Japan Photo Guide

Heian Shrine is located in eastern Kyoto and compared to the rest of the famous temples and shrines in Kyoto, it is very new, being built in 1895 for the 1,100th anniversary of the Heian Capital Foundation. Part of the shrine is a replica of the Imperial Palace of the Heian Period but not all of it is the same scale.

The best time to go here is during cherry blossom season, which is usually around the first week in April. Heian Shrine is one of the most famous places in Kyoto to see cherry blossoms, personally I prefer the Path of Philosophy though. To see the cherry blossoms here you have to pay an extra fee to go into the garden.

If you are short on time during your trip to Kyoto, it wouldn’t be so bad to skip the Heian Shrine (especially if it is not cherry blossom season). Below is a photo of a huge tori gate and in the background you can (kind of) see the entrance of Heian Shrine.

Tokyo Dome is the 55,000 seat stadium home to the Yomiuri Giants. It has hosted everything from NBA and NFL games to monster truck, mixed martial arts and pro wrestling. Next to Tokyo Dome is a place called LaQua which is a shopping and restaurant building. In addition a small amusement park that has a telecaster that goes through the main building, a water ride, bowling and a ferris wheel. To get there by JR you should get off at Suidobashi Station or by subway at Korakuen Station. The below photos is courtesy of PhotoPassJapan.com.

One thing that makes Tokyo Dome worth checking out is food. Especially in the building called LaQua which has a wonderful yakiniku place called Jojoen. It is expensive, but trust me, it is worth it to go one time. Besides the food, just the architecture of the area can make for some nice photos and it is kind of a unique place compared to other parts of Tokyo. See more photos and read the rest of this entry »

Satoland Sapporo is one of the 3 sites for the Sapporo Snow Festival, with Odori Park and Susukino being the other two. Satoland is a little far from the city, but can easily be accessed during the snow festival by free shuttle buses that run from the other sites. While most of the impressive sculptures are at the Odori Park site, Satoland has such things as an ice labyrinth (maze), huge ice slide, ice rafting (a raft gets pulled by a snow mobile) and even hot air balloon rides weather permitting.

For more information and a few photos, see the official Satoland Site.

Thanks to Greg Logan for the photos!

Sleeping in Japan can quite often be an expensive thing and unlike the USA where hotels charge per room, in Japan it is often a price per person. I am going to run through a couple different options that are decent, cheaper alternatives to regular hotels in Japan. See other places to stay.

Love Hotels are quite interesting and unique to Japan. Basically, love hotels are for couples to spend a few hours alone together as walls in Japanese homes are (sometimes literally) paper thin. Love hotels tend to have larger rooms than regular hotels, with nicer (and larger) bathrooms, plasma tvs, karaoke, video games, and access to dvds (adult and regular movies). Rooms can have various types of themes and some have various “amenities” such as massage chairs, slot machines, saunas or even a small indoor pool. Some hotels have different themes per room and other hotels have a theme for the entire hotel. There are two options, rest (2-3 hours) or starting from around 10pm you can stay (9-12 hours). Prices and times vary depending on the place, time of day, and if it is a weekend/holiday. A typical love hotel will cost about 3000-5000 yen for a rest and 7000-over 10000 yen for a stay. Often you choose your room by pressing a button next to a picture and then pay a person behind a opaque counter (privacy is important here). Apparently they will not let more than two people in a room nor do most let same sex couples in (sometimes).

See more photos and read the rest of this entry »

Ikebukuro is yet another large entertainment and commercial district of Tokyo. Ikebukuro JR Station is the 2nd busiest in Tokyo (1st is Shinjuku Station) and it’s subway station is the busiest in Tokyo. It is estimated that about 1 million people pass through Ikebukuro on a normal day. There are what seem to be an endless amount of shops and restaurants in Ikebukuro and while it is an interesting place, I recommend checking out Shibuya and/or Shinjuku first. If you still need more of an urban fix and have time, then you should head over to Ikebukuro. To be honest, it doesn’t feel too different from those places except for maybe a little older; however, there is another reason why you might want to go to Ikebukuro….

See more photos and read the rest of this entry »

In Tokyo there is plenty of public transportation by way of train but if you want to go to Asakusa you can take a boat ride to/from Asakusa called the Sumida River Cruise. You do not need a reservation, and while sometimes in the summer it can get pretty crowded, there are usually a couple of boats per hour. There are different course you can take running from a short 5 minutes to 35-40 minutes. The Sumida River Cruise is a nice way to see some of Tokyo and a lot of interesting bridges. As you can see from the photos below there are a couple differnet kinds of boats you can choose from and they go on different routes.

The cooler looking one, that kind of looks like a spaceship, only runs a few times a day and takes you to Odaiba. The building with the golden building and the smaller building with the thing on it is the Asahi Beer Building. See more photos and read the rest of this entry »

I have not actually been here, but the latest winner of the Japan Photo Contest has! Congratulations to Laurenz Bobke who took this great photo at Shinjuku Gyoen! Laurenz had this to say about it, “It was taken in the Shinjuku Gyoen Chaya, Tokyo. After a stroll in the garden, we had two cups of Matcha (finely ground Japanese green tea used for the tea ceremony) with the traditional accompanying sweet in the tea house. Although not a real ceremony, the preparation of the is a very meditative process. The woman making the tea was sitting with her back to us, while I shot across the lacquer table with my small Lumix capturing the reflection.”

For more information about Shinjuku Gyoen, check out the wikipedia or the official website of Shinjuku Gyoen. To see more of Laurenz’s photos of Japan go to travelphoto.net. Thanks again for the photo and great shot!

This post has information and photos mainly about the consumer fish market at Tsukiji. If you are interested, there is also a post more specifically on the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market at Tsukiji.

Tsukiji Fish Market (築地市場) is a large wholesale and consumer market in Tokyo. In fact, it is the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. In recent years it has become a popular tourist attraction for foreigners. Tsukiji is in Tokyo close to Ginza. The best time to go is early in the morning when most of the action is going on in the wholesale market, from around 5-9am. This works out nicely for those that have just arrived and are still jet lagged or for the more adventurous souls that stay out all night and then catch the first train.

These photos were taken at the consumer market next to the wholesale one. The wholesale market is where they have the huge tuna and auctions. Be aware, while it has become a popular place for tourists, people are working here, so if you go try not to get in their way (especially the ones with sharp tools or driving mini forklift looking machines). See more photos and read the rest of this entry »