We went with our friends the Gulsens and Olkins on a two-week long trip to Japan starting just before Christmas and extending into the new year. We started by visiting two active volcanoes in Kyushu (Sakurajima and Mt. Aso), stayed at a traditional inn inside the caldera, rowed down a basalt gorge in Miyazaki, and visited the A-bomb museum in Hiroshima, the floating shrine in Miyajima, and Himeji Castle. (And that was just the first half.) Starting New Years Eve, we rented a 150-year old merchant’s house in Kyoto, visited shrines and temples for New Year celebrations, fed the deer of Nara and the monkeys of Arashiyama, visited ramen and war museums in Yokohama and Tokyo, and went to one of the Japanese Disney parks. It was quite the expedition.
