While the cherry blossom trees were in full bloom I returned to Tokyo and the Kansai area where I met some familiar faces. Also I visited the southern island of Okinawa for the first time.
How is it like to do research in Asia? Together with my coworker we have a dialogue about our research experience in Japan and South Korea.
Read about my second Japan Trip in Summer 2014. I traveled three weeks all around Japan – from Sapporo all the way to Kagoshima and back to Tokyo with many stops in between.
A simple guide to build a heated blanket table with parts you can find here for comfy vibes like in Japan.
In 2017 I spent half a year in Northern California as an exchange student. Many things were different at first but I enjoyed my time very much. How was it? And what did I do in my spare time?
After exploring parts of the East (Higashiyama) and the South (Toji, Inari, Uji) of Kyoto, I chose to pay the Northwestern area a visit next.
The city of Uji lies in the South of Kyoto and is famous for its green tea plantations. Over the weekend I visited visited two temples: Byōdō-in and Kōshō-ji.
On the last holiday of Golden week I traveled all the way to Shikoku, hopped on a ferry to see the islands of the Setouchi inland sea and watched the sunset from a beautiful viewpoint.
Kinosaki is a walkable and well-connected onsen town in the north of Kyoto prefecture. The appeal of Kinosaki is the possibility to enjoy many different baths in a day, even for day visitors. In most onsen towns I visited so far, the onsen are within the ryokan one stays at and there is maybe one public bath for day visitors.
On Greenery Day or midori no hi I went to the northern part of Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures to see the sea in Amanohashidate.
On May 3rd I visited Kurashiki and Okayama in the West of Kansai, halfway between Osaka and Hiroshima. I believe many have skipped these places during their Japan travels (so have I until now) but it is worth to come, even if it is just for half a day.
To-ji temple lies south of Kyoto station and is not only a well preserved temple from the 8th century, it also harbors the highest wooden pagoda of Japan.
Today, April 17th happened to be the day of the Inari festival (Shinko festival), a festival at the shrine, so I decided to visit Fushimi again after many years. But apart from that I also explored the sake brewing district and the area in general, so keep reading.
I am living at the Okazaki International Student House, a recently constructed four-story building with about 50 rooms for students and researchers. Once accepted at Kyoto University, it was easy to organize the stay, but one must first win a lottery if the demand is high. After two to three rounds I “won” a room.
On the first weekend I used the last chance to do some hanami, before most blossoms have fallen from the cherry trees.
In the first half of the day I visited the southern Higashiyama region, all the way from Kiyomizu-dera to Heian-jingu. In the afternoon I went shopping in Shijo-Kawaramachi.