Japan Trip – Week 2

Welcome back to my Japan trip week 2 blog post! 

Week 2

Kyoto, Uji, Nara, Osaka, Hiroshima 

I was SO excited to go to Kyoto. Everyone that I know that has taken a trip to Japan said that Kyoto was their favorite place, and for us, it didn’t disappoint! We spent our time exploring various temples and shrine around the area, eating amazing food, walking around the famous Nishiki Market, and stopping to take pictures of every single cherry tree in bloom!

(If you missed week 1, you can find it here!)

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Fushimi Inari Shrine was definitely a highlight. We woke up super early because we wanted to try and get some photos without the crowds. Surprise, surprise, we quickly found out that everyone else had the same idea as well! Thank god for my photoshop training because I definitely needed it for these photos! All the tourists didn’t stop us from enjoying hiking up the side of the mountain through thousands of bright red Torii gates.

Each Torii gate has the name of the person or people who donated it and it is said that there are close to 10,000 on this hike alone!

Day trip to Uji and Nara

After visiting the Fushimi Inari shrine, we decided to break from the itinerary (my type A self cried internally a little, but it was worth it!) And we took the train down to Nara to visit the famous deer of Nara Park! We made it there right at sunset (thank you golden hour for amazing light!) And enjoyed feeding the deer and exploring the park. The deer have learned to bow in exchange for the special rice crackers. I mean, how amazing is that!?

Visiting the WORLD’S oldest tea shop! Check out my Matcha x Sakura icecream. 

Chion-en Temple

Chion-en Temple holds a special place for all of us. When we reflected back on our trip, everyone said this was their favorite place! We caught it on a pretty empty day in a light rain (the kind of rain I hate back home but somehow love in Japan!) And walking through the gardens in the rain was a magical experience.

Osaka and Hiroshima

We took a quick day trip to Osaka to experience to food and to visit Osaka castle. The cloudy day made our view of the castle all the more impressive! And of course, since we LOVED okonomiyaki so much in Tokyo, we had to try Osaka’s version!

We took the shinkansen to Hiroshima for a quick day and a half stop. On our full day, we chose to take the ferry to Mt. Misen! We took a cable car up the mountain and hiked down. I also totally geeked out over the blooming cherry trees we found on our way up and it was really amazing to see Itsukushima, the floating torii gate, at night!

This week was full of nature, temples, shrines, food, and quite a bit of traveling (basically a perfect week)! We’d been walking ourselves ragged, and by the end of this week, everyone’s feet were covered in blisters. Like, 5 Band-Aids each morning! A small price to pay, but we were excited for the last week of our trip where we *finally* budgeted some down time!

I’m so excited to show some of my favorite photos from the last week of our trip (including a photoshoot in the famous Sakura blossoms). Check out week 3!