Japan Photo Guide

Lake Toya (Toyako in Japanese), is part of Shikotsu-Toya National Park and is about an hour and half from Sapporo by train. Lake Toya is really famous for hot springs and also is home to Japan’s most recently active volcano, Mount Usu, which last erupted in 2000. On a nice day, Lake Toya offers a spectacular view of the lake and the islands in the middle of it, but like most of the rest of my trip to Hokkaido, the weather was once again cloudy. The lake is pretty large so I recommend renting a car or bike as public transportation is not so frequent. For the best views of the lake and surrounding area check out Mt. Usu Ropeway.

There are a few nice things about Lake Toya that I really liked. For one, there are all these (sometimes) interesting sculptures all around the lake (as you can see above). Second, every night in the summer there is a small festival at night where there are fireworks over the lake and also a small traditional dance and taiko drums. Also if you are into outdoor activities there is plenty of hiking, fishing, camping, boating and other water activities available.

For more information please see Japan-Guide.com.

Roppongi Hills Tower is a very modern complex and buildings with everything from (upscale) shops to offices to apartments to restaurants to an art museum. Think of it as an upscale, modern city within Tokyo. It is connected to Roppongi Subway Station and is within walking distance of all the nightlife of the vastly different area known as Roppongi.

Roppongi Hills is a must see if you are visiting Tokyo. I recommend going in the afternoon, walking around the outside and then going up to the tower to see the view of Tokyo (and beyond) just before sunset. On a clear day you can even see Mt. Fuji (see the photo below). Also the art museum is on the top floors of the tower. On another side note, the movie theater has a great discount for foreigners and tickets are only 1000 yen which is almost half price for movie tickets in Japan.

Below on the left is a huge sculpture of a spider. This spider is a popular place to meet and wait for people at Roppongi Hills. On the right, one day I went to Roppongi Hills and I just happened to be there at the same time as a festival parade was passing by Roppongi Hills. The shrine they are carrying is called Mitsukoshi. This style of carrying a shrine in a parade like fashion is a very common for festivals throughout Japan.

For more information see the official site of Roppongi Hills.