Japan three most scenic views (日本三景) #2 Itsukushima shrine (厳島神社)

One week after Amanohashidate I visited hiroshima for 'nihon sankei' #2;  Itsukushima shrine in miyajima, hiroshima prefecture. It was supposed to be a 2 days one night trip, but because november-december is high season for tourist visiting japan we couldn't find ourselves a hotel room so we decided on a one day trip, beside the main attraction of this prefecture is the miyajima where the shrine located :p

Actually I visited this shrine 3 years ago when I first arrived in Japan, but i was so unfortunate that the toori gate was under maintenance so they covered it. I promised to come back again and I did. I visited others hiroshima attraction during my first visit such as the atomic bomb museum, so this trip is solely for the sake of that Toori gate. To hiroshima from Osaka is not cheap (at least for student like me); return shinkansen ticket are 17160 yen ( with student & return trip discount). Bus trip takes 5 hours and cost 5000 yen one way ( if I'm correct).

From Hiroshima station take the local train to Miyajima guchi station (410 yen) around 30 minutes, then from miyajima guchi station walk 5 minutes to the miyajima ferry pier; return ferry tickets are 360 yen. If you have japan rail pass you can get on the JR ferries for free. there are two ferries operator from this pier. It takes 5-10 minutes to reach miyajima pier. 

Beware of the deers!!! they are everywhere and very aggressive, especially when you have foods with you. Itsukushima shrine is a 10 minute walks from the pier, it was very crowded with local and foreign tourists when i visited. You can smell the grilled squid, oyster and other seafood along the walk which are very tempting.

The toori gate itself is breathtakingly beautiful, stand tall on the calm sea water. I approve this place as one of the japan's best views. We were blessed with a nice weather that day, which we found very rare, usually bad weather always accompany us in our previous trips. Admission fee to the itsukushima shrine is 300 yen (If my  memories serve me right). There is a ropeway to the top of the mountain which cost 1800 yen for return trip, We didn't take the ropeway, we thought that it is too expensive, we prefered to spend that 1800 on oysters.

After miyajima we went back to the hiroshima station to eat hiroshima style okonomiyaki, the famous local cuisine. this hiroshima style okonomiyaki differs from the osaka style is they use less fluor, more cabbage and a choice of noodles, soba or udon. I like the hiroshima style, I wish i bought some from hiroshima station.

Matsushima in sendai will be the next nihon sankei that I'm going to visit. I plan to visit in december 28th but I already have 2 winter vacation with friends in January to shirakawa go and kinosaki, so I will safe matsushima for spring or summer.

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Japan three most scenic views (日本三景) #1 Amanohashidate- 天橋立

One of my goal before leaving Japan is to visit Japan's three most scenic views (日本三景), by the look of it I can accomplish this mission by the end of 2015. Last week I visited  amanohashidate which means 'bridge to heaven'. It is a sand bar at the sea of Kyoto, reading Kyoto many of you would thought that it'd be close to Osaka. But this one is the other part of Kyoto, it's a 2,5 hours bus ride from Osaka. one day trip is highly recommended, since not so many attraction in this area.

To view this sand bar, there are two view land from both ends, I went to the one near the amanohashidate station, return trip to the top with lift chair or monorail is 850 yen. I took the lift chair it's more interesting. At the viewing ground there are some bench facing the sand bar with instructions to stand on the bench with your back facing the sand bar then bent down and looking at the sand bar from between your legs. I tried this position but I didn't see it any difference from looking the normal way, but many japanse shouted 'kireii...kireii' when they did this position

I spent only 10 minutes at this viewing park, then went down to rent a bike and crossed the sand bar to the other side. Bicycle rental is 400 yen fro two hours, there are so many rental places that you can choose. Cycling is the best way to cross the sand bar, but if you have more time you can also walk leisurely. There are not many things to see at the other side, I wanted to go to the nairaiji temple, but it is located at the mountain and i was wearing the wrong shoes :p.

At 4PM I already back to shopping area, because my bus was at 16.45. Most of the restaurant are seafood restaurant, and the omiyage are all about kani (crab). I bought the kani miso ramen, it's very delicious. I arrived back at Osaka around 8.30 PM. 

I kinda like the solo trip I did recently, If i had to wait fro my friend to go with me I will never go anywhere. from now I will do most of my trip solo, Next week I will go to Japan most scenic view #2 itsukushima shrine in Hiroshima and at the end of the year i will visit Matsushima in Sendai.

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Shirahama beach - They imported the sands from Australia

Another holiday post!, it looks like I've been on a holiday every month. The last two months was more like a business trip rather than a true holiday. 

In August my lab don't have the routine meeting we do every tuesday and friday, because it's summer holiday even the professor take holiday in August (usually during お盆). I almost never take the holiday in August since I started my study, but this year I decided to take several days. I wanted to go to Okinawa actually, but my friend said she couldn't come with me. Instead of Okinawa we decided to visit shirahama; a city in Wakayama prefecture just 3 hours bus ride from Osaka. Having a late summer holiday apparently was not a good choice, the bad weather ruined half of our holiday.

I read that the sand's beach heri is imported from Australia. I didn't know that we can import sands, LOL!!!. it was saturday when we visited the beach so yup it was really crowded, the water is a little bit cold and no wave like beach in Bali. I was expecting a wavy beach since it is a pacific ocean sea, guess I need to manage my expectation next time. Been live here for 3 years and had my expectation betrayed many times.

Shirahama 

The Australian sands at night

We stayed at the japanese ryokan (hotel) it's pretty expensive 11.000 yen/night/person included dinner and breakfast. The hotel has a semi open air public bath (温泉) which is not bad in my opinion, though maybe not as good as kinosaki onsen. For dinner we had seafood BBQ like squid, shrimp, scallops and some veggies. Not many things to do at night in this small city, I would suggest just make a one day trip to this city. We were bored to death at night, we walked around the city for like one hour then came back to the hotel and just read book (Thank God I brought my book)

Seafood BBQ for dinner

Second day was pretty much hampered by the rain. We went to the sandanbeki, a rock cliff by the sea. there is an elevator to go down the cliff and see inside the cave which used to be a naval base. To visit the cave was a unique experience to me. they turn the cave into a temple and museum. You have to pay 1300yen if you wanna go to the cave.

5 minutes walk from sandanbeki is senjojiki, which is a wide flat sheet-rocks formation that you can walk on it. it s located along the coast, it's really wide. It was rainy day when we visited but still it's safe to walk. 

Another place to visit is 円月島, a rock islet in the sea with the hole in the center. from far away i looks like a 円 kanji.

One day trip is enough to explore this city, the three major tourist attraction are not located away from each other. The shirahama beach and engetsu islet is only 5 mins walk from the shirahama bus centre, while sandanbeki is 10 minutes bus ride from the bus centre. there is another place name Adventure world, which is a zoo i think, I did not visit this place more like i did not plan to visit adventure world, the admission fee to adventure world is 4000 yen, too expensive for a zoo but you can see a panda which is rent from china. 

Shirahama can be reach by plane, train or bus. If you are coming from Kansai Area bus is the best transportation choice. return bus from Osaka cost 5500 yen, one way train from Osaka to shirahama cost 5000 yen. it's 3,5 hours by bus and 2,5 hours by train from Osaka to shirahama. Resort hotel mostly located around the beach area and it's expensive.

In september we have this silver week holiday from from saturday to wednesday, I don't have any plan yet for this holiday but for sure I will not just stay in Osaka. ;)

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Byodoin temple - A world Heritage

One of my goal while living in Japan is to visit all of the world heritage sites (if possible) and Japan three great sceneries. This time is Byodoin temple (平等院) turn, which located in Uji city (southern part of Kyoto). Uji-shi can easily reach from Kyoto by JR Nara line or Keihan railway, It's 20 minutes train ride from Kyoto by JR rapid service train. 

Byodoin has been on my list since i came here, but because it's still in Kyoto so it's not my priority. I went to Uji yesterday to visit this famous matcha restaurant I reviewed before. I wrote a review about their branch store in Kyoto station, so I want to feel their main store in Uji. Byodoin is not that far from the restaurant so I decided to visit.

Phoenix hall at Byoudoin temple

It was 15 walk from the station to byodoin. The admission is 600 yen for adult, If you want to enter the phoenix hall you need to pay another 300 yen inside. Since it was summer holiday, it was pretty crowded. I know that Kyoto always packed with tourists, but this time it reached to the point where I didn't feel like i was in Japan. Inside the train that I rode from Kyoto to Uji, 90% were tourists; everyone spoke different languages.

Japan post box at Uji station

Phoenix hall is the the main attraction at byodoin, there are actually other building in this complex, but  the crowd made me not wanted to enter the other building. Inside the area there is a museum, but you can't take photo inside the museum. The museum is really nice, inside they keep the temple's bell, the old door decoration of the phoenix hall, some Buddhism statues and paints, and treasures. At the exit of the museum you'll find out why they are not allowing us to take photos, they sell the photo book (like a museum guide) with all the photo of the things they keep inside the museum, some post cards, and merchandise.

Phoenix hall and the lake from the left side

the right side of the phoenix hall

Not far from byodoin is the uji river with uji bridge and a small island in the middle of the river with a 12 stories stone pagoda. there are some people fishing and playing in the river (it was a hot day). We did enter the phoenix hall, we thought that we would see something like what we saw inside the museum. It's a worship hall so inside is only the gold painted Amida Nyorai seated statue and you can't take photo also they give explanation in Japanese. so if you want to spend 300 yen just to stand listening to Japanese your guide explanation then do so, I would not recommend to enter the phoenix hall.

Uji river from the uji bridge

One of the bridge at Uji river with stone pagoda

The view of uji river, surrounded by mountains

The 12 sories stone pagoda

 About the famous restaurant that I talked about at the beginning of this post it took a lot patience to eat at this restaurant. We wrote our name before we enter the phoenix hall around 12.30 pm, we came back to the restaurant after we enter the phoenix hall (2pm) and still we had to wait for 1 hour. We finally got seated at 3pm, I ordered the matcha soba set. I would recommend the matcha jelly, I don't really like the matcha jelly, but this place serves the best matcha jelly.

Uji matcha soba

we paid visit to Kawaramachi in the evening, we wanted to experience the terrace dinner at one of the restaurant along the kamo river side. Those restaurant they really suck your money. Some of restaurants only serve course menu when you want to eat at the terrace which range between 3500-10000 yen. We finally picked a restaurant with a reasonable food price, but once inside the waiter at the front door showed us some rules. In short their rules is they will charge 700 yen/person for the table, 500 yen/person for the appetizer and for every food you ordered you are subjected to pay consumption tax 8% and service charge 10%. we thought okay, we would just order some appetizer and drink water, we just wanted to feel the experience not the foods. Once we were seated we ordered two appetizers and ask for water, the waiter said that we have to order two drinks too, and you know a glass of oolong tea is 480 yen + 8% tax + 10% service, that's almost 600 yen for a glass of oolong tea.

In two week I'll go to Shirahama in Wakayama prefecture. It's a seaside area of Japan, heard that it has a nice beach with white sand that was imported from Australia. I didn't know that you could import a white sand beach.

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出雲 (Izumo-shi) ~ A sacred place in Japan

Another conference in another city. This time I got a chance to visit Izumo-shi, I really don't know anything about this city, to be honest this is the first time I heard the name Izumo. It is located in Shimane prefecture on the japan sea coast and home for the infamous Izumo-taisha which is the oldest shrine in Japan. Nothing much to see in this city, You should go to other city like Matsue (the capital of Shimane prefecture) if you want more attraction. 

Izumo can be reach by plane or shinkansen. There are flights from Osaka(itami Airport) and Tokyo to Izumo airport. If you wish to go by shinkansen, you can take shinkansen until Okayama then from Okayama you can continue with rapid train(or bus) to Izumo-shi station (around 3 hours). I went by plane (around 25000円 return), only Japan Airlines (JAL) operates the flight to Izumo. Hotels are mainly located around JR izumo-shi station.

I wanted to visit other city like Matsue, but I only have short time. I stayed for one night and only managed to visit the shrine after the conference had finished. I arrived at noon 10.30, it was only 30 minutes flight from Itami airport (Osaka) to Izumo airport. 

Local Cuisine, yes this is my favourite part for each trip. Izumo is famous for its Izumo soba, and izumo soba is the first thing I ate when I arrived. From my opinion izumo soba is more chewy than others soba, taste wise is not much different, it tastes soba anyway. the most popular is this three stack of soba with three deifferent topping, I forget the japanese name for this menu (mariko soba~if I correct). Ah...I remember the soba soup in Izumo taste sweeter than others.

Izumo soba

The second famous local cuisine is a desserts "ぜんさい” (Zensai); mochi serves with Azuki (sweet red beans), It can be serves cold or room temperature. Since it was very hot and sunny when I visited the shrine, so I ordered the cold one. I don't really like Azuki honestly, too sweet for me. But this time with shaved-ice it wasn't so sweet at all. Both of the soba restaurant and the desserts cafe that I visited are located in front of the Izumo-shrine, near the starbucks. 

zensai

Izumo shrine can be reach by bus or train from izumo station or matsue station. I took the bus from Izumo eki that costed 470 yen, but if you don't pick the bus ticket when you get on the bus you have to pay 520 yen. It is 30 minutes bus ride and during the ride all you can see is wine yard or rice fields. I got off at izumo-taisha mae bus stop then walked about 10-15 minutes to reach the gate. 

The main gate to the shrine

 Walk again for 10 minutes, only by then you'll see the worship hall  with a straw rope hung across half of its length. I forgot to mention that along the road that approaching  the shrine you'll see the statue of okuninushi . 

Statue of okuninushi 

worship hall (small one)

Worship Hall, with the biggest straw rope hung across 

Behind the worship hall you will see the Main Hall which stand 24 meters tall, but my supervisor who came with me said that the original was higher than that. We can't enter the main hall but you can walk around the outer fence of the main hall then you'll see some small shrine/old building.

The main Hall

The gate to the main hall

One of the small shrine/house outside the main hall

 Behind the main hall you will see this cute rabbit statue in a various state. There is this mythology about Okuninushi and the rabbit. But they are really cute, I like the praying rabbit one.

After finished with the shrine, we walked 20 minutes to the old JR taisha station. This station was closed in 1990 but they keep and maintain the original building and turned it into a museum. It was creepy actually, they have this old locomotive that was built in showa 17th (japanese year) and used for 32 years. 

Short trip, but I am glad to have the opportunities to visit this grand shrine. Maybe if I don't have conference here, I wouldn't visit this shrine. I didn't know that it is a sacred shrine. My next conference is in Fukuoka for 3 nights 4 days in fukuoka. I went this may to Fukuoka, I'll try to visit places that is not popular tourist destination in Fukuoka.

~~Never let your memories bigger than your dreams~~ An inspiring quote I read today from IG user.

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