Hotel Boston Plaza Kusatsu

... The bus ride back from the temples was quite the experinece. The bus was packed. It was very hard to get off the bus at our stop. You have to get off the bus at the front of the bus which meant we had to push our way thorugh everyone. You actually get on the bus at the back door and you get off at the front. You pay your fair when you get off.

We ended the morning at a large ...

... former imperial capital of Japan (the capital moved to Tokyo in the mid-18 Hundreds). The city has over 2,000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines as well as numerous gardens. The city has a number of pre-war homes as it was not bomb by the americans during WWII,

Yuki took us to see the follwoing 4 temples:

- Ryoanji Temple - this temple had a beautiful rock (zen) garden which was very simple yet remarkable ...

... Temple so I could see the 'Leaping Tiger Garden'. Interesting but small and disappointing. I had hoped to see the gardens and park surrounding the Kyoto Imperial Palace but alas, it was shut. Seems the Foreign Energy Ministers were summiting in town during my visit. There were photocopied 8-1/2 x 11 'Terrorist Alert' signs posted throughout the city. Garbage cans and recycle bins were taped shut and all public lockers were made ...

... into a stone. My view was magnificent. The smell of the old wood like in the shrines was noticeable as well. The bathing area smelt of lemons....you know why. I had to squat to use the sink tho...it was barely above my knees in height. I had to duck as well..but I'm used to that now. For your info.... A Ryokan is a traditional japanese inn. Certain important Japanese customs apply; the biggest difference is that bathing facilities are traditionally communal, not private. I had the ...

... the woman in charge was not all the excited about us staying there. She said we would have our toast ready at 9:00 (as if we knew what time it was), and we proceeded to wait in our quarters for a while before Erik decided he was just going to find the shower and bathe. The woman was not happy about that decision. She sent Erik back upstairs to wait until toast. Apparently it is not traditional to shower in the morning. We don't know why toast took 30 minutes ...

... been turned into a museum.

And that's where the town of Nara comes into play. Nara, is a 'small town' by Japanese standards, and would have gone unnoticed if it weren't for the fact that it holds the largest wooden structure in the world; Todaiji Temple. But the real kicker is that its the longest surviving wooden structure in Japan. Way back when, the Japanese constructed all of their Temples, Shrines and Castles out of wood. Everything was made of wood. Of course, that ...

The southern isl*nd of J*p*n, Kyushu, is often neglected in its visits by foreigners *nd tr*velers of the world. Fukuok* (or H*k*t*), its c*pit*l city, doesn't offer much in the w*y of sight seeing *nd *dventure. But its the tiny little towns th*t br*nch off from the m*in c*pit*l th*t m*ke Kyushu * pl*ce I wish we spent more time in. Unfortun*tely, we only got to visit one of these tiny towns - tiny in J*p*n is *bout the size of s*y, Perth? - *s we only st*yed in ...

... which blended in very well with the orange tones of the Shinto shrines and gates. One such shrine was the Kasuga Taisha shrine. This has hundreds of lanterns leading up to it and hanging within it. the annual lantern festival must be a magnificent sight to behold. Next door is a shrine dedicated to lovers. Just like in similar localities elsewhere on our trip we dedicated and left behind good wishes for our future. After our temple hopping we walked through ...

... the hotel. Our hotel was very nice. Kinda posh, and we got our own beds this time with robes and everything. We decided to walk to the nearest "combeenie" to stock up on water, juice and breakfast items, and to look for some place to eat. We were so hungry at this point. There was this large intersection we had to cross. Lindsay almost got us killed as we ran through it. The light all of a sudden turned red, and Lindsay yelled, "STOP!!!" So Val and I stopped and we ...

It is not raining this morning! We are grateful for this as Japan has entered its rainy season and we thought the forecast for the next 7 days was to be cloudy or rainy. So, we are thrilled. We leave our hotel at 6:45 and head to Kyoto Station to catch a city bus to Ginkakuji Temple. We are quite pleased with ourselves that we have figured out how to read the bus schedules and bus stop information. Something we don't know how to do in the US, I don't ...