Hello!

This is already the last day if my awesome winter vacation.
No need to worry, though, spring vacation's coming up in a few weeks!! (^___^)b
This last day features another highlight: Matsumoto Castle (I wanted to visit it forever, but somehow never managed to do so until now!)
Here we go!~

Matsumoto and Suwa (January 7th 2011):

( Matsumoto Castle at night and during daytime!~ )



( Museum time!~ )



Awww, the grandmother of my camera!! ^-^

( Takashima Castle )

And that's it. That was my busy, but awesome winter vacation!
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did when travelling (^___^)b
Coming up next: -nothing yet- (BUT spring vacation is around the corner, yay!!~ )

P.S.: For some time now my LJ Scrapbook sucks since the last LJ update! All my travel photos are uploaded to my LJ Scrapbook and they load so slow since a few days. I'm truly sorry and I hope LJ will notice and fix it soon *annoyed*

Hullo!~

We're slowly approaching the end of my winter vacation. Only 2 more days including today's entry. *sob*
However, those 2 days include my personal highlights, so I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I did.
As especially today's day was a highlight there are WAY TOO MANY PHOTOS. According to this poll the majority of my readers prefers not splitted up entries and ave ONE day in ONE entry.
WARNING: Extremely image heavy entry ahead!!~ You might need some time to scroll and read through all of it!


Nagano (January 6th 2011):

( Zenkoji Temple )



( Snow Monkeys here I cooooooooooome!!! ~~~~~~ )



( + 23094820398420394 more XD )



AND FINALLY WE'RE FINISHED!!! I think that was the longest travel entry EVER!!!!
Hope you enjoyed it although you probably had to scroll like crazy!
Coming up next: Matsumoto and Suwa (aka 2 castles!!)
Thanks for reading!

Hello!

It's time for another travel entry. We're soon finished, but two highlights will still come! (*__*)b Not today, though.
I can't believe that in a little bit more than 4 weeks I'm already travelling again (spring vacation ) - need to start planning NOW!!! (o_o') .....

Kanazawa - Day 2 + Toyama (January 5th 2011):

( Walking in circles in Kanazawa XD )



( Really? 500 stone statues?? Let's count!! 1,2,3,4,5,6..... uh ... )



( Off to Nagano!~ )



Coming up next: My highlight #1 - the snow monkeys of Jigokudani!!!!!!
Stay tuned!

Hullo~
I hope you all enjoy your Sunday!

I left Shirakawago (Gifu Prefecture) by bus and went to Kanazawa (Ishikawa Prefecture). I ate yummie dinner and went to bed early.
I wasn't really lucky in Kanazawa as the weather was quite horrible, so the photos aren't that good this time.
Anyways here we go!~

Kanazawa - Day 1 (January 4th 2011):

( Oh, rainy daa~ys!~ )



( The Castle Hunter is back!! )



Back outside. I really love the shape of those two trees in front of the castle. Perfect!!

( Read more... )

Not really good photos this time due to the weather and all, but I hope you still enjoyed it a bit at least.
Maybe you understand now why I personally didn't really enjoy Kanazawa that much and why it will never be in my top 10 list (^-^') ...
Next up: half a day in Kanazawa and half a day in Toyama (yay yet another castle!! )

Thanks for reading.
Bye~buu

The weather's been crazy lately. Snowstorm and all. Today it's dark and rainy.
And that's pretty much how my second day in Takayama started as well.

Takayama - Day 2 + Shirakawago (January 3rd 2011):

( Takayama )



( Goodbye Takayama! )



( Shirakawago )

I arrived in Kanazawa around 6pm, had a nice dinner and went to bed early.
The next day was rainy yet again (I told you I didn't have much luck with the weather this time ) - nevertheless I hope you're looking forward to my next travel entry.

Thanks for reading.

Let's straight go to the next travel entry!
I left Tokyo via highway bus. It took almost 6h to get to Takayama. Once we entered Nagano Prefecture there was suddenly quite some snow. Something I couldn't imagine coming from Tokyo where it was quite nice with sunshine and no snow at all.
The further we went, the colder it got. Once we arrived in Hida Takayama everything was covered in snow like WOAH!!! Not just a little bit but some meters of snow on the streets, the trees and everywhere!
It's not like I've never seen so much snow (actually we tend to have even more back home at times), but it was the first time in Japan, so I was really surprised!
It was already night when I arrived at my hotel. I barely made it, because the snow on the streets made it impossible for me to drag my luggage. At least my hotel there had an onsen (*__*) Paradise!~
And in places where it snows that much and where it gets quite cold they seem to have better insulation and they do have central heating it seems!! Thus far I thought they only have that in Hokkaido
During my long bus drive I found out that at that time keikazama was also in Takayama and I really wanted to meet her , but yet again we didn't manage in the end ;____; Too bad!

Although I arrived on the 1st of January I just dropped dead into my bed and so let's start with the next morning:

Takayama - Day 1 (January 2nd 2011):

( Sa ru bo boooooooo!~ )



( Welcome to Chubu! The snow country! )



( Read more... )

Thanks a lot for reading!
Comments are appreciated.

Hi~ho!~

I need to keep my travel entries coming, because in less than 2 months I will be travelling through Japan again as it's spring vacation!!! I should start planning soon! That also means that by then I should have finished posting all my winter vacation photos, right?!
Also, I'm working on something else right now which I will hopefully finish in a few days so that I can show it to you guys.
Anyways, here we go!~

Kawaguchiko - Day 3 (December 31st 2010):

I wanted to leave quite early for Tokyo on the 31st! I also wanted to meet calpis37 and shelketuesti there! After that I had to leave for Saitama. Quite a busy schedule.

( What will the weather be like today?! )



( Mt. Fuji photogasm!~ )



( Goodbye, Adieu, Auf Wiedersehen!~ )



Yesterday was setsubun! One of my favorite special days in Japan, but it's not a national holiday! It was the first time I didn't "celebrate" it, though, as I was all alone in my apartment the whole time

Alright, that's all for today.
Thanks for reading

Hello!~

It's my first day off in what feels like ages and I've been super busy even when not at work, thus the lack of entries. At least I try to keep my travel entries coming.
Thanks for being so patient with me
Anyways here we go~

Kawaguchiko - Day 2 (December 30th 2010):

As I already mentioned in my previous entry, I feared that the weather forecast would be true (cloudy/rainy the whole day ) and thus I got up extremely early (around 5:30am) because there was a slight chance that it would be still clear in the morning.



After a very short and cold night I woke up and saw this from the window of my hotel room. It looked better than I'd expected and so I ate my breakfast quickly and then left to take one of the first trains.

( Race against the clouds!~ )



( Huh? Where's Mt. Fuji??!!! )

Thanks a lot for reading and commenting!!

Hello!

It's finally time to start with my winter vacation picture spam. All photos are sorted and most of them are uploaded by now. I promise that I try to update regularly - at least my travel entries. Please be patient.
Before we start with day 1, I've thought of something special for this time. I decided to make a small travel map (maybe I'll do that for all of my trips from now on). You feel even more like you've done something and been somewhere with that :D



If I wanna display all my travels so far, I'd need a more detailed and a bigger map. Couldn't find one so far (not online at least). Anybody can help out?
There's one tiny mistake, though. I didn't go to Takayama (#4) directly from Saitama, but went back to Tokyo and went from there. But that's just a tiny detail anyways.
As you can see I pretty much went around in a circle (apart from my trip to Tokyo area).
P.S.: Yeah, I know that Hokkaido is missing on this map, but it's not important for my trip this time and it would have taken up too much space (sorry Hokkaido! XD)

Kawaguchiko - Day 1 (December 29th 2010):

So, my first destination was Kawaguchiko. Kawaguchiko literally means "Lake Mouth" and just refers to the area around lake Kawaguchi which is one of the 5 Mt. Fuji lakes in Yamanashi Prefecture.
Mt. Fuji is so big that it actually is part of two different prefectures. One is Yamanashi (where I went) and the other one is Shizuoka (on the exact opposite side viewed from Lake Kawaguchi).
In summer I climbed Mt. Fuji (as you might remember) and we originally planned to start our journey from Lake Kawaguchi (because the view there with the lake is so beautiful ), but due to a typhoon our plans got cancelled and changed and we ended up climbing it from the opposite side from Shizuoka Prefecture. That was one of the reasons why THIS time I wanted to go to Kawaguchiko ^-^;

( Read more... )



( Mt. Fuji, I love you after all!! ^-^ )

Thanks for reading and stay tuned (^-^)/

Hello everybody!

Although quite late: HAPPY NEW YEAR
I hope you all had a great start :3
As you know I haven't had any time for a 2010 retrospect (yet) nor for a 2011 resolution thingie. Not sure if these things will come up later or not.

Anyways, I'm back from my winter vacation (well, actually I've been back since Friday night last week, but I had to work ever since then and tons of other things to do such as chores, unpacking all my stuff etc.)!!

All in all it was a great and relaxing winter vacation although it doesn't sound like it when you hear to how many places I went in those few days XD
I spent all days outside the whole time. Only 2 days with sunny weather, the rest was rainy, snowy or rainy AND snowy with cold wind, but I didn't care. I enjoyed walking the whole day outside even if it's -8°C! I'm not crazy, that's just relaxing to me
I met some interesting people, saw some unforgettable things and just enjoyed my vacation (^-^) I was busy every single second because I didn't want to miss anything and it was GREAT!!!

I also used my cellphone to tweet some photos while travelling. I also used the internet more often than usually to check train times and the weather. And that resulted in the only bad thing about my winter vacation: for 3 days of cellphone use in December my bill was 18.000yen (ca. 180$)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And for the few days in January it was already over 4000yen when I checked it last time. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING CRAZY!!! I really only used my cellphone to tweet some photos, check train times and the weather. CRAZY!! How can that skyrocket to almost 200$ in 3 days? Sometimes I really hate Softbank.
But what's done is done. Not going to think about it anymore. Will look into other plans or even another provider from now on, though (my usual bill is 1000-2000yen!).

Anyways, as you probably expected I took tons of photos again. And of course you're right!
Here's just a short preview of some of my highlights. I hope you'll be looking forward to the detailed entries that are coming soon.
Here we go:

( Read more... )

But my highlight this time was definitely this:



Snow Monkeys in Nagano Prefecture!!!

( Read more... )



( Tons of souvenirs (o_o'') ... )


And that's all for now.
I'm sorry for my quite long internet absence (over 2 weeks o_O; ...).
I'll try to post more often again, but I'm really busy and it doesn't seem to get any better which is why I won't be able to read your journals for a while. At least not every day. I hope you understand :(
Hope to read you soon again

Hello everybody!~
Christmas is around the corner. Amazing how time flies!
People who follow this journal for quite some time might know that I had to work on Christmas the last few years, so no Christmas for me at all. Furthermore December is one of the busiest months at work as well.
Last year was especially horrible! (2009/12/23 //// 2008/12/26)

This year feels more like Christmas. I'm not exactly sure why.

( Read more... )



( I wish I had some Christmas songs!! ;o; )

A little bit early maybe, but:



Speaking of Christmas, I suppose most of you know how Japanese celebrate Christmas? How do you celebrate Christmas in your country? ^-^
( Read more... )

Alright, that's all for now.
The med I'm taking right now makes me REALLY sleepy and I have difficulties staying awake. Well, it's already late anyways, so I guess that's okay.
I still have quite a few working days ahead of me, but nevertheless I wish everybody AWESOME HOLIDAYS!!!!!!

Hello!
It's been crazy busy days. Today as well, but I finished what I needed to do a while ago and now I have a little bit of time before I get busy again later today.
So here's part 2 of the autumn leaves in Miyajima!

Miyajima (November 21st, 2010):

( Ready? Set?! Go!!!!!! )



So beautiful!!!

( Read more... )



Oi, no sleeping here!!

( Read more... )

And that's it already. Well, I shouldn't say that. I guess for one day that's more than enough photos
I hope you enjoyed it. That's all for travel photos for the moment, but winter vacation and thus new travel photos is just around the corner, so there ya go!
Thanks for reading! Comments are love

Tadaaaa!~

Here's now finally the surprise I kept talking about! Some of you might remember that during my winter vacation a few years ago my memory card was broken and I lost tons of photos especially the great ones I was able to take of Mt. Fuji out of the Shinkansen back then.
After my summer vacation while trying to restore something else I was able to restore those OLD photos!!! I couldn't believe my luck! :D
Now finally ... almost 2 years later I present you the lost photos!!! These are quite random and are mostly of my days in Tokyo and the first day in Aizu-Wakamatsu (previous photos that didn't get lost can be found here).

Probably most of you don't remember what happened during my winter vacation 2 years ago XD So ... uhm ... I'll try to keep the explanations short anyways XD



I spend a few days in and around Tokyo before the New Year.

( Read more... )



( more Mt. Fuji awesomeness )


And that's it. I hope you are not too disappointed that the surprise was something like this?!

Alright. There are still some entries that need to be posted in the next few days.
See you again then

Hello again
It's time to post about all the things that I couldn't write about in the past few weeks as I was too busy.

About 2 weeks ago I took a study break and went to Miyajima because I didn't want to miss the awesomness that is autumn colors in Japan and the weather that day was so beautiful, too!!!
I shouldn't have gone on a Sunday, though, as it was crowded like WOAH!!! Even during my last visit during spring break (with beautiful cherry blossoms everywhere) there were not as many people! Kind of scary!
Anyways, I do not regret going! Although I don't have many photos without people in it they all turned out to be awesome (at least I think they are!!!).

Finally I have some time to share them with you!
Altough I sorted them out and it was only one day, I ended up with around 1000 photos! I'll just post the best of the best here. Still I decided to split it up into two entries. So here's part 1, please enjoy!

( This is better than any drugs! XD )



( Not enough colors yet? )



( Read more... )

I hope you enjoyed it and will be looking forward to part 2 - the second half of the day until after sunset
Not sure when I'll be able to put up the next part, hopefully soon. Still very busy (am I ever not busy? :( ...)

HELLO!!!!!!

Yes, I'm still alive and I'm finally back!!! Sorry for the long hiatus, but as most of you know I had lots of things to do these past few weeks.
NOW I'm finally FREEEEEE!!!! :D
Time to be happy right? NO!!!!!!

People who follow my Twitter probably already know this, but today the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) was held all over the world (and in some places it's not yet time - stupid time difference XD)
I've never taken the test before. Basically because the lower levels (previously 4kyuu, 3kyuu now N5, N4, N3) don't get you anywhere, but the higher levels (previously 2kyuu, 1kyuu now N2, N1) are considered as "business level Japanese" and can open you doors jobwise and stuff.
They changed the whole testing system for the first time this year, so all old study material and all knowledge from old tests won't help as much anymore.
Although I already passed the second highest level in mock tests over a year ago, I still haven't taken it until today.
Why? Because it's expensive and so I wanted to make sure that I would be able to pass it.

I missed the application deadline for the July test (also something new, only in Japan you can take the test twice a year now - previously you only could take it in December) and that's why I took it today instead.
I've already started preparing for N1 (the highest level and my ultimate goal) anyways.

I took this test because I was pretty sure that I could pass it.
Why I was sure? Well, I took tons of mock tests that introduced the new testing style and typical questions and all. (I also took the real N2 from July!)
My overall average was 81%.
For N2 there are 3 sections: (my average mock test percentage)
Vocabulary/Kanji (~82%)
Reading (~66%)
Listening (~92%)

( Some photos from this morning~ )



Can you believe it's already December when you see these photos?? ^^;

( So, was it worth all the money, the long journey, the years of sacrificing my free time in order to study??? ............ NOOOOO!!!!! ;o; .. )

Everybody, please let me hear about your JLPT experience? Not only today's but in general!
How many people were there? Did you have any rule breakers?
Congratulations to all of you who passed 2kyuu or 1kyuu. You are awesome! (If we use the old grading system then I would have passed, too, though ;o; ....?!)

The funniest thing ever was that quite a lot of the people taking N2 in my room didn't seem to understand what the examiner said to them XD
Also, I was pretty much the only one who could speak fluently with one of the bus drivers.
Well, but who cares. I suck when it's actually really important. I deserve to have failed the test - that's how much I suck, I guess :(

It was a life experience today. Definitely. Not a good one, though. But, yeah.

That's enough for today.
I should feel crappy but I feel refreshed at the moment. Probably because all the pressure is gone now :) And I'm finally free to do other things again. Feeling like an idiot to have sacrificed so much of my free time on Japanese studies in the last few years, though.

I went to Miyajima when the autumn colors were most beautiful a few weeks ago. Please look forward to some awesome photos which will be up soon.
Also, I still need to post the surprise I keep talking about so often XD
But, it's a busy week, so we'll see.

P.S.: Oh and I don't wanna hear any "OH, I'm sure you passed blah" comforting sentences, k? I tell you I really, really completely failed the reading so unless they change their grading system I have no chance :(
P.P.S.: Actually I wanted to treat myself and finally watch the new Harry Potter in cinema, but now I'm not sure if I really deserve this :/ ....

Beloved bed here I come

Hello there!!

Although I'm still super busy there's something I really WANT to share with you NOW because it's just TOO BEAUTIFUL to keep to myself!!! ;o;
Oh, Japan, why are thou so beautiful???!!! ;o; *cries*
I still couldn't go on any trips yet (like always in autumn), but I will! Soon!
Anyways, on Sunday the weather was absolutely awesome, so I just spontaneously took my bike and strolled around a bit, having so much fun and realizing that autumn in Japan is just beyond awesome!! Probably more beautiful than spring!!!
WHY THE HELL DID I NOT REALIZE THIS IN THE LAST TWO AUTUMNS I'VE SPENT HERE ALREADY????? How ignorant can one be? It's true that around this time I'm always extremely busy (also at work) and too tired to do things.
But - right now, this year, when I'm so busy like never before - I start exploring new sides of Japan!!!
I completely fell in love with autumn and I wish it was a bit longer.
The JLPT is coming closer and I just don't have enough time to do everything I want. Another reason to stay longer in Japan, I guess XD

Although I was only out for a few hours, I took like 500(!!!!) photos because everything around me was so new and awesome - suddenly!! (I sound like a little kid that found a new toy - it's great that I still can be excited about things like that :D)
Anyways, enough of my talking, here's the beauty of Japan that is autumn: (don't say I didn't warned you!!!)

( It's so bright!!! Be careful!! (*_*)v )



( .. and there's much more!!~ )



( Read more... )


There's hopefully more to come and there's still the surprise I was talking about in one of my last entries, but probably all of that has to wait until after my JLPT exam. Only a bit more than 2 weeks to go.
I also started planning my winter vacation - FINALLY!!!! Still a bit confused about what to do / where to go or rather not quite satisfied with my current plan, any suggestions (why does everything have closed around Dec-Jan?! ;o; ...)
2 days Yamanashi Prefecture around Kawaguchiko, so I hopefully can take some awesome photos of Mt. Fuji (yeah, I'm not giving up *lol*), then 2 days in Tokyo (hopefully with calpis37 and shelketuesti , but I also wanna see if I can meet one of my Japanese friends again, so I finally can meet her baby ;o;.
After that Nagano Prefecture (Matsumoto, Yamanouchi - maybe: Kiso Valley and Shibu Onsen), Gifu Prefecture again (Gujo Hachiman - if time and definitely: Takayama), Ishikawa Prefecture (Kanazawa and Shirakawa-go) - not in that order, though.
Nothing is set yet, though. Might not manage to do all of it anyways as many things are closed etc. - stupid winter national holidays! XD
I'm too lazy to change my plans completely, but some parts of Shikoku that I haven't seen yet and also Yakushima sound nice (and warmer! XD), too XD
Oh well~ (Time for bed ^^)

Hello!~

As you know I'm super extremely hyper busy this month , so sorry for the lack of entries :/
Monday before work, I went to the hospital, shopping and also walked around a bit to take some photos of the autumn leaves around here. It was a busy day, but I also enjoyed it a lot
Unfortunately I only took my digital camera with me, which is why the quality of the photos is not sooooo good.
This is just a foretaste. I intend to go to some "interesting" place this month to take some (hopefully) nice autumn photos (still have no autumn photos of Japan in my collection apart from those I'm posting now).
Anyways here we go (but don't expect too much)~

( Autumn photos ahead~ )



It was so much fun walking through so many bright colors (*__*)v I could have spent hours there!

( Read more... )



( Yummie drinks for winter!~ )


P.S.: Remember that I posted about having problems with my userpics on LJ? It seems that I'm not the only person with that problem. The LJ support center was flooded with the same screams for help. The userpics suddenly lost their keywords.
LJ support still hasn't reacted at all it seems. I still have the same problem and just no time to repair it myself, aka type new keywords for ALL my icons. So annoying!


Alright, that's all. Time for bed!
Stay tuned for more - hopefully soon!~

Hello

As you know I'm super busy and will be extremely busy in November, so before this gets outdated, I thought I better post it NOW!!!
So, here's the last travel entry of my summer vacation 2010!~

This trip my brother and me did when I was already back at work. My brother stayed for a few days while travelling alone. Then, when I finally had a day off, we went on yet another trip together.
This time to a spot that connects Honshu (the main island) with Kyushu: Shimonoseki

Shimonoseki (August 19th, 2010):

( Let the journey begin!~ )



( Where Honshu meets Kyushu! )



( Be aware: Blowfish invasion!!! )

After that we went back home.
My brother had to leave the next day. I think he really enjoyed Japan but did regret that he came during summer. Next time he'd love to come in spring which is a good idea, I think XDDD
Probably he won't have enough money to come again, though ;o;

And that's the end of my travel entries .... no, of course NOT!!! Just of the ones about my summer vacation 2010!!!
There's a small surprise awaiting you! Not sure when I'll be able to post about it, though.
Stay tuned.

Am off to bed now (x____x)/~

Hello again!~

Actually I wanted to post this entry on Sunday, but right now I have some time (wow, did I actually write that?), need a study break, or whatever, so I rather post it now and I know that a lot of you have been waiting for this very entry.
I hope you won't be disappointed! :(
As you know the original trip was canceled due to a typhoon warning and so we went on the last 2 days of our vacation, just hoping that there would be no typhoon and good weather, but ......

Climbing Mt. Fuji (August 14th + 15th, 2010):

( Read more... )



When we finally arrived up at the 5th station, my brother already wanted to give up and wanted me to check when the next bus would go back down.
As it was super cold, windy and rainy, we went into the hut/souvenir shop on the 5th station where it was warm, dry and there were a lot of things to see. At that time I thought I'd at least buy tons of souvenirs after coming so far, but after warming up, I told my brother that we at least SHOULD TRY to get to the 6th station. Then we can tell if it's impossible / too difficult to go all the way up or not and then we still can take a bus back and all.

And so, we were all wrapped up with rain clothes, warm clothes etc. and on our way. We were stopped by a lady from the mountain security who told us to be careful and that my brother should wear long trousers and stuff because just a few days ago 2 people died because of improper clothing and the huge temperature difference. Quite shocking O___O; .... but we tried nevertheless!!!
All the people that came back down looked horrible!! Tired, wet, dirty. I asked a group of young men who still looked somewhat okay if they made it to the top and if it's even possible and they told me that they don't think it's quite possible at the moment.
Not very good news, yet again. I was still super pissed because of our bad luck, but for now we just moved on. (- that's pretty much how I looked wrapped up in my blue rain wear and all XD)

( Everybody can climb Mt. Fuji when the weather is nice, you know?! )



( Wait, don't tell me it suddenly has nice weather??!!! )

I hope you enjoyed this entry despite the crappy quality photos ;o;
This was basically the end of my trip, because I had to go back to work the next day, but my brother was still with me for almost another week, so expect some more photos coming

Thanks for reading!~

Finally it's time for the next travel entry!!
Sorry for the long wait (~_~)

Because of the Mt. Fuji dilemma we had to change our plans completely as you might remeber. We wanted to go to Inuyama the day before this, but as it was raining cats and dogs we had to stay in Nagoya.
Instead we did Inuyama and Gifu in ONE DAY! Nothing I'd recommend, but I wanted to visit both cities and we didn't have any more days left over, so no choice!
Luckily the weather was great and so I took my DSLR with me again :D (=> better quality)
It was a busy day, so expect tons of photos.

Here we go~

Inuyama and Gifu (August 13th, 2010):



We started out in Inuyama (犬山) which literally means "dog mountain".
Inuyama is probably most famous for its castle (which you also can see in this first photo).
"The only privately owned castle in Japan and one of the nicest original examples of feudal Japanese fortifications. Originally built in 1537 by Oda Nobuyasu, grandfather of Oda Nobunaga, the warlord who helped end the long civil war that preceded the Tokugawa Shogunate, Inuyama is one of a handful of castles designated a Japanese national treasure." (WikiTravel)

There's also an open-air museum called "Meiji Mura Museum". It's huge and you'd spend at least two hours there. I sooo wanted to go but as we also had to go to Gifu, there was just not enough time! :(

( Read more... )



( Actually we wanted to see 2 more castles, but ... )

That's all.
Next up: Our trip to Mt. Fuji. Soon you'll know if we were able to climb it, got to the top and could see the sunrise or not. Stay tuned!~