Honshu

We checked out of Nine Hours Narita Airport and headed to the terminal for our flight to Mumbai. We were able to use the priority check-in counters thanks to my Star Alliance Gold Status on United MileagePlus. We had missed seeing Mt. Fuji during this trip and also hadn’t been able to see it from the Shinkansen the previous day. Looking at which runways were used for take-off for the last few days for this flight I took a calculated guess and asked for seats on the right side of the plane hoping to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji from the air. We got assign a middle and window seat on the right side. ...

Today was the last day of the trip and we would spend most of it travelling back to Tokyo. I had a couple of options in mind. One option was to take a break at Himeji and see Himeji castle. The second was to take a break at Shin-Fuji and go and see Mt. Fuji. Getting to see Mt. Fuji trumped visiting the Himeji Castle. But based on the reading of travel blogs and websites, it seemed that being able to get a good view of Mt. Fuji was subject to local weather conditions and/or the time of day. The last thing we wanted was to get there and not be able to see Mt. Fuji. The third option was to break the journey in Okayama and do a side trip to Takamatsu in Shikoku, effectively visiting all the four main islands of the Japanese archipelago. We choose this one and used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 for seat reservations for the trains till Tokyo. ...

We got up early and got ready, it was too early so we skipped breakfast again. We walked from Piece Hostel Kyoto to Kyoto Station. We used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 for seats reservations for the long distance trains for today. The plan was to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima (also known as Itsukushima) and then head to Kagoshima. Our first journey would take us from Kyoto to Hiroshima on the Hikari 491 which operated on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen line till Shin-Osaka and then on the San’yō Shinkansen line till Hiroshima. This was the fastest Shinkansen ride during our trip covering a distance of 380.6 kms in 1 hour 44 minutes with average speed of 219.58 kmph. After reaching Hiroshima Station, we visited the Hiroshima Tourist Information to buy the Visit Hiroshima Tourist Pass for the day. Seeing that we were foreign visitors who had just arrived by train, the staff confirmed that we could use the Hiroshima Sightseeing Loop Bus to visit all the placed we had planned and that it was included with our Japan Rail Pass 🔗. We then went to the baggage lockers to leave our bags there before heading out and taking the Sightseeing Loop Bus. ...

We got up early and got ready, it was too early for breakfast. The plan was to go and see the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest as early as possible to avoid the crowds. We walked from Piece Hostel Kyoto to Kyoto Station. We used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 for the 6:04 AM train on the JR Sagano Line towards Sonobe. It took a little more than 15 minutes and we reached Saga-Arashiyama Station station. ...

We got up early, got ready and went down to have breakfast. Breakfast the next morning was basic but adequate. We walked to the Hakodate Morning Market which was only a couple of minutes away. The market area spanned a few city blocks and was open from early morning till about noon. There was a lot of local Hakodate produce on display, vegetables and fruits. But the main attraction was the large variety of fresh and preserved seafood, including crabs and salmon roe. A few stores had freshly-caught squids swimming in tanks, you could fish them and then have the chef prepare it for you to eat. There were many restaurants in the market area that offered Seafood Rice Bowl. Having eaten (a more western) breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee already we were not sure if we would fancy seafood so early in the morning we decide to give it a miss. Overall it was a nice experience to walk around. ...

After a comfortable flight 🔗, we landed on time at Tokyo Narita Airport; fresh and ready for our week in Japan. Immigration and baggage claim was fairly quick. We headed to the JR East Travel Service center and exchanged our vouchers for the actual Japan Rail Pass 🔗 after showing them our passport and visa. We used it right away and booked tickets on the Narita Express 10 at 9:45 AM reaching Tokyo at 10:44 AM. ...