Hey! ^__^

I'm back from Japan.
Not sure if you even knew I'm going, but just like last year I had a business trip to Japan and just stayed a bit longer to have my vacation there afterwards.
This time I stayed there for 24 days, so about 3,5 weeks!



Photo: Shinjuku from above.

About the business part of the trip I'll write another time. I doubt it'll be that interesting.
So, I'll just write about my actual vacation which lasted for about 11 days. ^___^



Photo: View on the way from one business meeting to another.

About food, souvenirs and other stuff I'll post in a separate entry very soon, so stay tuned for that.



I'll start with a few things that I was able to do during my business trip. I had the weekends off and there was also a national holiday, so yay:



Just like 2 years ago I ended up going to the Kawasaki Halloween Parade. I REALLY like this one.
It was a VERY spontaneous decision this time. ^^;



This reminded me of one thing I really missed: those interesting and peaceful events! :)



These were by FAR my favorite costumes! XD ....




Quick side trip to Osaka's Banpaku Kinnen Koen to see the cosmoses there. I had a bit of time during a one-day business trip to Kyoto, so I got up super early and rushed there. XD ......



I also got lucky again to see Mt. Fuji while taking the Shinkansen.
As you know, I rarely get lucky with Mt. Fuji. Whenever I travel near Mt. Fuji or to places where you're supposed to see it, I rarely do. I think my success rate with Mt. Fuji is like 5% or so. T_T ...
But for some strange reason I almost ALWAYS get to see it from within the Shinkansen at least. XD ....




I'll post in chronological order.
So, as soon as my vacation started I was glad to FINALLY leave Tokyo, so the relaxed part would start.


Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture:



I was able to add yet another castle to my list in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture.
It's really a lovely, huge castle park.



Autumn colors were already out there as it's cooler than in Tokyo - and you could see Mt. Fuji from there.
Can you spot it in the photo above?



Also in Kofu I went to "Shosenkyo Gorge" which is famous for its beautiful autumn colors.



Luckily they were at their peak.



Really stunning nature!



Fujioka and Kanra, Gunma Prefecture:



Next I went to Gunma Prefecture. First to Fujioka City where you can find "Sakurayama Park".
This park is famous for having winter sakura and autumn colors at the same time.
Unfortunately, the sakura weren't in full bloom.
I guess it's REALLY difficult to get the timing right.



But the autumn colors by themselves were stunning enough already.



On the way to my next destination within Gunma Prefecture I also checked out a lovely Japanese garden (Rakusan-en) housing some castle ruins in Kanra Town.



Shima Onsen, Gunma Prefecture:



My next stop - and this was what I was looking forward to the most - was Shima Onsen in Gunma Prefecture.
I wanted to get as far away from the crowds as possible to get some time to relax.
Far in the mountains of Gunma with freezing temperatures, I found this little oasis. :)



It was a bit lonely, though. ^^;
I wish I had a partner or a good friend who could have joined me.
But at least, I got some quiet "me time", delicious food and great onsen.



The place where I stayed featured private onsen, so you had it all to yourself.
And as there weren't many people, it wasn't difficult at all to make a reservation for any of them.
This might also be the perfect solution for people who have tattoos or are too shy to get naked in front of others. ^__^

Yes, I had a rental car to get around.
I think I've ranted about this in a previous entry already, but it was quite complicated to figure out how I can drive in Japan as a tourist.
I still have a valid Japanese driver's license, but as I don't live in Japan anymore, I think it's illegal to drive with it.
As a German citizen I needed to get a translation from the embassy of my German driver's license. That was complicated and expensive.
I spent hours looking up things in the internet to do it right.

And guess what?
I've rented cars in Japan a hundred times - even on remote islands where they might have never rented a car to foreigners before.
I NEVER had any problems whatsoever. NEVER!
THIS TIME however, it was horrible!
At first, they didn't know what to do with the translation. They didn't want to accept it.
They looked it up in their documents where it stated which nationality needs what documents in order to drive in Japan.
I thought this was ridiculous. It's their FREAKING JOB to know these things!
Then, even after confirming in their documents, they still wanted to call somewhere.

I had a VERY tight schedule on that day. Usually it takes no more than 5-10 minutes to get the car and you're good to go!!!!

After half an hour I FINALLY got the car.
But then they heard where I was going and wanted to convince me that I might need winter tires.
I had checked the weather forecast and was positive that I didn't need any.
But as they were from this region, I thought they might know better.
And it's true that I'm screwed if it really starts snowing and I'm suddenly stuck with no phone I could use to call for help.

So, eventually I had to pay additional 11.000 yen and was stuck there for another 30 minutes.
Don't ask how pissed I was.
And no, of course I never needed the winter tires ............................
My schedule for that day was quite ruined ... but oh well.
(The rental car company was in Takasaki City. It's not a small city at all. They SHOULD be used to foreign driver's license. ARGH!!!!!!)




Anyway, let's continue. :)



On the first day in the deserted onsen town I went through a forest to a waterfall.
I was the only one going there.
Everywhere they had bear warning signs and every few hundred meters huge bells to scare the bears away.
THIS was freaking scary! I also did what I learned in Hokkaido and clapped my hands together.
As I was alone and had nobody else to talk to, it was too quiet and I needed to make some kind of noise to keep them away from me.
Luckily I didn't run into any bears. ^^;;; ....

I was also told that the bears in Gunma are much smaller than the ones in Hokkaido...



The weather wasn't so good, but the landscape and autumn foliage were stunning!



There's also a huge dam from where you can see the whole onsen town.



The landscape around the dam is beautiful. And on some of the higher mountains was already snow indeed.



The water in the river was so clear!



You might recognize this from Spirited Away. :)
It's one of Japan's oldest onsen buildings that inspired the connection between the spirit and human world in Spirited Away. ;)



On my second (and last) day the weather wasn't good either, so I decided to do an "onsen day". ^__^

In case you didn't know I'm a huge sucker for rotenburo. I don't care so much about inside onsen unless they have something awesome / special / unique to offer.

And Shima Onsen has some really impressive rotenburo (outdoor spa).



I have no idea why, but none of the onsen was busy that day.
I had pretty much ALL of them to myself which is why I was FINALLY able to take some photos!
I've been to such awesome onsen before e.g. by the ocean, but I never was able to take photos thus far. T_T

The two rotenburo above are part of the many onsen baths you can enjoy at Shima Tamura.



Next, I went to the Shima Grand Hotel.
Again, nobody around but me. :)



Both onsen facilities have various different hot spas, but usually you cannot try them all.
Either they're being cleaned or there's a swap with the men.
So, either you have to stay from morning to afternoon until the cleaning or swap is done - or you just give up and go to the next onsen facility. ;P



For the Grand Hotel there was ONE onsen I wanted to try no matter what, so I stayed for lunch there, so I could try the worldwide one and only (at least that's what they advertise) "Hello Kitty Onsen"! ^____^;; ...



It was an inside bath but you still had a nice view from up there through the windows.



EVERYTHING there was Hello Kitty themed.
Quite nice for fans, I suppose. ;)



Like mentioned earlier I had to wait for the Hello Kitty onsen to re-open after cleaning, so I stayed in the hotel for lunch.
And guess what? They did not only have a Hello Kitty themed onsen, but also a café!! ^___^;



That was my lunch there.
Almost too adorable to eat. ^_^;



The nature around Shima Onsen is really beautiful.
But that's not all!
The hot spa water of Shima is special.
Maybe you know that each and every onsen town has different water with different "ingredients" that are good for various health issues.
Most people only know the nearby Kusatsu Onsen. It's really famous. I've been there, too, and liked it a lot.

However, while I'm not an onsen expert I have to admit that I REALLY felt a difference with the onsen water of Shima.
You're not supposed to shower the water off after getting out of the onsen.
And while I have very dry skin and ALWAYS need a body lotion - with the water of Shima it wasn't necessary.
It's said to be VERY good for smooth skin.
It also warms you up for many, many hours - a lot more than other onsen.
I can certainly confirm that.
I want to visit again some day, but Gunma has even more awesome onsen besides Kusatsu and Shima, so maybe I want to explore those first. ^^;;



Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture:



My next destination was Karuizawa where I've never been before.
It's in Nagano Prefecture, but not too far from where I was in Gunma - and as I had a car, it wasn't a big deal at all. :)
Autumn colors were at their peak there as well.

But unlike Shima it was insanely busy in Karuizawa. It almost felt like Tokyo.
So many foreign tourists as well! Yet, it was nothing special.
In fact, Shima was a thousand times better.
I sometimes feel like I don't even want to mention those hidden gems I find because I fear it will be discovered by too many people and one day everything in Japan is simply too crowded and thus stressful. *sigh*



As I had a car I could escape the crowds.
Most of them were just walking around in the town or using rental bicycles.

I went to see the Shiraito Waterfalls as well as the "Onioshidake Park" from where you get a nice view of Mt. Asama.



It's a sacred place with interesting rock formations.



With the autumn colors and the rock formations you get to see a landscape that I haven't seen anywhere else in Japan yet.




Back in Tokyo:



Eventually I went back to Tokyo.
The weather wasn't good apart from one day, so I had to cancel one of my day trips.
(I wanted to go to the Fukuroda Falls in Ibaraki ...)

Unfortunately the only day with good weather was a Sunday ...... so I just had to dive into the crowds and just as expected it was INSANE!
Hours of waiting for the bus, the cable car etc. ..... *sigh*



I went to Mt. Mitake - finally! ^__^;
I wanted to do more hiking but with all the crowds there was just not enough time.
I'll be back one day and then stay at the foot or even ON Mt. Mitake and then start hiking early in the morning. :D



Autumn colors were not entirely at their peak yet, but I prefer that.
I like it when you have shades of green, yellow and red rather than everything being red already. :D
How about you?



The "Rock Garden" is a forest on Mt. Mitake that's so insanely beautiful that it almost reminded me of Yakushima!




And then the weather got bad and I spent the time shopping in Tokyo.
You'll see what I got in one of my next entries.



And that's it. Hope you enjoyed this entry.
Sorry for the crappy photos.
These were all taken with my smartphone.
I have yet to look thorough the ones I've taken with my DSLR.
I just got back on Wednesday evening and had to go straight back to work on Thursday.
My jet lag is still quite bad, too.
So, I didn't have much time to unpack, sort photos etc. yet. ^___^;


As you can probably tell I had a GREAT time - as always.
I'm always amazed at how much Japan still feels like home.
Like even driving ... I thought I would need a few days to get used to it as back in Germany I confused the wipers etc. all the time, but NOPE!
Then again I had been driving for many years in Japan and only 2 years back here in Germany. ^^; ....

My time was filled with fun stuff because almost EVERYTHING you can do in Japan is enjoyable for me.
I've mentioned it several times, but here in Germany it's just not the same. It's hard to find things that are fun .... and then those are far away or difficult to obtain etc.
Returning from Japan made me think what the heck I'm still doing here in Germany.

Give me some time to get over my jet lag and think about things, ok?
But some of my friends in Japan already are convinced that I'm coming back soon. XD ....
We'll see.


Bye~chuu!