Today we woke up to the most spectacular view of Mt Fuji. I cannot believe how beautiful it is.
I woke up with the sunrise to capture it. I am obsessed. I want to climb it someday.
For the rest of the day, we went to Fuji Q, which has 3 record holding rollercoasters. The lines were an absolute nightmare, but the rides were insane. One had the fasted accelleration, one the steepest drop, and one the most inversions. All had views of Mt Fuji.
Tomorrow, Suicide Forest and a final train to Tokyo xx
Today we didn't see Mt Fuji.
Turns out the storm is continuing, and after taking 5 different modes of transfer, it is too wet and miserable to see the mountain, even though it is apparently RIGHT THERE.
All the transport is Fuji themed though which I love.
Tomorrow, hopefully seeing Mt Fuji?? xx
Today was fairly chill until HALLOWEEN BEGAN.
Halloween is huge in Japan. I think it is the combination of their love of everyone costumed and dressed up, with, to a smaller extent, the ability to drink on the streets,
I have never seen so many people in one place, without anything going on. There was no official entertainment, no signage, no plans, just tens of thousands of people dressed up in the most incredible outfits one could imagine.
We obviously got in on it. We got our costumes in Kyoto (4XL I hate this country) and were looking dead and kawaii. The evening was incredible and probably the best night out I have ever had.
I got photos only with people who asked me for one first. I approached no one. I got hundreds of photos. Turns out being giant, blond in a Japanese school girl outfit was a good pic.
Tomorrow, Fuji xx
Today we headed back to the big smoke for a quick layover for the upcoming halloween
The train takes a grand total of like 2 hour, for about 500km. Got a sneak peak at Fuji, and bunkered in for an amazing night in our MARIO THEMED AIRBNB.
Tomorrow, HALLOWEEN xx
Today we got incredibly lost, and got to visit some of my old monkey buddies.
We started off trying to find the Kiyomizudera Temple. The problem with Kyoto is that there are TEMPLES EVERYWHERE. This might seem amazing, but we found 6 we thought were right before finally getting there.
Annoyingly, a lot of it was under construction, but the view from the top was incredible.
After lunch, we went to Arashiyama, where the bamboo grove is. Bamboo has nothing on Monkey Mountain though!
A lot of the group were terrified of them, but I fed them bananas and had a top time.
Tomorrow, Tokyo xx
Today was a very cruisey day.
We ate, we shopped, we enjoyed the sunshine for a little while and then headed back to Kyoto.
We figured we didn't have enough time there, and we both love that city.
Did find a good Halloween costume though.
Tomorrow, a big day of exploring xx
Today ticked off a lot of amazing things for me. Universal Studios is my kind of park.
Japan go big. We started off with some great rides, then headed to Hogwarts. There is an actual Hogsmead/Diagon Alley, complete with owl emporiums, butterbeer, wand stores and magic. And a real castle.
Anyone who knows me can only imagine how emotional I was there. It was amazing.
After 6pm is when the whole place changed though. As it is Halloween, they have a series of horror themed events. We did a couple of horror mazes, one exorcist themed, then, all throughout the park, were zombies.
The chased you with chainsaws and stared you down, and it was great.
I also met the shark from Jaws.
Tomorrow, back to Kyoto xx
Today, the sun finally came out!
We were in Kyoto last night, but couldn't do much because of the Super Typhoon, so decided to cram in some sightseeing in the time we had before we headed to Osaka.
We went to my favourite place in all of Kyoto, Fushimi Inari, the torii gates. Sadly, we could only get about a third of the way up as a lot of the paths were closed due to so much rain overnight. Still amazing though.
Japan sidenote: They had a robot for foreign money exchange.
After that, we headed to Osaka. There are 6 of us together here now, and we have a AirBnb which feels very much like a Big Brother house. It just has one huge room, with 6 big beds in it, and then a kitchen/bathroom room combined in one corner.
It is in a great area, near Shinsaibashi, so we did a little bit of exploring and found some great Okinomiyaki.
Tomorrow, Universal Studios xx
Today started a long time ago, at 4am.
We got up before dawn was even peeking through in the hopes of seeing the Castle in the Sky. Takeda Castle, built in 1411 is not much more than ruins now, but on a good day, it looks like it is floating on a cloud.
Today was not a good day for that phenomenon.
Despite the rain, we still hiked up the Ritsuunkyo Mountain opposite Takeda in the hopes of catching a few stray clouds, but they were all far too high above us, pouring down on us.
It was still a great view through, across the valley, and the walk back down, and bus up to the ruins themselves were really cool.
The castle itself isn't much to see in person, after already seeing the same view from the next mountain across, but knowing the ruins are over 600 years old lessened the blow.
We had planned on going to the Fire Festival here in Kyoto tonight, but Typhoon Lan has finally hit, and its just too miserable. Fortunately, we have plum wine and dumplings.
I also had to throw out my shoes. There is no way these are drying before I get home, and they are gross.
Tomorrow, Osaka xx
Today we spent essentially the whole day on trains.
I got up early and went to see one of the other 3 Kumano World Heritage Sites (like the waterfall mountain one). It was less spectacular, but it was literally all I did.
It was 8 hours, plus walking to get from Shingu to our current location, but it should be worth it for the walks tomorrow.
Tomorrow, castle in the sky xx
