A Second Trip to Japan

Eric, a good friend of mine, is teaching English in Kumamoto on the southern most of the major island Kyushu, and has generously offered to put people up. It's been two years since my last trip to Japan, Mark worked a coop term in Japan some 7 years ago, and Andrea and David wanted to see Japan, so we had trip - see the great destinations in Japan while at the same time trying to explore a bit more of the obscure and off the tourist path. Click along the route map, or the descriptions below to see where we stayed and what we saw.

	Kumamoto Terribly jet lagged, we were glad to have Eric's house to stay at. We visited the Suizenji-koen Garden, Kumamoto castle and became familiar with life in Japan. (Days 1-3)
	Aso Volcano to Oguni Village We start on our travel part of the trip. We visited Aso Volcano (which was having a gassy day) and then stayed overnight in Oguni Village - a wonderful hot springs town. (Day 4)
	Kurokawa and Takachiho Kurohawa Hot Springs is a collection of traditional hot spring baths and inns and Takachiho Gorge is an amazing place to go for a row. Two of the great destinations in Kyushu. (Day 5,6)
	Beppu Our last stop in Kyushu - Beppu is a major tourist city. We visited the rope way and the boiling hells. (Day 7)
	Hiroshima In retrospect, we should have spent more time in this beautiful city. We visited the Atom Bomb memorial and a bit of night life. (Day 8)
	Miyajima One of Japan's most scenic views. We also visited Kintai-kyo bridge is in the small town Iwakuni. (Day 9)
	Food In Kyoto Kyoto is famous for many things - not the least of which is the food. While staying at traditional Japanese Inn's (Ryokan) we sampled (and photographed) traditional food. We also visited Kyoto's Nishiki-koji Street Market. (Day 10,11)
	Temples Kyoto We visited Three of the Biggest - The Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-ji), The Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) and the dry gardens of Ryoan-ji. (Day 12)
	Festival in Kyoto The Kyoto area has two festivals that coincide with October 22nd - the Festival of Ages and the Fire Festival in Kurama. We managed to visit both. (Day 13)
	Amanohashadate We stayed in Genmyoan one of Japans high end traditional inns and took in the view, one of the three most scenic views in Japan. (Day 14)
	Matsumoto Matsumoto was picked because it was the mid point between Amanohashadate and Nikko. We visited the black castle and went for bike ride in the country to see a Wasabi farm. (Day 15,16,17)
	The Temples and Shrines in Nikko Nikko is our last stop before Tokyo. Nikko is famous for it's massive complex of shrines set in the forest and hills around the town, and one of my favorite places in Japan. (Day 18)
	Kegon Falls at Nikko Nikko's second big attraction is the Kegon falls and the colors the trees change in fall. (Day 19)
	Tokyo Tokyo was the last of our trip, and we had a lot of shopping to get done! We stopped to soak in the views from the Tokyo Metropolitan building and spent way to much time in Akihabara. (Day 20,21)
	Tokyo Fish Market The end of our trip, and a great place to visit. Fish is a huge part of the Japanese diet, and see where Tokyo's supply comes through was invigorating. (Day 22)