Leaving Kanazawa, we headed south to spend the next four nights in Kyoto. We rented a great apartment through AirBnB – 10 minutes from train station, more bedrooms / space than we’d had in hotel rooms, and nice to be able to cook / choose our food a bit.

Kyoto was spectacular and lived up to my high expectations beforehand. Wish we’d had more time there, and certainly a place I’d like to return to. Beautiful historic sites everywhere you turn, and a friendly, manageable city.

We spent 2 1/2 days exploring Kyoto (pics below) primarily with a guide, and then a day in Osaka. Osaka was a bit more of a day off, I wanted the boys to have some kids time after seeing countless temples in Kyoto, so after visiting the Osaka Castle we went to the aquarium (impressive) and then onto a huge Ferris wheel outside. Later we strolled through the markets and along the canal in Dotonbori area before returning to our Kyoto apartment.

The next day we took the train down to Hiroshima, just to see the atomic bomb museum and memorials, we didn’t have time to make it to Itsukushima unfortunately. All of the sites were not surprisingly incredibly moving and saddening – seeing the photos of the decimation, hearing stories of survivors and seeing pictures of the radiations lingering impact. We stayed in the Sheraton in Hiroshima, which was modern and nice.

Leaving southern Japan, we hopped on a plane to Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido, for a week of skiing…

Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion:

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Fushimi Inari gates:

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Misc. Other Kyoto Photos:

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Osaka:

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Hiroshima:

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Leaving the snow monkeys, we took the train down to Kanazawa, about three hours southwest and along the coast. Starting to get our legs under us in terms of navigating the train system, loving the bullet trains for sure.

We spent two nights in Kanazawa, but basically one day. Back into a modern hotel which was welcome by all – off of the tatami mats and into our own beds! When we first arrived I was definitely not 100%, maybe a slight fever, so had to shut it down for a while. Decided that we all needed a good old fashioned cheeseburger for dinner, so we headed to Godburger, which gave us all huge, greasy burgers, absolutely perfect.

It was fairly cold in Kanazawa the next day but we made the best of it. Explored the Kanazawa Castle, wandered the beautiful Kenrokuen Garden, tried some new foods in a historic geisha district, visited a “ninja” house / temple with secret passageways, and some fun exhibits at the modern art museum.

Godburger:

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Kanazawa Castle:

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Kenrokuen Gardens:

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Higashi Chaya district (geisha teahouses) and lunch:

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Pool exhibit at museum of modern art:

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Exploring markets, “ninja” temple and various other pics:

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Next stop for us was to head to Yamanouchi, near Nagano, to visit the Jigokudani snow monkeys. Bit of a trek getting to Yamanouchi, we took four trains in total (and then a final stretch of pulling our bags over snow covered streets), but fortunately and not surprisingly the Japanese trains were smooth and comfortable.

We all loved seeing the snow monkeys, and ended up going back for a 2nd time in the morning. Though you can’t interact with them, you are quite close, and it’s fun to watch them swim in the hot springs, and when they wrestle, clean each other and in some cases even fight.

We stayed at another ryokan that had an onsen (hot spring baths). This one was much better than the first – the owner was so warm and welcoming, food was more manageable for everyone, and there was a fun rooftop bar in plastic igloos to cap off the night. Just one night at this ryokan, then we headed down to Kanazawa the next day…

Snow monkeys:

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Our ryokan:

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After Tokyo, we went down to Hakone for a night, about an hour and a half south. This was certainly our most chaotic morning, trying to find the track for the “RomanceCar” train, lugging all of our bags through large & hectic Shinjuku train station, getting misdirected multiple times, finally making it in a full sweat with just a few minutes to spare. The boys weren’t happy with me, putting it mildly.

Once we got to Hakone, we went to the Open Air Museum there. Such a great spot for kids – climbing structures, foot soaking baths, stain glass towers, etc. – plus beautiful sculptures and a whole building of Picasso works. Loved it and wish we could have stayed longer.

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After the museum, we went up the mountain to enjoy the views of Mt. Fuji and the thermal vents coming from the mountain.

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Then we went to stay at our first ryokan, a traditional inn, with an onsen (hot spring baths) and a traditional dinner.

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Sorry for the delay in posting, it’s been busy since we landed, and obviously took some time to get readjusted post flight. I’ll try to catch up spot by spot, likely an easier way to keep this up to date going forward!

First stop was Tokyo, where we spent 5 nights. Tokyo lives up to it’s reputation as being huge and initially intimidating, but once you get past that it has a beautiful rhythm and is welcoming. Everyone we met, from the train attendants to police officers to folks on the street all seemed happy to help us and genuinely interested in us being there. It was a bit of an odd time to be in Tokyo, the city shuts down for 4-5 days around New Years, which meant we weren’t able to do a bunch of activities (sumo, zoo, ninja restaurant, etc.) that we initially intended. That said, it also made things quieter than the normal chaos and more manageable for sure.

We stayed at a hotel in Shinjuku called Super Hotel. It was a central location and a good launching spot, but the rooms were perhaps not surprisingly tiny. Jack’s feet kicking me in the head did not help with catching up on sleep! Somehow I managed not to get a picture of the room, but suffice it to say our bags barely fit.

Some highlights….

Tsukiji Fish Market: quieter than normal for sure, but loved tasting the fresh sushi…

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Samurai Museum:

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Day Trip to Nikko for temples and boys first ramen…

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Yummy yakitori at a place recommended by Steph Mark…

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Tokyo tower:

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And a smattering of other highlights from restaurants, neighborhoods, etc.:

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Next stop was on to Hakone for one night…

Henry, Sam, Jack and I are heading to Asia in less than a week!  First stop is Japan, then on to Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Hong Kong and China.  We come back in late March.  So looking forward to this adventure with the dudes!

We will use this site to update pictures from our travels periodically, presumably once a week or so.  I will also be posting pictures at Instagram, can follow me at franklinhfoster.

Look forward to seeing everyone on our return!