Japan, May 2024
Japan is experiencing a tourism boom this year and we took part. It is a remarkable country and a great introduction to Asia for those taking their first big trip west from the United States.
We spent one week - Sunday to Sunday - exploring Tokyo and Kyoto. So much is written about these places, I will take a different approach. I’m going to share some photos I took that remind me of special moments we shared. Below each photo I’ll share a bit about the context.
Tokyo at night, from the Tokyo City View in the Roppongi Hills. It feels like a scene out of a science fiction movie and would feel dystopian if you didn’t know that each nook and cranny is filled with wonderful places.
The Tokyo subway is a marvel. You can get anywhere in this sprawling, dense city for a few yen. But it still can be confusing. Sucia cards make it easy to hop on and off.
Despite how dense this city is, there are parks all over. This was a new one for us - Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park - and it had a perfect little bridge over a calm pond.
It was peek cherry blossom season and they are everywhere. This one was nestled into other trees around the corner from Meiji Jingu.
That’s a real photo we took from the Shinkansen train from Tokyo to Kyoto. I’ve taken the train a number of times but never gotten a clear view of Mt. Fuji. We had torrential rain the day before which scrubbed the atmosphere and gave us a sparkly clear day to speed south at 180 mph.
The Fushimi Inari Torii gates are overrun with tourists like us. But if you keep going up to the top of the mountain you are treated with beautiful turns that put the gates in the context of the growth around them.
The buildings and surrondings of Kiyomizu-dera are remarkable. The towers stand out with their bright orange against the backdrop of green. And look at all those cherry trees!
Despite the sheer volume of tourists, there are still moments of serene peace possible if you venture just a bit off the normal path.
Our first grader writing a wish for “Peace and Happiness”, but spelling it “Pees and hAPeenes” is enough to make the whole trip worth it.
The other side of town has one of our favorite places. The Okochi Sanso Garden is a impeccably cared for slice of perfection. Here we are looking back East towards Kyoto.
The moss “lawn” has a green that one can’t quite describe but creates the perfect floor for these trees.
That’s all sand, perfectly sculpted into a cone shape at Higashiyama Jisho-ji.
Our last full day we were back in Tokyo and caught a game of the Hiroshima Carpe vs. Tokyo Giants. The game was a blast - with many similarities to MLB baseball, but also a unique stadium culture that included cheering sections with bands and complete silence when umpires had to announce the decision of a contested play.
What a special part of this world.
