Summary of our Japan Experience

Overall we absolutely loved our trip to Japan and we will certainly be going back. We plan to see Japan in all seasons, I'm hoping we see Autumn next; M wants to see Spring & Cherry blossoms. We won't fly via Russia next time, though I doubt we'll go direct. We will see what other routes are available...

We both adored Japanese TV which we put on for background noise at the hotels, and subsequently learnt to enjoy Baseball. Nearly all food was great, we aim to start learning Japanese properly before we go again, hopeful also Kanji as this will make food-buying a lot easier.
I was also totally in love with all the plastic food in restaurant windows, so realistic!

(This was the only photo I got of the plastic food

there were so many great types though!)

My favourite things were snorkelling in Okinawa, Fushimi Inari, and the crafts. M's favourite things were Okinawa as a whole, Tokyo as a whole, and Akihabara. We both adored the food. And the roadworks:

(LED cones! & traffic cops carried tiny light sabers)

 

 (Possibly the best barriers I've ever seen)

We travelled 4042 miles / 6505 km within Japan on flights and trains in 3 weeks. We saw 21 places plus some more in transit and experienced nearly everything we wanted to.
(Overall we travelled 16901 miles / 27199 km in 3 weeks from our front door and back again)

Just as a point of interest, our Itinerary looked something like this:

25.07.15 - 11:05 flight from London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita via Moscow SVO
26.07.15 - Arrive Tokyo 10:35 (Explore)
27.07.15 - Tokyo - Ghibli Museum and explore
28.07.15 - Tokyo - Mt Fuji & Hakone Day Trip
29.07.15 - 11:05 flight from Tokyo Haneda to Naha, Okinawa
30.07.15 - Snorkelling (am). 18:45 flight from Naha, Okinawa to Fukuoka
31.07.15 - JR Pass start. Fukuoka to Takeo-Onsen (& Arita)
01.08.15 - Takeo-Onsen to Hiroshima (& Yamaguchi & Iwakuni)
02.08.15 - Hiroshima to Okayama (& Kurashiki)
03.08.15 - Okayama to Kobe (& Himeji)
04.08.15 - Kobe to Kyoto (& Nara)
05.08.15 - Kyoto - Explore
06.08.15 - Kyoto - Fushimi Inari
07.08.15 - Kyoto to Hakone (Onsen)
08.08.15 - Hakone to Yokohama
09.08.15 - Yokohama to Yamagata (& Yamadera)
10.08.15 - Yamagata to Morioka
11.08.15 - Morioka to Aomori. 11:05 flight to Sapporo New Chitose. Sapporo to Otaru
12.08.15 - 11:40 flight from Sapporo New Chitose to Tokyo Haneda. Train to Ueno
13.08.15 - Tokyo (JR Pass End) (Shop!)
14.08.15 - Tokyo (Shop!)
15.08.15 - 12:00 flight from Tokyo Narita to London Heathrow via Moscow SVO

We hope you enjoyed reading the blog; if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

All the best,
C & M, Casabi Designs
www.casabidesigns.co.uk