something to do with a poem about cherry blossoms although I could be wrong about that. It's pretty cool seeing the older Japanese from hundreds of years ago though. Even if I can't read it it's interesting to see how the Japanese language itself has evolved throughout the years. I'll be posting more photos of this place tomorrow as well!

Went to Asukayama Park near Oji Station yesterday. I've passed by the area many times and seen the gondola leading to the top but never knew what was up there until now. It's a really big park dedicated to Shibusawa Eiichi, known as the father of capitalism in Japan. The park has a bunch of monuments and cultural properties to check out so I managed to take a lot of photos and I'll be uploading them over the next few days. I chose a good day to go it seems too, as there was an event going on. It involved some traditional dances I think from the Oji area, and it involved some sort of sash that kind of reminded me of a kimono obi, but I'm not sure exactly what it is. They had a taiko drum as well but it seems I didn't make it in time to watch them playing, I only heard it in the distance when I was walking to the park. I thought it was really cool seeing all the different monuments though. Many of them were several hundred years old and the Japanese on them was also and older form, so it was hard for me to read a lot of them lol. It was a really enjoyable experience though, so I'll upload some more photos tomorrow!

"Kita-ku, Osaka" A natural scene of Japan where summer is over and cicadas die and the seasons change.

The clear autumn sky seen from the castle tower of Odawara Castle. The flow of clouds like a phoenix flying in the sky is very beautiful.

Another photo from Kumagaya. This is a big map outside of Kumagaya Station's North Exit, depicting, from what I understand, Kumagaya and the surrounding area in 1936. It's a bit difficult to see, but if you zoom in you can see Kumagaya on the left side with Tokyo in the upper left behind it, and to the right of Kumagaya you can see Kami-Kumagaya, from there, if you look to the bottom-right you'll see Kumagaya City Hall and furthest to the right is Ishiwara. Underneath Ishiwara you can also see several schools elementary, middle, high school and a hospital. It's quite difficult to see in this photo, but the mountain at the far back right is Mt. Asama, and you can see Nagatoro as well. On top of that, there's the Arakawa River running through the background of the entire map and a bridge connecting to Onuma Park as well. There's tons of stuff to see in just this one map, I love looking at old maps and historic things like this. I could stare at it for hours and still find new and interesting things.

Togetsukyo Bridge

Satoyama and thatched roof

At the Katsuragi One Word Lord Shrine.

Cosmos and temple towers

Some photos I took during my visit to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I really enjoyed seeing the recreations of the Edo cityscape and seeing what the city would have looked like back in the day. I like that you can also get a feel for what life was like at that time and you can even see people doing various jobs or holding tools related to them. I enjoyed seeing the boats as well, as it showed how shipping would been carried out at the time, and you also get to see the architecture of the ships, which was really awesome in my honest opinion. I also tried getting a decent photo of Tokugawa Ieyasu but I was really short on time when visiting as the museum was about to close, so I definitely need to go back there again. I wanted to see some of the other exhibits as well, stuff like the Great Kanto Earthquake exhibits, etc. so I have an excuse to visit again lol.

Autumn leaves of the temple and illumination of the tower

Light up the autumn leaves of the temple