Journey to Japan

I went to Japan with my sister nearly an year ago. It was a 15 day trip and we left in the first week of June. The 15 days spanned the tropical island paradise of Okinawa, quaint towns and villages in the Hida mountains, the mega-city thrills of Tokyo and a bunch of other places like Hiroshima and Kyoto on the way. I was also seeing my sister after a long time who flew to Tokyo from Pittsburgh. And this was the first time that the two of us were traveling together without any parental supervision. So, I was really excited!

I was busy with preparation for a Math exam scheduled for the end of May. So, the majority of planning was down by my mother and sister. My mother is the planner in chief for all travel itineraries in our family. Despite being a busy professor at a big public hospital, with a lot of responsibilities at work and home, her travel plans can put the most hardened backpackers to shame in terms of frugality, ambition and hatred of cliched tourist traps. The first iteration of our itinerary included landing in Tokyo, a hike to Fuji, flying to Okinawa, flying back to Kyoto, visiting Hiroshima and Takayama in the Hida mountains (Japanese Alps), taking a Shinkansen to Hokaido and then back to Tokyo. Its a testament to the depth of her research and conviction about what constitutes a good itinerary, or perhaps our travel immaturity, that my sister and I decided to go ahead with the entire thing less Hokaido. I'm glad that we did because as the itinerary was turned out perfect.

My Japan itinerary
Photographs by reflect_color

(trip details pending)