En Route - Momiji

ありがとう日本 (Arigatō Nihon)

October 24, 2025 / Thomas De Lora / En Route, Honshu, Japan, Tokyo

Time to go home and we were ready to go this time. It’s not that we did not enjoy ourselves, on this trip we were able to get a good introduction to Japan and see quite a bit. But after a while one gets tired of being on the road. We will return for more.

After Disney we spent a little time with Syd and Leo in Tokyo before they moved on to Kyoto then Osaka. They have returned to Tokyo before returning home this weekend.

Mt. Fuji came out for Syd and Leo on their return to Tokyo.

We spent our last few days in Tokyo near the Tokyo Tower, a symbol of post war Japan and for several decades the tallest tower in Japan until the construction of the Tokyo Skytree in 2012.

Of course the fish eye came out for this session.

I liked this reflection of the tower in this building.

Our hotel had an interesting view from the elevator.

It was nice to have a few last days in Tokyo with no agenda which gave us a chance to relax and wander a bit. I made it to the Kokyo Gaien National Garden (The Imperial Palace Outer Garden) and the Tokyo National Museum.

Nijubashi Bridge or kōkyo seimon tekkyō (Imperial palace main gate iron bridge) in Kokyo Gaien National Garden

The main entrance of the Imperial Palace (with guards)

Looking across Kokyo Gaien National Garden

The Wisdom King Aizen and their miniature shrine

The museum has a great collection of wood block prints. This is one of Kintarō with his (rumored) mountain witch mother.

We also wandered around Tokyo taking in the active city. We really enjoyed this visit.

Calico cat on the Cross Shinjuku Vision billboard

Oh no, there goes Tokyo!
Go go Godzilla!

When the pedestrian lights go green people run to the middle for that perfect photo.

An izakya in Omoide Yokocho Memory Lane in Shinjuku

An interesting bookend to this trip was the same taxi service that drove us from Narita to Tokyo when we arrived drove us back for our return flight. This was all arranged by Inside Japan and he informed us when we arrived that he would be our return ride as well. He did not speak english but had a great smile and a can do attitude which we liked. I have found that a positive experience upon arriving in a country helps set the tone for a visit and he certainly helped do this for our visit.

Time to wrap the blog. Many, many thanks to Deb Siegle of Come Travel Today who really knocked it out of the park with this one. I like the idea of having someone to plan with who helps keeps our dreams realistic. A very smooth trip with some great guides! Thanks Deb! Oh, we are already planning next year.

A special thanks to Chris and Mei, our neighbors who always watch our house and tended to our felines while we travel. They have given us great peace of mind for many years now and we are greatful. Thanks Mei and Chris!

And thats it for this one.

I think I am starting to spoil my camera.I think I am starting to spo — I think I am starting to spoil my camera.

Luggage Services in Japan

October 21, 2025 / Thomas De Lora / En Route, Japan, Takuhaibin, Trip Prep

This was an interesting trip to pack for, not only is it long (almost 5 weeks), we also had to be ready for a variety of weather; Hokkaido was much more autumn like than our stops on Honshu. Traveling around the country with three large bags via train is not appealing so we brought along two packable travel bags and utilized the luggage forwarding services available in Japan. Known as Takuhaibin, you can move your luggage from hotel to hotel for a moderate cost. We took advantage of this service, as an example when we first left Tokyo we packed our travel bags for a few days in Hakone and forwarded our luggage to Kyoto. We continued this the entire trip and it worked out quite well. All our luggage have Apple Airtags in them so we could monitor their progress and this made our travels in Japan much easier. In a sense our main luggage had their own vacation.

Our three main bags packed for their own vacation.

Return To Tokyo

October 19, 2025 / Thomas De Lora / En Route, Hakodate, Hayabusa, Hokkaido, Honshu, Japan, Seikan Tunnel, Shinkansen, Tokyo

Time to return to Tokyo to rendezvous with Sydney and Leo. We traveled on the fastest of the Shinkansen trains, the Hayabusa (Peregrine falcon) from Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Tokyo Station. Total travel time was a little 4 hours leaving us in the center of Tokyo, which, IMHO beats travel by airplanes.

This also gave us the opportunity to travel through the Seikan Tunnel from Hokkaido across to Honshu Island which took 20 or so minutes. We had full internet the entire passage, a very surreal experience.

Passing through the Seikan Tunnel.