Cinti's Travels: Japan - an overview

I'm so excited to finally be able to talk about my trip to Japan. The trip was booked in February after Miss Pilgrim asked me if I wanted to accompany her on a crazy adventure. I'm never one to say no to a travel opportunity, so much to her surprise, the tickets were purchased within a few days...(then I told Mr Man, hehe!)

Then the terrible earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March and all out plans were in limbo. We didn't want to cancel any plans prematurely, but we didn't want to get too excited and talk about our holiday because it seemed inappropriate. We also didn't want to get our hopes up just in case the trip was eventually cancelled. Many of our friends and family were concerned about us going, but it will take more than some earth shaking for me to cancel a trip.

I'm really glad everything did work out because travelling there was a great way to show the Japanese people our support. I have never felt so genuinely welcome as a tourist/foreigner, and we encountered several lovely people that really sincerely thanked us for visiting, it was quite moving. Unfortunately the tourism industry has really suffered since the earthquake which has significantly affected peoples livelihoods.

So here is our itinerary which I will expand on in the coming weeks...

Tokyo for 5 days, we stayed in Shibuya, a shopping paradise!
Shinkansen to Kyoto for 5 days with a side trip to Nara. So many temples!
Back to Tokyo for more shopping and a day in Tokyo Disney.
Some Karaoke and then home :(

Two weeks in all...

If you follow me on Twitter you may have already seen these Instagram photos that I shared of our time in Kyoto.
clockwise top left: Kiyomizu-dera temple, Luxuriant moss, Adorable couple enjoying tea, Green tea dessert (Mos burger)

Pilgrim was the official photographer on our trip (as I couldn't find an adapter for my camera battery charger), so will have tons more photos to share with you soon.

If you have anything in particular you would like to know about my experiences, leave a comment and I'll try to cover them in upcoming posts.

x Cinti