Ekimae Fuji Grand Hotel Aizuwakamatsu

... handbag and heels and she'd be fit for Macy's. After the samurai house, I trekked another long road to Iioriyama, the site of another suicide related samurai story. Here, a group of teenage samura known as the Kyoakkotai (White tigers) had been fighting the imperial army and retreated to the mountain. From the hill, they saw smoke coming from the castle and assumed (wrongly) that the castle had fallen, so they ritually disemboweled themselves and the city now memorializes their ...

Monday 28th April Alison: On Monday we headed up into the hills above Kyoto to Kurama for our experience of a traditional Ryokan. In order to get there we had to catch the JR train one station to connect with the Keihan train company's train which connected us with the Eizan train company's train which took us up to Kurama - all these different train companies in one city is amazing, and of course each one has separate ticketing ...

... is a town with an interesting history from the shogun days ... much political intrigue. There's a castle, and it's famous for a group of 19-year old samurai, dubbed the "White Tigers," who committed seppuku (ritual suicide) during the Boshin Civil War in 1874. Unfortunately, like most castles in Japan, this one was destroyed a long time ago and is currently a 1965 unimaginative ...

... the parents lounging around the onsen (hot spring) just taking it all in and the kids running havoc it is v funny. On the way out I saw two young monkies fighting, I had to take a video of a monkey fight...... but as I got a little bit closer one of the monkies jumped on me and turned the camera off ........ I couldn't stop laughing. And then the snow started ....... we headed for Tokyo

Today we arose around 9 to go to the historic Word Heritage site of Nikko, about 2 hours north of Tokyo. We bought the World Heritage Pass, which I would recommend. For about $35 per person, you get round trip train tickets from Asakusa station in Tokyo, entrance to three Temples in Nikko, and limited use of the Nikko bus system. We didn't get up until about 8:30 so by the time we got up to Asakusa we wouldn't get to Nikko until 2:30. The ...

... were off to the Bowling floor. Like most things, the Japanese do not mess around with Bowling. There were giant flat screens playing music videos and images from the African Serengeti. The shoes are in vending machines and are pristine. I especially liked the ball weights, as the had lighter balls with large finger holes that allow me to chuck the ball harder than I can in the States!! That was enjoyable. The man of the game was Ken... not because he ...

So we get to one of our first relaxing places from the outside bandai-atami doesnt look that nice, probably due to its heyday being 15 years ago! The hotel we stayed at was called Kirakuya Inn not much from the outside but once inside it was really nice, it has 2 public onsens for men and women with many different baths and a sauna, and two private baths on the top floor observing the mountains surounding bandai. It was really nice, Michelle`s bag broke (also her hair drier blew up, we ...

... 500 just for a cup of tea - ceremony or not (KECCHI!). After I nearly got ditched by the others while taking a long distance photo of them, we set off for the samurai estate, Aizu-Bukeyashiki. The estate was a beautiful building with an incredible (bordering on ridiculous) amount of rooms. We learnt that many wives and children of samurai, believing themselves to be the cause of bad luck, committed suicide there. And now for another 'Oh yeah, I just remembered something' moment. Mike ...

This was the day we checked out Kitakata, a city famous for its 120 ramen shops and 200 odd traditional style warehouses. On another topic, I've gotta say the Japanese drivers are the most considerate I've come across (UPDATE: outside Tokyo that is). Not one car can be heard honking its horn; and where else in the world can you find drivers who are backing out of their driveways, but go back in to let pedestrians walk by first. Back home they make you wait (pedestrians being at ...

... sake (or the ones you can buy at a vending machine or convenience store) are either watered down or have synthetic alcohols added. To prove his point, Yamaguchi-san gave us some of the "normal" sake (perhaps a notch above the ONE CUP SAKE that Mike had frequently consumed on long train journeys) and it tasted **** after the Jun Mai Shu. Then he gave us a huge bottle of NIGORI ZAKE, the same sake as the Jun Mai Shu except it was brewed the traditional way and hadn't been ...