Japan: Nagano

Karuizawa,　軽井沢，a town situated in the mountainous prefecture of Nagano.
With several churches built in this area, the main train station has adopted a Western stained glass style in its design.

Situated at at altitude of more than 900m above the sea level, it is much cooler than the nearby city of Tokyo. During the summer months, many Tokyolites escape the summer heat by cooling off in places like Karuizawa. Of course, people who can afford such luxury are the rich and the elites. In any case, people living in Tokyo do have the option of taking a break, and escape away from the stress of the city, to put themselves in the serenity of the mountain ranges and get in touch with nature. Well, most city dwellers around the world do have this choice.


Karuizawa had played host to the Winter Olympic Games in 1998

and the Summer Olympics in 1964. Certainly a unique place to visit.

The influx of city dwellers might not miss any stress from their studies or work, but certainly they will miss consumerism. Spacious malls housing branded labels have been built just outside the train station so that the tourists will not be too homesick.

The rail tracks.

With land spaces to spare, wide shopping alleys were built with a view of the golf course and the forest area.

With shopping to do, with golf to swing, with nature close to heart, and stress faraway over the mountains, many have chosen Karuizawa as their second home. And many of them have spectacular gardens around their houses.

Mirror, flowers, trees, crossroad junction.

Mount Asama, the highest peak in this region.

The Shinano Rail serving the area. Although it might be more countryside than city-like, the fares can be a little daunting. It cost 210円 for a 2 minute ride.

Japan 16: Osaka

Reaching Osaka takes less than one hour by express train from Kyoto. Although there is the option of taking the bullet train, the train arrives at Shin-Osaka Station where passengers need to transfer to the local train to reach Osaka Station, the main station in this city.

Osaka, the second largest city of Japan.

Visitors to Osaka can choose to purchase a 2000円 one day pass, where there is an unlimited rides on the metro system, free entry to some of the attractions and some others having a discount. It is probably a real good deal especially for visitors who have limited time and want to visit as many places as possible in a single day.

One important site in Osaka is the Osaka castle, which is a remodel of the previously destroyed castle. It probably makes some magnificent view during the sakura season in the Osaka Gardens surrounding the castle.

A view of the city from the top of the castle.

In order to make full use of the day pass, visitors can take a complementary shuttle service in the form of a carnival train to the nearby train station. Along the way, there was an expected groups of school children having their class excursion.

Japanese children are generally well-behaved, but could not resist the checking the passing train.

The kid on the left probably reminds one of the character in the famous comic series of Doraemon.

A sea cruise around the port of Osaka.


Initially, visitors might find it quite exciting, but after just viewing bridges, warehouses, buildings along the coast for more than one hour, it can be really exhausting. The ride cost more than 2000円， so visitors should only come to visit this cruise ferry only if they have the pass.

Several ferris wheel can be seen around the city. And unfortunately, the day pass does not cover this attraction.

Domtonburi, an extremely long shopping alley. It caters more to the local people rather than the bargain hunters from abroad.

One interesting visit with the pass will be the observatory tower of the Mori tower, the tallest building in this part of the world.

The view of the Osaka castle through the lens of the free binoculars. There is a coin slot for the binoculars, but probably no one utilises it; it will do good to mankind to make free for all the visitors. This is of course in contrast with the commercial image of Osaka.

The staggering amount of concrete jungle.

The urbanised landscape with hills as the background.

The sunset of Osaka.

The daily pass allows free access to the metro system of Osaka.
But certain restrictions do apply.
Even though the attractions are worth a visit.

Japan 15: Kyoto 3, Gion district

For visitors who have the impression that Japan is a very expensive country, this might just be a great surprised. This is a little secret for people who have not been to Japan: The BigMac in Japan cost 280円 or about S$3.70 which is still cheaper than BigMac in Singapore, namely S$3.85. After years of deflation, while the rest of the world experience inflation, the prices in Japan has become much more affordable. Although exorbitant prices of the late bubble period still exist, Japan can be cheaper than in fact many major cities around the world, including the self-proclaimed paradise of Singapore.

In Japan, all bus schedules and trains schedules are clearly indicated. No matter in small towns or big cities, they really provide a great favour for commuters. And in this case, in Kyoto, they add a little touch of cuteness to their bus arrival times.

The streets of downtown Kyoto by night. It does not look, sadly, like an ancient city, but rather a modern city.

A beautiful modern building, with interesting rooms.

However, the district of Gion preserves the streets of the ancient city. Here is where a Kabuki theater stands along the street.

The narrow streets of Gion that snake around. Losing one's direction in the dark streets, of endless rows of houses and shops, can be easy.

But soon, the subtle beauty of the architecture is realised.

Although, at a first glance, all the buildings and structures seem to be uniformly the same, but on a closer look, each shop displays an individualistic characteristic of Japanese design, with heavy use of wood and paper, in simple, refined and symmetric design.

Most of the shops that are opened are mostly restaurants.

And looking from the exterior of these restaurants, of fine design, refined taste, one can be sure that the food served in these restaurants are of similar caliber. Of course, not forgetting to mention the prices, at least around 3000 per person or even more.

A very interesting menu indeed.
Honestly, if these are the prices to be paid for an authentic Japanese traditional meal right in the heart of the cultural centre of Japan, especially the famous Kaiseki of Kyoto, then it could be fairly reasonable, given the fact that similar establishments in Singapore charge around the same price, only the location is totally different.

In the Gion district, there is a theater catered for tourists to experience several Japanese traditional performing arts all in a short span of 1 hour, at a price of 2800.

With only foreigners present in the audience seat, one might wonder how authentic these almost factory manufactured performances are. A quick fix for Japanese cultural performances just for the mass foreigners.

Geishas can be seen from time to time in this part of the city. Probably serving to entertain very wealthy customers; this Geisha for example, just alighted from a posh vehicle. And they all seemed to be in a rush where they quickly disappeared around the corner; either catching up on their next performance, or just shunning away from the irritating visitors.


One very interesting notice located in the streets of Gion.

Japan 14: Kyoto 2, Ancient temples

Kyoto is the ancient capital city of Japan. And in this ancient capital, lies many historical monuments of which consists famous temples and shrines located in numerous locations around the city. Modeling after Chinese capitals, Kyoto has been the cultural centre of Japan for over 1000 thousand years, such that it has been named one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. 17 sites in Kyoto are categorised under this World Heritage Site title, where they represent different eras of construction and architecture.

For visitors with a lack of time, the greatest concentration of temples is located at the northern part of Kyoto city, where a stretch of 3 temples can be accessed continuously on foot.

Amongst them is Ninna-ji 仁和寺. Located about 20 minutes walk from the nearest railway station, it is however, not one of the easiest sites to navigate around.

This temples is one of the few temples that allows free entry to all visitors.

It consists of not just one temple, but a complex of buildings in quite a huge area and all of them comes under one name, Ninna-ji 仁和寺.

About 10 minutes walk through hilly region, the next stop is Ryoan-ji 龍安寺. The walk through the temple area is free but entry into the main temple cost around 500円. One might think that the free entry is sufficient enough to experience this temple, as it has beautiful lush greenery, but the entry into the main building is really the main draw of this visit to this temple.

This temple is famous for its Rock Garden which consists of 15 rocks arefully laid in groups of five. It is meant for visitors to gaze upon to imagine what they represent.



It must really amazing how a rock garden can be so amazing. How the rocks blend in with the surrounding trees and the spectacular texture of the sand. And it must have four different looks in the four different seasons.

The simple yet stylistic of Japanese architecture. It simply relaxes one's mind.

Refinement at its best.

Just another short walk away, is the very famous temple Rokuonji, 鹿苑寺. One great artistic entrance ticket into Rokuonji, cost 400円.

Not only are the sights of the temples and the gardens wonderful, fellow visitors to the temples make a very interesting sight as well. The fashionable styles of Japanese school girls come to life in a temple.
This is likely one of the famous sites for postcard perfect photo in this part of Japan, the beautiful Kinkaku, 金閣, where it was painted with pure gold. Unfortunately, visitors can only get gaze at this amazing structure from afar; no entry is allowed.

This period of late spring is likely to be the school vacation period, where many students flock to different sites around Japan for their school trip.

A very rare sighting. Although Japan is a developed nation, it has quite a low obesity rate. People on the fat side are a real rarity in Japan.

Even then, one must agree that their school uniform is formal, neat and looks simply great. These students probably dress much much better than a great proportion of Singaporeans along the streets.

An amazing contrast of the old and the modern; the traditional and the fashionable; the refined and the outrageous; welcome to Japan.