Pension Aiueo Shimoda

... et son pere, ils nous ont conduit au pied de cette immense montagne. On a grimpe a 2500m d'altitude... en voiture bien sur ;-). De cette altitude nous etions au dessus des nuages, donc avec une tres bonne vue sur le mont Fuji. C'est aussi de la que partent la majorite des ascensions. Le chemin etant encore enneige, nous avons juste ...

... famous for their hot springs, but even more so for their Cherry Blossom trees. However, at this point, so early in February the Cherry trees haven't really blossomed yet. Most of the attractions require either that, or a nice weather. As we had neither we ended up deciding to rather just do something non-costly and quick, and then head back to the hotel. We ate some soup, Japanese style, where I found out that you are supposed to SLURP the ...

This weekend I have been to the paradise on earth. We went to the small island called Niijima (New Island) around 150 km in front of Tokyo. The island has only 3000 habitants and is around 24 kmē big. The different colors of the pacific ocean were ...

With one of our Japanese instructors, we take a daytrip to nearby Mishima and Numazu. We check out one of the parks in Mishima, including a mini indoor garden display (with mini flowers), mini zoo (with mini groundhogs), mini history museum (with mini models), and mini ...

Try Wasabi ice-cream here. It is very interesting taste. It very spicy, but great. There are many hotels with hot spring in this town. Hiking and fishing is very exciting here. Also, not just wasabi ice-cream, there are also many unique food in this town. http://www.mustlovejapan.com/area/izu/k awazu_summary/

The water of the fall is very cold even in summer. So, it's very nice place to visit in the summer. There is wasabi plantation around the fall and their wasabi is known as one of the most tasty wasabi because of the cold and pure water from the fall. You can try fresh wasabi here. Also, you can enjoy ...

Heading back to Fuji, Fiona and Sebastian stop off to do a 2hr hike in the Kiso Valley, while the others spend a bit more time in Kyoto. The easy hike is between the two small towns of Magome and Tsumago. The towns were part of an walking path from Kyoto to Tokyo, and each retains its rich history. The towns are quite cute to walk through, and the hike was quite relaxing.

... a collection of little restaurants and shops, but the amazing thing was that the water in the harbor was crystal clear. You could see bright blue fish swimming among the seaweed. A far cry different than Galveston or Corpus Christi. And there were dogs everywhere. Chihuahuas are popular here, don't ask me why. Pet clothes are also very popular here. One woman had five Chihuahuas on leashes, all in ballerina dresses. I don't get it either. Anyhow, we had lunch at a ...

Today we were heading to Kamakura. A very popular destination for Japanese tourists and it just so happened to be a 20 min. ride along the famous coastal train from Alex's house! We were a little worried about the weather as it was cloudy and we didn't want to get soaked site-seeing but we gave it a shot. Good thing because it was early enough that not many people were out and about yet and the weather was warm but not too hot. The train is famous ...

Our second matsuri! This one is in nearby Mishima, just west of Fuji. There's tons of food lining the main street, and parade floats are pulled by people through the streets. There's more taiko drumming, and it all leads up to the shrine where there is a fireworks display. These, however, are ...