During my time in Japan, I had the opportunity to travel to Kanazawa. A part of Japan that is beautiful! It was an expensive Shinkansen ride that was about 2 or 3 hours from Tokyo; however, it was beautiful and so relaxing!
My family and I stayed 3 days in Kanazawa and loved the history and culture that we saw there. Here are the places we went to: Kanazawa Castle - Kanazawa Castle was great! There was great scenery. The castle itself was destroyed, but they remade the guards part of the castle and it was so cool to see! Kenroku-Eno - BEAUTIFUL garden connected to Kanazawa Castle Tsudumimon - This is the famous arch right in front of Kanazawa station (HUGE)! Omicho Market - Open Fish Market! (Go in the morning) Nishi Chaya District - This is where the geishas used to live! It was a cute little street filled with shops and walk in historical rooms. I made a gold leaf picture frame here! Gold Leaf Museum - Kanazawa is known for their gold leaf making. The process is intense and the museum made me appreciate all the gold leaf products. Each place was beautiful. If you ever go to Kanazawa, make sure to get the loop bus ticket which lasts for a day and is only 500 yen! It was well worth it and nice and air conditioned.
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My boyfriend was able to visit me in Japan! One of the major highlights of our trip was going to Kyushu! We rented a car (SCARY I KNOW) and drove 2-3 hours to Beppu. Beppu is famously known for there hells onsen. My grandpa recommended we go there, and it was so interesting!!! The hellos (Jigoku) are not for going in, but for observing. They all have different facts about them, some are grey and mysterious from the type of soil in the earth, some are bright red from the soil in the ground, one breeds crocodiles because of the perfect warm temperature, and more! The hells are fairly spread out, so you have to take a bus, or even walk to some. It's fun to walk around to see all the little shops and catch some local food! The next thing we did was go to the Takamiya monkey park. The Takamiya monkey park was so funny! We took a small little trolley to the top of the mountain, and immediately we saw the monkeys. They wander around and aren't afraid to crawl through your legs and more! When they ring the food bell, all the monkeys rush towards the main area (short video shown below)! They're absolutely, so funny. I would highly recommend coming here! To end our time in Beppu, we went to a gondola ride! Brad was so scared, as he's never been on a gondola ride. However, the view was amazing and it was so worth it. We hiked to the top most part of the mountain and enjoyed the view. It was a perfect way to end our time in Beppu. After this, we drove back to Fukuoka (I slept the entire way and Brad drove) and ate dinner. I would highly, highly recommend coming to Beppu. However, if you plan to with 2 or more people, it's just as expensive or cheaper to rent a car rather than the shinkansen pass. The JR Kyushu pass will not cover the shinkansen ride to Beppu from Fukuoka. The drive was breathtaking and calming! At first we were scared to drive on the opposite side of the road and car, but it was worth it and not bad at all!! My grandpa is very, very interested in our genealogy. He's always showed me pictures of my great grandmother and grandfather, told me stories of how they came to Hawai`i, and even showed me our Koseki before! Since the passing of my grandpa's first cousin death in Japan, he was unable to contact them. While he did not know much about the family, he really wished he could have met them in person. Because of his health and age, he's unable to fly to Japan and meet them. For my grandpa, studying our genealogy and sharing it with me is a way to re-connect to our family ties in Japan. It all came magically to life when I was able to visit them in Japan. I'll never forget the experience I had. Miss Yoko Waki is a very, very generous lady from the Japanese Cultural Center that helps my grandpa with translation of our Koseki. She actually had the opportunity to meet my grandpa's first cousin in Japan right before he passed away. It just so happened, that she would be in Shizuoka a day I was free and that she was able to introduce me to my family. My family lives in a small town near the city of Shizuoka. I was really nervous to meet them, as I only thought I was going to meet one of my uncles. I had absolutely no knowledge that the entire family would be there, or if I even had cousins. I took my friend Cayli with me, because she speaks a little Japanese and my family in Shizuoka does not speak any english at all. Cayli and I took the shinkansen to Shizuoka and stayed at a very, very cute airbnb! the owners were super generous, cooked us an amazing breakfast and drove us to the train station the next day. We met Miss Yoko San at the train station and began our departure via taxi to my family's house! I was So So surprised to have an entire family great me: 2 grandmas, 3 grandpas, 1 uncle, 1 aunty, and 4 girl cousins that were ages 19-30! The first thing they said to us was "kawaiiii!" and Cayli and I were so shocked and confused!!! Because my cousins were unable to speak english, and Cayli and I were limited in our Japanese, it was difficult to converse with all of them. However, I got to know a little bit about my cousins and followed them on social media! The whole family walked to the grave where my ancestors were and they prepared an entire meal for us. Overall, it was one of the best experiences of my life! |
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July 2017
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