Japan was always on the top of my travel wishlist. After visiting for two weeks in December of 2017, it’s now on the top of my list of places to revisit. The natural scenery – stunning. The urban areas – lively and engaging. The convenience store food – epic.
In the next five posts, I’ll share with you my favorite photos from this trip. Instead of chronological order, they are organized by theme.
The theme of this first post is “sanctuary” – photos of temples and natural settings.
MIYAJIMA ISLAND
ITSUKUSHIMA SHRINE
Visiting Miyajima Island was at the very tippy top of my list of things to experience in Japan. In fact, I planned for it to be the first stop on my trip. Miyajima was everything that I imagined and more. I started the day by visiting Itsukushima Shrine, home of the famous floating torii gate. It was at this shrine where I got my goshuin book and first temple stamp.
MOUNT MISEN HIKE
Next was a hike up Mount Misen. There are a few trail options (and a ropeway) and I chose the Momijidani trail. Wow, was it a perfect day! It was sunny and cool with a slight breeze – perfect for a steep hike.
DAISHO-IN TEMPLE
For the hike down, I chose the Daisho-in trail. You can probably guess where it ended up…that’s right, Daisho-in Temple! The highlight for me were the hundreds of Buddhist statues.
KYOTO
ARASHIYAMA BAMBOO GROVE
While technically not a religious site, Arashiyama bamboo grove is peaceful…if you get there at 6am. For me, it didn’t live up to the hype. But it was pretty.
OTAGI NENBUTSU-JI
From there, I walked to a little temple set in the side of a hill. To my delight, this temple ended up being my favorite spot in Japan. I would gladly hop on a 12 hour flight just to go here again. Seriously.
FUSHIMI INARI SHRINE
Fushimi Inari shrine was the main reason why I decided to visit Kyoto. My first visit was in the late afternoon and into the evening. I was able to enjoy some snacks at the food stalls set up near the main entrance. Yum! It was such a great place that I decided to go back early the next day to hike all the way to the top.
KINKAKUJI
I read mixed reviews about this temple complex, but ended up enjoying it very much. It helped that the day was sunny and not many people were visiting in the morning. The golden temple was stunning, but even more beautiful were the surrounding grounds.
TOKYO
GOTOKUJI
This is one of the few temples that I visited in Tokyo. But it was well worth the effort! The cat statues didn’t actually take up a lot of space in the complex, but there were hundreds of them in different sizes and states of decay.
