Wandering Fractal

The Torri seen from the mountains. Miyajima is an island in the bay of Hiroshima. It has the famous Torii (sacred gate) in the sea. We spent a night on the island in a traditional house. During the day, there's a lot of tourist, but at night it's a completely different atmosphere. The village is desert of people and only the deer are roaming the streets. So if you want to go there, I would highly recommend to stay a night on the island. One of the many deer living on the island. At low tide, you can walk to the Torii. The sea floor is covered by coins of 1 Yen that people stuck in the cracks of the Torii. Yes, I like moss.

Kinkakuji in Kyoto. Kansai is a region in central Japan with many places to visit. We stayed a few days in Kyoto. It was the capital for a thousand years. It's name, 京都, means literally "Capital City". The current capital Tokyo 東京 means "Eastern Capital". From Kyoto we made day trips to Osaka (2nd largest city) and Nara (capital before moving to Kyoto). Bamboo forest in Kyoto. Deer in front of Todai-ji in Nara. Tenryuji in Kyoto.

Kegon waterfall near Nikko. After the thrill of the big city, we moved to the quiet mountains. We went north of Tokyo to the small village of Nikko. There we enjoyed walks in the snowy forest and hot bathes in Onsen. Walk in the snowy forest near Nikko. After Nikko we went to the west coast with a one day stop in Matsumoto to visit the castle. On the coast, we stayed in the city of Kanazawa. There lies one of the most beautiful garden of Japan, the Kenroku-en. It was still half covered in snow, but it didn't lose of its magnificence. Kenroku-en in Kanazawa. From Kanazawa, we made a one day trip to the Shirakawa-go village. There the villager perpetuates the tradition of thatched houses famous in the region. Traditional thatched house in Shirakawa-go. Shirakawa-go. Trout living in the canals of the Shirakawa-go village. Roughly the path we took from Tokyo.

Yoyogi park seen from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Capital of Japan and most populous city with its 13.6 millions inhabitants (38 millions if you count the metropolitan area). It's there that I met up with my 3 friends. Together we spent the next 3 weeks touring the country. I arrived in Tokyo the 22 February 2018 with the Shinkansen (high speed train) from Fukuoka. It took 6 hours and 30 minutes to cover the ~1000 km with one train change in Shin-Osaka. Of course when I got out in the Tokyo station I got lost, but who wouldn't in this maze where local, high-speed, subway and airport special trains are crisscrossing. Trains and subway of Tokyo. The next day I went to pick up JB from the Narita international airport. The day after we went together to pick up Chloé and Yanouk, but their plane had to go back to Zürich after 3 hours of flight. A passenger had to be transported to a hospital. They had to take a plane the next day. So ...