Nagoya

Wet, wet, wet... .Nagoya
The plan for today was to go on a walk from Magome to Tsumago, it was a 6 hour round trip. After reading all the other blogs we decided that although it was something we really wanted to do before arriving in Japan we'd already seen loads of traditional houses in Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go, Hida and Takyama so we would give it a miss.

Here's the schedule as we'd already worked it out we wanted to share it incase anyone wants to go!

Travel times
09:24 - 10:39 Nagoya to Nakatsugawa
11:15 - 11:40 Nakatsugawa to Magome
2:09 - 2:18 Tsumago to Nagisa or
2:22 - 2:50 Tsumago to Magome
2:42 - 3:14 Nagisa to Nakatsugawa or
2:50 - 3:15 Magone to Nakatsugawa
3:20 - 4:35 Nakatsugawa to Nagoya
5:01 - 5:35 Nagoya to Kyoto

The weather forecast was for rain so we decided to spend the day in Nagoya. First we visited Nayago Castle & Palace for ¥500 each (£3.50) but we couldn't go into the castle as it's being renovated, instead we went into the Palace which was re-built in 2018! The building hasn't weathered yet and it looks a little strange. The interior has been carefully designed to match the images/photos/drawings of 400 years ago and these decorations are outstanding but at the minute they are digital copies which they plan to replace with originals in 10 years time!

We then made our way down to the science museum passing the oldest TV & radio tower in Japan. Unfortunately the park/walk in the middle of the road was closed as was the tower so we couldn't go up to the viewing decks. However the modern bus station has a viewing platform which is where we took this picture from, it was pretty wet and slippery up there but it's a really cool structure!

The science museum itself is really interactive although nothing is in English it's a good option for a rainy day. The planetarium was good but again it was all in Japanese and went on for 50 mins. We both had a few cat naps but didn't start snoring like someone close by!

We then took a train to Kyoto during rush hour, the station was really busy so we thought we would book onto a train, but for some reason they could only book us on a slow train that was leaving after the next one so we thought we'd try and see how busy the non reserved coach was and there was lots of room so we went for it. Our Airbnb host had given us amazing instructions on how to get to the property by bus which was so easy. You get on at the back doors and then pay when you get off at the front. Try to have the correct change with you it's ¥230 for a single journey or you can get a day pass. The best thing is if you are unsure on the stops they are shown on a screen on the bus so there's no need to worry about missing your stop.

After checking in we did some TripAdvisor searching for food, there are so many really small independent restaurants it's hard to choose but the main thing to note is that most stop serving by 9pm. We picked a noodle place which was really good. 

The water in Fukushima is potable

We arrived at Narita Airport very excited to start our Japanese adventure but after over 20 hours of traveling we still had to get to Fukushima.

This was actually relatively straight forward, we first had to exchange the JR vouchers, we'd bought online before traveling. This was located right next to the tourist information and the helpful staff swiftly booked us on the Narita Express to Tokyo to get a connection to Fukushima City.

Upon arrival in Fukushima around 6pm we wearily dragged our bags through the station and thankfully only for a few hundred metres to the Richmond Hotel, which on the face of it seemed very nice (found out it only opened last month).... before realising I'd booked a double room for one person and it cost more for another guest!!! So it wasn't such a good deal in the end.

As it now had been over 30 hours since leaving our home in the Manchester, England we were a little hungry. We figured out that Fukushima City isn't massive and stumbled across Tikmada Farm a traditional looking Japanese restaurant where we had a decent meal, we even got a homemade "Thank You" written in chocolate with some mango jelly. After this we walked back to the hotel and crashed....sooooo tired.

Next day..........

"Urgh but it's so dark" I mumbled after being nudged by Laura... It was actually around 10am (and actually wasn't dark at all)... So much for getting up early.

Our plan of action was to go see the Sakura (cherry blossom to our English friends). This was a major factor in us travelling to Fukushima as we'd heard great things about Hanamiyama Park.

It was a little overcast but still warm enough to walk the 5km from our hotel (it's possible to also catch the number 8 bus from Fukushima Station which gets most the way there)... The walk enabled us to explore the city and although there's not much to it it still had a certain charm about it.

We randomly stumbled across a Japanese deli (see Google map below) on the way to the supermarket which proved to be a superb find, although our Japanese was limited we successfully managed to point at items we thought would be tasty.

After this brief stop we were on our way to the park... Although oddly we didn't see anyone going in the same direction but... GOOGLE knows best?? When we'd almost reached the entrance we realised we'd come a back way to get to the park and should have followed a stream (where we saw a fair number of Japanese tourists).

Although a good week or so past their best, the Sakura were still impressive and we followed (trying to avoid clusters of Japanese tourists) a marked path approximately 60 minutes up and down this area....  

Warning!! The path itself has a few steep ascents and decents but if you take your time anyone should be able to do it... Plus it gives plenty of time to admire the views of the city and the Sakura.

Our first experience of Japanese people very much lived up to their public image, they really are lovely people. We were stopped by one of the park staff for a good few minutes as he explained to us about the particular types of blossom and was interested to find out why we'd come to Fukushima.

We took the main route back out of the park and headed along the stream to the Abukuma River before crossing a bridge back into Fukushima city centre.

After navigating our way around the massive horse racing track we headed to Iwaya Kannon at the base of Mount Shinobu, home to a collection of over 60 Buddhist engravings that date back over 300 years. These were quite impressive, and I would recommend going to see them if you're in the area and they gave us a flavour of Japanese Buddhist culture. 

Warning!!! The steps up were not for the faint hearted as they were incredibly steep!

Now at the base of Mount Shinobu we decided to walk back to the hotel via the walking paths up the mountain and proceeded up yet more steps!!! Which spiked the heart rate but led us to observation deck numero 2... This gave impressive views over Fukushima and as an added bonus had a few impressive cherry blossom trees.

Given our success we decided to venture on to observation deck 3.... This proved a little more difficult and a descent worth a black run in skiing!.....Although it gave views over the other side of Shinobu it wasn't as impressive so you could easily skip this. 

On the route back from observation deck 3 after weaving round and down the mountain we arrived at the surprisingly neat Yakuoji Temple which provided a welcome rest stop before the final 3km back to the hotel.

After exploring Fukushima earlier in the day we now had a good idea of where to go in the city for food so headed the other side of the station to Neneya Fukushima Ekimae where our Japanese skills... If we had any would have been very useful.