Category Archives: Travel

Beppu

Friday, 19 August – We boarded the coach for a drive to Usa City where we visited the Usa Jingu Shrine, a Japanese National Treasure.  Very lovely architecture and gardens, but it was also very hot that day as we made our way up the many steps that Shinto shrines always seem to find necessary.  We were pleased we packed plenty of water!

Then back to Beppu for a visit to the main attraction, Jigoku Meguri, the “Boiling Hell” hot springs.  They are named that way because each spring seems to depict an image from hell.  We expolored two of them, Chinoike (Blood) Jigoku with its deep crimson colour and Onlishibozu Jigoku – mud bubbles, which emerge from boiling mud pools and look like the shaven heads of monks.

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This was fun – no one told me that the water in the spring was about 40oC!!! It took me several minutes, but I did it! ( Obviously not looking too relaxed, because it was HOT!!!)

 

 

Kumano and Japan Inland Sea

 

Getting back to our cruise, after we left Shimizu, we arrived at Kumano on Wednesday, 17 August at the end of the day to see the famous fireworks display.

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The fireworks look a lot more impressive from this angle!

We were a bit confused about this;  according to the information we had been given before we left, we expected to be taken off the ship by tender and taken to the beach where the fireworks were at.  But no, the ship set anchor and we watched it from afar.  The fireworks were very pretty, but there were long delays throughout the performance and if there was any music, we were too far away to hear it.  So it was okay.

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The next day we spent cruising through the Japan Inland Sea.  Very scenic, so we should have had the camera ready, but there was so much happening to keep us entertained on the ship that we forgot to take any photos!

Shimizu, Japan

We loved visiting Japan again this year, this time flying into Yokohama on Monday, 15 August to pick up the Diamond Princess for our cruise.

The weather was hot, hot, hot!  Getting off the plane, the heat and humidity hit us and it took a moment or two to realise we were in Japan – not Darwin!  The temperature was in the mid to high 30’s all the time we were there and the humidity was way up there as well.

Woke up Tuesday morning to find ourselves in Shimizu and looking forward to visiting Mt Fuji.  We got as far as the 5th Station at 7,900 feet which involved a 2 hour coach trip.  This is the most popular station and it contains some restaurants as well as some shops for climbers to stock up before heading up to the summit.  We passed a number of people jogging or on bicycles and I had to admire their fitness and dedication.  It’s a long way up!

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Waiting for the clouds to clear.  

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The view of Mt Fuji from the 5th Station looking up – the view down was obscured by clouds

Then we visited the Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art to see a collection of woodblock printing.  Very interesting exhibition of the works of Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) which ranged from beautiful landscapes to some humorous caricatures.

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We took this photo before we found out there were no photos allowed!  Here is the link to see some of the landscape blocks.  It is a small museum  that we found very interesting, with the woodblock process explained in the foyer and the opportunity to try it for yourself.