Travel Blog
June 18, 2025
Late May, early June is a wonderful time to visit – the weather was wonderful – no rain until our last day in Hiroshima. Crowds were less than in the earlier cherry season time and before the many summer festivals.
We flew Alaska Air to Seattle, then Delta to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Premium Select class which was wonderful. We only had carry-on bags to ease connections and to keep our travels throughout Japan easier.
TOKYO
A Viator guide met us at the Haneda airport and transferred us to our hotel – the Hyatt Regency Tokyo.
Hyatt Regency is in the Shinjuku part of Tokyo – a bit quieter than true downtown Tokyo and a great location. It is within walking distance of the main train station and there is a beautiful park (Shinjuku Chuo Park) right next door which we visited early mornings and evenings.
We did a full day, private Tokyo tour with Viator. Our guide was wonderful – she allowed us to customize what we wanted to see.
The Meiji Jingu Shrine, dedicated to Emperor Meiji, is surrounded with gardens and trees and it felt like an oasis in the hustle & bustle of Tokyo.
Senso-ji Temple – one of the oldest in Tokyo. Busy but interesting, with shops and tourists.
Ueno Park – Tokyo National Museum, temples, gardens, and ponds.
Omotesando shopping street for young adults (very crowded!). We breezed through this – not our favorite.
Jimmy’s guided, full day tour of Tokyo next! Jimmy arranged our train and bus travel brilliantly to visit the following sites – mostly gardens and parks which was our preference!
Shinjuku Gyoen National Park – beautiful botanical and formal Japanese gardens, large trees, ponds, and bridges.
Imperial Palace & East Garden. We thought the garden was connected to the Imperial Palace, but it was not – so we just toured the Gardens. Interesting old stone walls and a moat surrounding the old palace. Very busy here, too.
KYOTO
From Tokyo on the Shinkansen (bullet train). Very fast and fun (we clocked it at 175 MPH). This train offers unreserved cars (walk up and you get what you can), reserved seat “Ordinary” cars (this is what we opted for) and the “Green” cars (like a first class reserved car).
Hotel – Umekoji Potel Kyoto. Our favorite hotel and location – just outside of downtown Kyoto. Potel is steps from the local train station, yet in a peaceful park area that we enjoyed not only walking through but viewing the area from our balcony. A Family Mart is close by to pick up snacks/drinks.
Jimmy also arranged our travel in Kyoto – it was not as busy as Tokyo and much easier to get around.
Fushimi Inari Shrine – with the famous red Torii Gates. To avoid the crowds, we walked through the gates and then hiked up to Mount Inari – beautiful views and peaceful.
Bamboo Forrest – very interesting and again busy at the start but we hiked up to the Jojakkoji Temple where there were hardly any tourists and with beautiful views.
Saga Toriimoto Preserved Street – a quiet, historical landscape with old style buildings. The street leads to the Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple.
Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji) – a Zen temple with gold-leaf pavilion that overlooks a pond. Ate ice cream with gold flakes to cool us down after a hot day of touring.
Ate dinner at Gyoza-ya Mori – our favorite restaurant owned by a local lady and her partner. A small hidden gem known by locals, but we felt comfortable talking with the owner and the couple of people eating there as well.
Nara Park – I was not sure if I cared to see this park full of deer, but it was awesome! It was fun to see people feeding the deer (crackers for sale on the spot), laughing, being chased by the deer and having a good time.
Mt. Yoshino – a local train ride to Yoshino followed by a gondola rope rides up to the mountain top (we had hiked enough at this point!). We were allowed to walk through the Yoshimizu Shrine (shoes off, of course). It was quiet and, again, peaceful.
Kintetsu Limited Express – train back to the Kyoto station from Yoshino. Wonderful, luxury train that we had pre-paid tickets for that traveled through the countryside
OKAYAMA
From Kyoto via Shinkansen (bullet train)
Hotel – ANA Crowne Plaza. Good location connected to the train station.
Viator guide for a 4-hour tour. Wonderful tour and guide (78-year-old Japanese man that spoke English very well). He is a retired electrician and went to college in Upstate NY near where I lived and worked at GE (General Electric). Small world!
Crow Castle – a 1500’s castle painted black by the owner to thumb his nose at the Himeji Castle and its immaculate white.
Korakuen Park and gardens – one of the three great gardens of Japan – truly beautiful gardens, creeks, trees, roses, ponds, etc.
Kurashiki – this was an important point for rice distribution via the canals. Rice was stored in “storehouses” until shipped to other cities. These storehouses are now museums, boutiques and cafes and are fun places to explore.
The Ivy Square – unique and formerly a cotton mill factory. It is now a collection of brick buildings covered in ivy that include a museum, restaurants and even a hotel. There were young performers in the square and street music.
HIROSHIMA
From Okayama via Shinkansen:
Hotel – Dormey Inn Annex. Good location but more of an urban hotel. We experienced an Onsen (a therapeutic, natural hot spring). Ours was an indoor bath rather than the outdoor bath. Yep, we were physically and spiritually purified!
Full day private tour with Viator guide (another 78-year-old Japanese man that spoke great English). Toured the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, including the Atomic Bomb Dome.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum – our guide set us up with a private viewing of a 30-minute film showing the before, during and aftereffects of the atom bomb. It was difficult to watch without tearing up and yet was very thought provoking. After the viewing we went through the museum.
Then on to a happier tour of the island of Miyajima, where the famous Itsukushima Shrine and the great floating red torii gate is located offshore.
We walked up to the Daisho-in Buddhist Temple, founded in the year 806AD. Lots of statues line the stairs to the two different levels. It is all very mysterious, unique, and old!
Henjokutsu Cave. We walked through this cave where they displayed 88 Buddhist icons in about 20 minutes – compared to the pilgrimage they used to do to visit all eighty-eight temples that took 30-60 days! It was quiet, dark and we were blessed just the same.
Hiroshima Airport to Haneda Airport to Seattle to Kalispell: We hired a Viator driver to take us from our hotel to Hiroshima Airport. Flew ANA (All Nippon Airways) to Haneda on a 787 Dreamliner (awesome aircraft!). Then Delta Premium Select to Seattle – through easy customs then to Alaska Air for flight home.
Helpful information –
Rail Information:
We purchased the Japan Rail Pass which covered most of the train/bus/ferry travel. It is mailed as an “Exchange Voucher” which we exchanged at the airport upon arrival for the actual Pass and then made seat reservations for the Shinkansen (bullet trains). Some of the local trains are not part of the JR system so those tickets can be purchased using the Suica (IC pre-paid card).
Suica (IC pre-paid card):
Highly recommend this to transfer swiftly between train lines and hop onto waiting buses and boats with a minimum of fuss. You can also use it at several vending machines and convenience stores, some taxis, and other services. If you have an Apple phone, there is an App allowing you to load the Suica card and swipe your phone for payments. Way cool! I have an Android, so I had an actual Suica card (like a credit card) that I used. It is easy to add money to the card – either on your Apple phone or at a ticket machine in the stations. I found that using the Suica card was easier than paying for items using Yen.
YEN currency. We purchased about 160,000 Yen at the bank here in Kalispell. We used it where we could – mostly for food, entry fees and souvenirs. Even though tipping is not really allowed, the guides did not hesitate to take the Yen as a tip. We came home with about 15,000 Yen for Jimmy to use on his next visit!
I found it interesting that all but the Hyatt provided pajamas to wear throughout the hotels. Most also had laundry services either for free or a small fee – nice feature if you are packing light.
I recommend downloading WhatsApp – extremely helpful for communicating with Viator guides and family!