Japan 日本 | Roving Sun

November 28, 2023February 5, 2024

Braving the Hordes at Tofuku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera

We headed out in the morning from the Hyatt Place Kyoto for quick walk through a tiny part of Kyoto Gyoen on the way to breakfast. After eating, we visited Tofuku-ji, one of Kyoto’s most well known fall foliage viewing sites. It was crazy! And because we didn’t quite get enough madness, we headed back to Kiyomizu-dera for the nighttime illumination which was absolutely ridiculous! But quite beautiful and absolutely worth the trouble!

November 27, 2023December 13, 2023

Daytime Kiyomizu-dera and Evening Kodai-ji

We ended up waking up early at the Hyatt Place Kyoto and headed out to Kiyomizu-dera, hoping to beat the crowds. We were successful but the morning light wasn’t great due to the proximity of the mountains. We ended up visiting three times throughout the day hoping for better light! Later, in the afternoon, we walked over to Kodai-ji and stayed for their nighttime fall illumination event.

November 26, 2023May 10, 2024

Koraku-en and the Meiji Jingu Inner Garden

After breakfast, we checked out of the Prince Sakura Tower Tokyo, dropped off our bags at Shinagawa Station, and headed to Koraku-en, a garden near Ueno. After walking through the garden, we had lunch nearby and then visited the Meiji Jingu‘s inner garden. We then had an afternoon snack in Omotesando before taking the Shinkansen to Kyoto where we checked into the Hyatt Place Kyoto.

November 25, 2023February 3, 2024

Tokyo Marunouchi at Night

After arriving at Haneda, we quickly passed through immigration and customs and checked in at the Prince Sakura Tower Tokyo by Shinagawa Station. We then took the Yamanote line up to Tokyo Station where we had a quick dinner. Afterwards, we walked around the Marunouchi area to the west of the station before heading back via Yurakucho.

April 20, 2023April 26, 2023

Akasaka Palace in Tokyo

We were pretty tired after doing the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and heading right to Tokyo afterwards so we got a late start today. We headed to Akasaka Palace at what we thought was the opening time at 11am. It turns out it probably opened earlier at 10am. This palace serves as the state guest house and has been open to tourists only since 2016. Various US presidents have been here. Joe Biden features quite a bit in many of the photographs on display.