Kyoto 2

Our beautiful guide Michi

Food...

Kyoto 1

Kyoto, land of beautiful gardens...

And a Japanese tea ceremony...

Nara continued

Awesome Buddhist and Shinto shrines, the Todaiji Buddhist temple the biggest wooden building in the world, with the benign and rather wonderful Buddha the biggest in Japan. His hands signal ‘Don’t worry, your wishes will be granted’. FYI he’s sitting in a vast bronze lotus leaf.

Then the Kasuga Shinto temple of a thousand stone lanterns, the main building currently undergoing renovation, but nevertheless spectacular. Oh, and yet more deer amongst the lanterns 🦌 🦌 🦌

Bullet train to Kyoto; Nara and 🦌 🦌 🦌

Good morning Atami!

Speedy and smooth, and over all too quickly...

And then we arrived in Kyoto, but directly on to Nara

 These guys didn’t give up. They chased me backwards, nipped my tummy and just didn’t give up...

To sleep, perchance to dream... ATAMI

Mt Fuji

A comfortable drive to Mount Fuji, and a climb up to 2250m*, 9th Station, to admire the mountain and its glorious views.
Hakone, with its steaming slopes (out of bounds today because of a level 1 risk of volcanic activity - level 9 is the highest risk!), and a cable car ride down.
Atami, onsen pools, kimonos, and the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean right out side my window.
*Needless to say the climb was in a petrol powered vehicle, I didn’t actually do any climbing.

First view of the mountain, from the car

Comfortable convenience

Well who wouldn’t have a Tokyo Washlet...?
Hot seat is just the beginning of what it offers in the way of convenience
They are everywhere!