Japan – thirty years in the planning

We were making plans to tour Japan in 1982-83 when we discovered I was pregnant.  Ooops, that tour will have to wait – and wait it did, for 31 years.

So now we have reached Japan, and on a tour managed by a travel agent back home, without guides to show us the way but a 13 page document of how to get there and what to see when we do.  This sounds like an interesting challenge.  Our suggested itinerary takes in…

• Fukuoka
• Kumamoto
• Beppu
• Hiroshima
• Miyajima Island
• Okayama
• Kurashiki
• Kyoto
• Nara
• Osaka – actually, we didn’t get there
• Kanazawa
• Takayama
• Hakone
• Tokyo – with day trips to:
  • Nikko
  • Kamakura

And so the challenge was to get to all (or even some) of these places.

It turned out to be a great adventure, where we tamed the Shinkansen and Tokyo’s metro, managed the rain and the sunshine, ate amazing food and met some delightful people – mostly students who wanted to practice their English.

So here is a map…