I spent 1 full day in Hiroshima.   Like everywhere else I visited, I could easily have stayed longer because there was so much to see and do.   My hotel was right in the middle of everything, so I ended up doing a lot of walking, almost 20,000 steps, according to my Fitbit. I started my day at Shukkei-en garden – a beautiful Japanese garden that was originally constructed in 1620.   At one time, the Imperial General Headquarters were located in Hiroshima and Emperor Meji lived in the villa and garden for a short time during his reign from 1867 to 1912. During his time in power, Emperor Meji brought Japan from an isolated, pre-industrial, feudal country to a capitalist society and imperial world power.    Under his guidance, Japan underwent a political, social, and industrial revolution.   It was heavily damaged in the nuclear attack in 1945 but has since been restored.   There are a number of tea houses in the garden and visitors can partake in a traditional Japanese tea ceremon

I spent 2 days in Kamakura, or rather, just outside Kamakura in Fujisawa.   Hotels are a bit more expensive than I’m used to, so I’m trying to stay away from tourist areas.   So far its worked out fine, the public transportation here is awesome, although also expensive.   All the stops are in Japanese and English and the ticket machines have English instructions.   If there are any questions, the train staff and fellow travelers have been very helpful. Even if we don’t speak the same language; pointing work quite well.   Kamakura has dozens of temples, tombs, shrines, parks, and hiking trails.   I could easily have stayed longer.   As soon as you get off the train you see a huge red gate; the entrance to the city, or at least the main shopping and restaurant street.   It was jam packed with people; some shopping, some gawking at all the street food, some even daring to try something new.   I had some sakuramitarashi dingo; 4 or 5 round rice dumplings on a stick, covered in some swe

I flew from China to Tokyo and had 2 days before meeting my new travel buddy, Nancy.   I took the time to rest and catch up on everything including my photos and blog.   During the 2 weeks in China, I didn’t have access to most news and no Facebook.   Remember, I’ve been traveling non-stop since 25 Sept and it was now 1 November; I was tired.   We met up on the 4 th , and spent the next few days together, touring Tokyo.   While she’s a very nice woman, and I enjoyed hanging out with her, at the end of the day, I thought I would much rather just travel on my own.   Our travel styles are very different and when you are with another person, there are compromises you have to make to be fair.   To be honest, I simply didn’t want to compromise.    I’m not sure she got my reasoning, but I guess there’s not much I could do about that, it certainly wasn’t personal. I hadn’t done much research on Tokyo specifically, so I’m sure there are things I missed, but I did go to a shopping area