Another Journey to Japan ... Okinawa in 5 days

September 11, 2016

Well the Dragon's footy season was close to a write off mid season and I took a punt to go on holidays before the season ended and if a miracle was still to occur I would make it back before the Grand Final. Anyways it doesn't seem like it was meant to be this year and I hope for a better season by my beloved Dragons for 2017!

I've decided to explore more of Japan mainly for a couple of reasons

I lost to my travel buddy. I wanted to go to Koh Samui and do nothing but eat and lay on the beach
Okinawa has a cool aquarium
Japan in general has very nice food
Okinawa has some nice beaches
Okinawa is meant to be different from the rest of Japan

The main thing I was reluctant to go to Okinawa was I had to do some driving. Although the Japanese drivers drive on the same side of the road, it is still very foreign. Though once you start looking at Trip Advisor or Google images those beaches and clean water make it look awesome.

Before the trip I had been religiously looking at the weather and watching the heat and humidity hit around 40 degrees Celsius. Perfect beach weather but also in the back of the mind I knew that we would be going in the middle of typhoon season. You some times hope that you get there in between seasons.

I hopped on CX162 early Saturday and bound for Okinawa via Hong Kong. There are no direct flights to Okinawa from Sydney and the trip to Hong Kong was best priced (no I am not sponsored by Cathay Pacific but I wish I was). I also have the chance to meet family on the over night stop over. Why just an over night you may ask? well it stops me from spending more money :)

After a very generous feed from my family in HK (we managed to fit 17 people plus a baby on the one round table!) it was back to Hong Kong airport for my journey to Okinawa. I boarded KA378 and after about 2 hours in the air, the eagle had landed in Okinawa Naha International Airport.

First port of call after collecting my bags was to get to the hire car. After consultation with my work colleague, he suggested I use ORIX car rental service. You get taken via a coach to the rental garage and have your paper work all done. I wanted to get a Honda Jazz (or they are known as Fit in Japan) however I ended up with a Suzuki Swift, the Japanese Mini :)

Taking a pic of the Swift just to remember the number plate when i parked in the valet area.

After checking in to the Hyatt Regency in Naha and grabbing some snacks at the tea break we decided to head out to town. This is about a 5 minute walk to Kokusai Street. This is a known tourist strip, so it should not be hard to find a feed, and definitely not hard to find a Blue Seal ice cream. I can't believe how many Blue Seal ice creams stores there are and they are so close together. You also do not need to worry about convenient stores as they are about 20m apart, whether it is a Lawson or Family Mart.

The tourist strip was a buzz after passing heavy shower which was happening when we were checking in.

Very cool Mario Kart tour, flexible enough you can dress as your own favorite super hero. Unfortunately it was too wet the next evening to have a go.

After having a walk down the strip it was finally time to grab a bite and we decided to grab some Ramen for the evening.

Pretty much a seafood ramen with your usual pork. Some massive scallops inside too :)

Decided to retreat for an early night as the plane rides tend to take a bit out of me. Hoping for a sunny day for day 2 of the Okinawa trip.

Wake up in the morning just in time for breakfast and we can relax and coast around since we are not on a tour bus. This is a huge plus in my opinion. Today's agenda is to go to Shuri Castle and then find somewhere nice to eat Teppanyaki. Oh and find a SIM card. I made the mistake of not buying a data SIM at the airport, and found it pretty hard to get a SIM from a convenient store. So after some research in the hotel, I had to find a BIC Camera store in the Naha area. Basically it is a big electronics store selling consumer and home appliances.

Off on our journey, the road was wet but it was not raining. Heading to the castle we got hit by a passing shower but this really doesn't dampen our spirits and we are armed with an umbrella when we arrive at the castle just before midday.

The Shuri castle was destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt in the 1992.

A palace throne I believe, the writing is in Japanese and I followed no guide

One of the gates to enter the Shuri Castle

With the weather holding up we decided to continue with the royal theme and head to the Shikina-en Garden. Was meant to be one of the main gardens for the Emperors back in the day.

One view of the pond in Shikina-en Garden

airbnb for the Emperor, Tatami mats for 5 adults a kitchen and i think it is a bathroom

The picture does not do justice to the surreal feeling of the garden, you could sit and just look at the pond all day and let time fly.

It was time to find the SIM card so we could do some research on the run. We did have a plan but the way we like to travel is to be a bit more flexible so we do not need to meet time lines. Off to BIC Camera store near Naha, and I picked the SIM up. Also had a look at the Fuji XT-2 and the Fuji X-Pro 2. Both seemed quite snappy in AF and well if I had the money I would probably still go for the X-Pro 2. For the time being the X-Pro 1 is still the work horse for me in travel and I am a bit reluctant to part with it for now.

After picking up the SIM card, the weather gods are again against us but at least we got the outdoor site seeing out of the way for the day. We head back in time to grab the free drinks and nibbles at the Regency Hyatt. I'm getting cheap and try to drink and snack as much as I can.

The decision was to go to Sam's Anchor Inn. I thought this was the well ranked place for Teppanyaki but I was wrong. There are quite a few Teppanyaki places around and there are also lots of Sam's Restaurants! Anyways we decided on the Anchor Inn version of Sam's and there was a Teppanyaki menu on offer with lobster and Okinawa steak. So it was worth a go.

Sam's Anchor Inn, the main dishes in our Teppanyaki set meal

There was a little bit of walking today so it's an early retreat. Need to check out in the morning and head to Onna-son for the next part of our trip. The next hotel is near the beach so hopefully the weather clears up and we can have a dip in that crystal blue water.

The weather awaits us on Day 3 of our trip, this is the view from the Club breakfast lounge at the Regency Hyatt

Before making a break to Onna, we decided to try our luck to head in to a local market that wasn't too far from the Hotel. We were in search for some Miso paste and we thought best to get the local produce stuff. However the markets do not tend to be buzzing around 11am. The mini shops don't open up until later in the day and in the evening they tend to be more busy. We found some Miso paste and decided to try and grab a quick bite. A bit of too'ing and fro'ing we decided to enter a noodle bar, that had two occupants in it.

An Okinawa lady who was the only worker at the time served us. She was the chef and waitress. With the use of google translator we managed to order some Udon and Soba. I must say two bowls for under $10 Aussie seemed a bargain and I definitely had no regret, the soup was clear and tasted MSG free and it was quite delicious in my humble opinion.

One of the noodle bars in the local market, not the one we ended up eating at

It's about an hour drive to Onna in the wet, which ruined a trip to Cape Manza that has the iconic cliff face of an elephant trunk. We've got a free day in 2 days and hopefully that allows us to head down there and check out the remarkable view.

Checking in to Kafuu Resort Fuchaku, the condo is large with a nice view, hopefully the beautiful sunset is a sign of better things to come in regards to the weather. The beach is just across the road.

With the wet weather, we checked in and I decided to burn some fat in the tiny gym at the resort, the pool was out of action as it was closed due to the soon approaching typhoon. The reception desk told us its very likely the two pools in the complex will be open the next day.

With a lot of walking planned for our Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium visit the pool would look like the order of the day to relax.

Dinner was at the resorts Orange restaurant. Lobster was served and it was a lot better tasting than the one at Naha. A couple of cocktails made the sleeping for the night easier :)

Next morning the weather again was not looking pleasant but we did not care too much as the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium would be indoors and the only thing out door was to walk from the car park to the aquarium and the dolphin show was also out doors.

The aquarium was a good hour drive from Onna-son. By the time we got there it was near midday. The aquarium features at the start are quite a teaser before you reach the main tank which has two massive whale sharks and who knows how many sting rays and fish.

Impressive little lion fish and some photo bombing fish

Inquisitive turtle on the seabed of the tank. One of the sharpest shots I have through a piece of glass

Seahorses are little interesting creatures

They look artistic in a tank but are menacing in the ocean... jelly fish

Look at the size of that thing!!! whale shark to human

One of the main attractions at the aquarium is to eat lunch or any meal next to the large shark tank. Sharks swim by, large fish swim by, sting rays glide past it is all very awesome to see such large marine life before your own very eyes. Mind you, you need to wait patiently to get a table right next to the tank, but keep an eye out for those sneaky tourists that try to nab your table!!!

This friendly sea creature wanted to have a bit of my lunch and drink

After a solid 3 hours in the aquarium we headed out to the feeding and acrobatic dolphin show. After watching many of these dolphin shows and even swimming with one previously they are still very enjoyable to watch.

The dolphin's show off during their encore performance

There was a huge traffic jam on the way back to Onna-son. It took about 1.5 hours to get back to the hotel. Our chosen eating place was to try another market, it was called Onna Station. This probably was not the greatest move. I should have driven to the American Village. Onna Station served small bites but it was near closing time. The food was not bad, just that we probably wanted a little more after such a big high after the aquarium.

The pool was still open at the resort and I chose the roof top infinity pool, I could still enjoy the nice surroundings even though it would take a little time to warm up in the pool.

Wishing for some sun on the open day I had planned for this trip, we woke up to you guessed it a rainy day. So Day 4 early on was instilled as a lazy day. Long sleep in but made sure we did not miss breakfast.

Finished reading my book "West with the Night", which is about Beryl Markham being a pioneer pilot in Africa delivering anything from medicine, to alcohol and providing hunting tours. She was an amazingly independent and strong lady who also had a passion to train race horses. For the book worms not a bad read if you want to read something inspiring and motivating. After the reading I felt we needed to go for a coffee break, well I was tired. We punched in cafe bars in the GPS and decided to see if we could find a coffee shop along the beach even if it were a wet day. After going past maybe 2 pr 3 of these places, anything advertised as a cafe & bar typically was not opened and opened from 5pm til late, which kind of indicated to me these were more bars serving sake.

So we deiced to go wit hthe flow and punch Starbucks (no not another plug) We ended up driving about 30 minutes and lucky enough for me the travel buddy grumbled a little after the choice but there was a nice little bakery in the mall where Starbucks was located. So we have some happy campers. Managed to do some last minute souvenirshopping and the coffee certainly got us buzzing.

We had a last swim at the roof top pool, and it was more a bittersweet swim because we didnt even get to set foot on to the beach. We had another awesome meal at the BBQ restaurant at the hotel, mind you this was our second choice the first being the Japanese restaurant.

Rightly or wrongly the evening flowed with beverages and we ended worse for wear. Luckily we had a late checkout and late afternoon flights.

Okinawa didn't let us down in the last morning either the clouds were there and the drizzle set in on the drive back to Naha. It was a strange holiday, we didn't do very much yet we enjoyed it, the food, the slow going of the town and well the aquarium was the absolute highlight. Followed secondly by the food and beverages.

Come 4:45pm it was time to board KA379 and head back to home via HK again. Okinawa in a nutshell thoroughly enjoyable if you want to do nothing :)

Taiwan, Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto in 8 Days - Part 2

September 19, 2015

Landed in Osaka and gee am I tired! Japan was always going to be a challenge as my itinerary was basically to do everything myself bar one day I have a guide in Kyoto. Landing in Kansai International airport was the first challenge, and prior to the trip I asked the hotel if there was any shuttle from the airport to the hotel as everyone knows Japan taxi's are not the cheapest in the world.

Followed my instructions that were provided to me by the hotel and the first thing was to jump on the JR, which is the train system. Make sure I was heading in the right direction I ended up in Osaka Station. This took approximately 50 minutes. Just my luck I had missed the last shuttle bus from Osaka Station to the hotel, so my options were taxi or walk. The hotel concierge noted to me that the taxi ride would be around 1000 yen and lucky enough for me the 10min cab ride cost me under the 1000 yen probably because of the lack of traffic.

Too tired to do anything I chomped on some moon cake a friend gave me in HK and crashed out hoping to get on to an early start.

Still waking up as though I'm still in Sydney and ready for work, but after re-evaluating my plans and then asking the concierge what the best plan of attack was for my day I did not get out till about 11am. The concierge was most helpful and she was pretty spot on, to get from A to B to C to D to E and then back to A.

So first stop was Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum. For those who don't know Osamu-san was the creator of Astro Boy. A popular cartoon that I grew up watching before going to school and watching after school (obviously after home work.. not!) This was a 40min JR ride according to the information provided to me. From that point it was another 10min walk and it was getting warmer by the minute. I made it to the museum. The museum in short is not really geared to foreigners as it is all in Japanese. Apart from some labels under some drawings and the DO NOT TAKE PHOTOS for some displays. There are many drawings and a few statues of the famous characters Osamu-san created. I would say it would be for die hards only, but I would not call myself a die hard but was intrigued to see it and although I expected more I must have been satisfied as I spent well over 1.5 hours walking through the 3 levels of the museum. Each level is not very large and probably the size of no more than 100 square meters.

The main entry to Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum

What else to expect but the first thing you see when walking is Astro Boy

On my way out I could not resist but have a laugh after inspecting Dr Elephants hand, feet nose print in the ground !

After picking up a few souvenirs from Osamu Tezuka's museum it was off to the next station. Lets roll, back up to the JR station and off to see the Osaka Castle

Getting off the JR, I had to probably walk around 10-15 minutes to find the castle. You would think the castle is easy to spot but there are trees everywhere from afar to obscure the Osaka Castle. Maybe it was just the direction I had walked in? There was a lot of things happening around the vicinity of the castle. It looked like a school festival of some sort and there were many teenage kids performing by dance and musical instruments which all created a great vibe around the area.

Cosplay must be their theme for their performance?

Take the walk up the 8 floors and you will be up at the top before you get your elevator ride

Peace to you too !! She is obviously is enjoying the occassion

Time to leave Osaka Castle for my next destination. The sun's heat is getting to me and it just feels warmer and warmer every minute I walk back to the JR station

Next stop Tempozan Ferris Wheel. Hoping my timing is right for sunset and then to see the ferris wheel lit up. At one stage research indicates that this was the biggest ferris wheel in the world but it is no longer !!

Clouds have set in after my ride around the ferris wheel, the lights are just appearing

The beautiful view overseeing the ocean during sunset before the clouds rolled in

I forgot to have a bite for lunch and within the Tempozan Harbor village there was a food court.. quick bite of ramen knowing that the clouds were rolling in I could not wait for a fully lit ferris wheel and it's time to jump on the JR again.

Next stop Dotonbori. Living in Sydney the Coca Cola sign at Kings Cross is one of the main tourist attraction. Osaka has it's own in Dotonbori which has the Glico man. Hoping the weather is kind to me so I can walk along the canal and take pics of Mr Glico, I make my way to Dotonbori.

Made it to Dotonbori, but I do not see no Glico man

Taking a stroll down the canal allows you to absorb the atmosphere, entertainment on the canal

Found it, Glico man is running along just fine.. Don't ask about the advert on the right

That's a wrap, made it through the day and got to do what I wanted. Clocked well over 25kms of walking, it was time to head back to the hotel as the restaurants I wanted to try here were full.

Managed to grab some Wagyu beef and a quiet beer next to my hotel. Need to crash out as a big day ahead.

Wake up early enough to get ready for my big day. Off to Tokyo with my shinkansen ticket. Shinkansen is better known as Japan's bullet train. It's about 28,500 yen to get from Shin Osaka Station to Tokyo station and back. The ride takes about 3 hours one way. Why you may ask am I going to Tokyo? Well it just happens that a Sumo tournament is on and these things don't happen every week. There are a handful of tournaments a year and I was not going to miss my chance to see Sumo. I get to Shin Osaka station nice and early. It is a different train station to Osaka, and accommodates the shinkansen. I make sure I am on the right platform and ready to catch my train. i have about 40 minutes to kill but do not want to take any risks. Once I get to Tokyo I need to then get to Ryogoku, this is where the Sumo stadium is.

My bullet train finally pulls up. These things are generally on time and mine was

Sumo's generally make their own way to the stadium, this one is getting last minute tips on the phone

Someone needs to tell him he will standout even without the orange bag !

Just some photography info. I figured it would be way to heavy to bring the Canon 1Dx with me to Japan. I brought my beloved Fuji X Pro 1 with me and decided to invest in the Fuji XC 50-230mm lens. This does not have an aperture ring and I shot all my shots at 1/1000@f6.0 at around the 200mm range in ISO 6400.

Trying to get my bearings right. Actually oops I'm in the wrong seat watching this lower grade Sumo bout

I finally found my seat for my 8500 yen seat. It was on the top tier and 3 row from the front of the top tier. There are typically only two tiers in the Sumo stadiums. The first tier are where people sit on cushions in boxes that can sit four people, the rich tend to get these as they can easily be over 1000USD. Some people just buy the box and sit two people so they can have the room to stretch.

I had to wait till 3:40pm till the top division Sumo's come out and boy do they make a grand entrance. Known as the Makuuchi division.

Each Sumo is introduced one at a time to enter the ring

The Yokozuna, Hakuho, who holds the top billing and number one ranking apparently has injured his knee in the lead up to the tournament. Hakuho will still participate today. Double thumbs up. He had a shock loss yesterday. What will he come up with today, will he redeem himself?

Low ranked Yoshikaze eyes off Yokozuna Hakuho in the prematch warm up ritual

Yoshikaza manages to get Yokozuna Hakuho off balance

After the shock defeat Yokozuna Hakuho retires from the tournament due a knee injury. What a shame. During his defeat it is traditional for the crowd to protest. It is quite a scene, you start seeing the expensive ticket holders on the bottom tier throw their cushions towards the ring in protest. The crowd do not get ejected which makes it more entertaining. This certainly was a highlight and I will leave you with a few more pics, of this amazing sporting event. I did learn one thing, it is not all about how big you are, or how strong you are there are a lot of tactics to use your weight or your opponents weight to win you the bout. Which makes it a very interesting spectacle.

It is tradition to throw rice in to the ring before stepping in

With so much rice being thrown in the ring gets a clean up during an interval between bouts

Slapping is not always on the agenda of the wrestlers

No ringside girls here, just men with advertisements

The bigger they are the harder they fall

Revving up the crowd the Sumo is getting impatient with is opponents time wasting

Well that was a fun day !!! Bucket list - See Sumo Wrestling live ... CHECK !!!

Caught up with an old friend of mine for dinner and a beer and then it's back on the shinakansen back home. I think I needed a coffee more than a beer to keep awake but I managed to do so. Got back to the hotel and freshened up and got ready for bed. Another big day ahead.

Once again I need to find my way around Japan. This time it is time to move away from my Osaka base and relocate myself to Arashiyama. Arashiyama is north of Osaka and it is back on the JR. I need to go to Kyoto then change trains for Arashiyama. This all sounds easy but you just know you are bound to fail. I feel pretty confident with myself on the JR but then I always find a stumbling block where I don't see any English and need to ask the friendly locals but usually my luck is the first person I ask does not speak English :(

OK, so check out of my hotel from Osaka and make my way to Osaka Station via the courtesy shuttle. I make my way to Arashiyama in good time and well too good a time since check in at 4pm. I do not normally name names where I am staying but this place is just the best if you want to try staying in a traditional Ryokan. It can cost a lot but it is well worth it. You get a 13 course dinner !!! a complimentary welcoming snack which is not really a snack and a traditional Japanese breakfast is also included since you are suffering because you will need to sleep on the floor tonight. I was lucky enough to have my own private onsen that has a view out to the garden. How awesome is this ryokan. It is called Arashiyama Benkei.

Alrighty since I cannot check in to see my room, I decide to follow my original planned itinerary. First stop is Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple. I chose this temple because it had something different. It was a 40 minute walk from where my lodging was. I decided to grab some lunch before heading up and went for Udon. It was a quick bite and going through the area I noticed LOTS of tourists dressed in kimono outfits. Many of the tourists are Japanese students who are on excursion to absorb their own culture. So after walking my way up the hill I hit the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple.

There are literally a 1000 of these tiny unique statues. No statue is the same. Reminds me of Jeju

After viewing the temple I decide to go to one of the main attractions and that is the Bamboo forrest. The forrest is a site to be seen with your own eyes if you are in the area in my opinion. The walk Otagi Nenbutsu-ji temple to the forrest was about 20minutes. The stretch of the bamboo forrest is only about 750 meters, which is unfortunate.

There are many temples in Arashiyama. I popped in to this one on the way back to my lodging

There are lots of things to do and the food is pretty good in Arashiyama, don't forget to stop for your green tea ice cream. YUMMMMMMM !!

Heading back to my ryokan stay I took in the lake view which is outside the ryokan. It was sunset time but unfortunately the clouds have set in. I think I've used those same words previously on this trip so far!!

You can rent a boat and row or I am sure you can fish in the river

Since I am so impressed by this ryokan I am going to leave some photos here, just in case you are curious as to what one looks like.

Working desk on the top of tatami mats and a chair with no legs

The table more for westerners who can not fold their legs like me. The complimentary welcoming snack is on the table

Don't be fooled by the first two chairs. The big white one counts. It is an Omron massage chair :)

... and I had my own Onsen to peer out to the Japanese garden.

After a great nights sleep and wondering if spiders would crawl on me... just a joke, it is time to leave Arashiyama Benkei and well today I have my own private tour guide to take me around Kyoto and what a pleasant surprise I got. Instead of being picked up in a Toyota or a Nissan, I got up graded to be picked up in a BMW 7 series long wheelbase and gee did it have some major leg room at the back!

Receiving the traditional farewell. If I ever come again this is the place to stay!

My driver came early and loaded my bag in to the boot and off we went. First stop was Ryoan-ji temple. The temple hosts a garden known for its perfection, well apparently almost perfect garden. I can only remember that you are supposed to be able to count 15 rocks but most only see 14 as 15 in Japanese culture means perfection. Ryoan-ji temple was a short drive from Arashiyama.

You will be at peace when relaxing and observing the Ryoan-ji temple Zen garden

This temple is full of peaceful views, the lotus pond view

After absorbing all the peaceful views it is time to move on to the next magical location, the world heritage listed Golden Pavilion. Take note the pavilion is not the original it was actually reconstructed because someone had burnt it down in 1950. It is probably the most well known or seen feature in Kyoto and features in pretty much every tour of Kyoto. I was a little unfortunate with the weather, grey clouds and rain but the show must go on.

Kinkaku-ji, 'Temple of the Golden Pavilion'

A garden within the confines of the Golden Pavilion

The crowds were large even with the rain and if my guide and I were not careful we probably would lose an eye from the umbrellas so we decided to move on. Due to the short stay my driver took me to Daitokuji, many Zen gardens and small temples are found.

One of the more known Ryogenin Zen gardens

Decided to have a quick bite for lunch. To get to this point after a 10:30am start It was now around 1pm.

We scoffed some Ramen down and that was the choice of cuisine I chose and the driver gladly took me to a local Ramen restaurant.

Now it was off to Nijo Castle. Where shogun stayed and the unique part of the castle was teh creaky floors. This was deliberate so that ninja intruders would be heard if they decided to try and assassinate Shogun.

This pond is impressive with it's own waterfall and these massive huge rocks standout.

I wonder if this is the side where the concubines are kept?

If you were a worker for Shogun, this is the view you have of the garden.

Off we go ... Kiyomizu temple here we come. Something new that I haven't been to before, and I was looking forward to seeing this man built structure that has a balcony that is 30 meters up from the ground and constructed with no nails just all wooden beams.

This is the entry to Kiyomizi-dera, with the bright pagoda on the right standing out

Torii of Jishu-jinja, a matchmaking shrine is within the grounds of Kiyomizu-dera.

A young Japanese girl attempting to walk the 20 paces to make sure her wedding wish comes true. Let's just hope she is just practicing. This is found in the matching making shrine

Kiyomizu-dera. The balcony structure is pretty amazing. Trust me its not flat and it kind of leans. It is not a pleasant feeling not one for the faint hearted to stand on the edge. Japan engineering!

And again we are off but not before we had a quick walk past Ninenzaka, which has an abundance of souvenir shops but I wasn't in the mood to shop but to see more things. This time to Inari shrine, this Shinto shrine was not in the original tour but because we were on time and had some time to spare I had requested we come here. It is another place I had never been to in my first time in Kyoto and any photographer would want a photo of all those red Torii

Red torii along a path at the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

That's the end of the tour, I was asking if we could go to Gion but the driver told me that the time is up, and he would drive me to my hotel for the next two nights. It has been fun, again lots of walking. MK Taxi guide was superb even though it was a little more expensive than a normal tour but my guide/driver was great and he deserved his green tea ice cream !

Well it is pretty much my last full day here in Kyoto and my last full day of my holiday as I jet out midday and won't ave much time to get out and about. The forecast from the other night indicated the weather was going to be heavy rain. My original plan was to walk around with my Leica and take pics of the local scenery and do some street photography. Waking up it was not looking pleasant. Locked myself of my hotel room was not also a good start to the day.

Spoke to concierge to get my airport transfer organised and I was lucky as she said most companies need to have this booked two days in advance. After I managed to sneak a booking in I had asked what the best place would be to spot a Geisha. I was told the directions and headed to where the concierge had highlighted the streets. The rain was not making it easy and with a Leica pre focussing with different light as some alley ways were shaded and some were open whilst holding an umbrella was not so fun.

I headed to Hanami-koji-dori in Gion (the section between Shijo-dori and Kennin-ji Temple). I paced myself in vain hoping to see Geisha in the rain during the middle of the day with Leica in hand. With the rain not easing I was tossing up to pay around 35USD to see a Geisha tea ceremony where they would serve tea and dance, but that just did not seem right. So I headed with my tail in between my legs and walked towards Kyoto city just to see what shops were around to kill some time. Time I killed. I walked till about 5pm, by the time I got back to the hotel it 6pm. Freshened up and did some more research and one article said you may spot Geisha in Hanami-koji-dori around just after sunset. The sun had just set and I managed to run and make to the hotel's complimentary shuttle service, the service beats walking down to Gion. The rain had eased as I got off the bus but it was still sprinkling. Different form of attack and I brought my Fuji X Pro 1 with one lens the 23mm f/1.4 and was shooting wide open at ISO 6400. I knew I was going to get grainy shots but a grainy photo is better than no photo at all.

I felt like a paparazzi, stalking alley ways looking in side taxis and just simply keeping watch on everything. So here is my little adventure in pictures and captions of 'Chasing Geisha', and not the damn tourists wearing kimonos.

Maybe Geisha will be in this taxi coming up ?

Looking the tea house that may have a Geisha

Losing hope in finding a Geisha in this wet evening

Found a Geisha, just left the tea house and in to the taxi, with an apprentice?

Saw this taxi drive past me, the running certainly helps

Shooting wide open at f/1.4 does not get me a sharp shot .. darn it !!

Fuji struggled, not the best pic but tells a great story

Found another Geisha on her way from one appointment to the next

Not impressed that I've followed her down two alley ways

Next time I will bring a camera to capture this scene and hopefully it will focus better. I did feel pretty treated waiting for some gangland protection men to pop out and beat me up but it didn't happen.

Happy and disappointing way to finish the trip. Saw a Geisha but the photos are disappointing !

Thanks for reading hope the above helps for anyone travelling to Taipei, Osaka and Kyoto

Japan here we come

October 6, 2013

Short stop over in Korea then off to Japan for hot springs ! well one day of it and then lots of touring !! Yes that means I need to get back on a bus in time, go to bed late and get up early due to touring schedules and well I did not understand a word of the tour guide because it was all in Korean. Actually this is the second time I have joined a tour and the guide speaks Korean. Pretty fun stuff and well its on the cheap.

The tour started off in Tokyo, then it meandered along to Hakone. At Hakone we stayed over night to enjoy the hot springs. Yes it is a nude bath and the two genders are separated so do not get too excited. It was definitely an experience and it does leave your skin feeling smooth. The heat is bearable and lucky for me it was an outdoor hot spring and it was teaming with rain so I could cool down. Unfortunately no photos of the hot springs are allowed for obvious reasons. You better get used to sulfur is all i can say as it will stink like sulfur. This followed up with trips to Yokohama which was very pleasing to the eye and the weather was fantastic. After Yokohama the tour bus took us to Narita for an over night and short last day tour. Then it was back off to the airport !!

Day 1, Incheon to Tokyo ... flying time was short and smooth. Hopped straight on to the bus and whizzed from Narita airport to Tokyo.

Arrived in Tokyo and well first stop was a temple, but we really wanted to try the rickshaws but no time for them even though these guys seem uninterested in taking us for a ride

Are we in New York ?? A replica of the Statue of Liberty in Tokyo Bay

Heading in to Day 2 we were off to see some more temples and hopefully we get to see some hot springs ? or don't we ? and the bad weather has followed me again !

O-mikuji people ties these paper ribbons for good luck,

Day 3, after spending the night at the hot springs resort, we are off to Yokohama. More shrines and temples to go to today... but we were surprised to head in to where the local Japanese celebrate Octoberfest !

Friendly locals walking their dogs around near the harbor. Mind you lots of dogs here.

Our grilled corn and squid.. yummyyyyyyy

Locals on the way to the shrine. It is a bit of a walk up, some take a breather

Yokohama local market/festival.. she is singing Beyonce here... from memory

Headed in to Chinatown, yes there is one even in Yokohama

A lot of stalls but not a great deal happening in Chinatown

We take in the sunset of Yokohama across the other side of town.  The weather is definitely kind to us today — We take in the sunset of Yokohama across the other side of town. The weather is definitely kind to us today

Just a small portion of the drunken people celebrating Octoberfest

One of the German brews that was available on tap

A local with one of the coolest glasses I have seen, mind you there was a deposit given for every beer you purchased as that was hostage for returning the glass

Day 4. Stayed overnight at Narita, and the tour fitted in some more temples. It has been a bit of an overkill and I'd rather have spent more time at another hot spring to be honest. The temples are nice but I think seeing a temple or shrine at every destination gets a little bit too much unless you are heavily religious. No offence, but I personally would like to have seen something a little different.

Patrolling or praying ? though look how clean it is

Well that's it. I think next time we will be taking on a different tour or forget touring Japan and do our own thing next time. The temples were nice but we saw one everyday ! There was a lot of walking and I guess not a great deal of seeing. Food experience was also not the greatest, we had to go look for our own ramen.

I think the tour did not do justice to Tokyo, Hakone and Yokohama. I think it is fair to say I will be come here again !!!