The city of Hiroshima is probably the best known as the first city in history that was attacked with an atomic bomb. You’ll find in Hiroshima many monuments, memorials or buildings that remind us about this horror.
Visit the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima to learn a bit more about that tragic day.
I already wrote a few posts about my profession. I’m an astrophysicist and had a chance to visit astronomical observatories in many places in the world. One of them is Nobeyama Radio Observatory in Japan. Today, you see two Japanese antennas in a winter scenery.
I believe it’s not really a touristic destination, however I just want to mention that Nobeyama Observatory is a place with a huge number of telescopes and the biggest radio telescope has a diameter of 45m.
The Japanese macaque is a native to Japan monkey species.
People call them as snow monkeys, because they can be found in the north part, where it snows every year.
It’s also possible to see macaques bathing in hot springs – you can find some pictures in internet; that looks super funny.
Jizo Statues are very popular in Japan and you’ll see them in many places in the country.
On of the examples where you can find them is Kanmangafuchi Abyss in Nikko.
It’s a lovely riverside walking trail with about 70 stone statues of Jizo. A few of the statues are presented in today’s picture; aren’t they nice?
Yesterday, I promised to show you something famous from Nikko. So here it is – three wise monkeys. 🙂
“Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.”
Did you know they come from Japan?
You can find them in the beautiful Tōshō-gū shrine (one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites).
“Never Say Kekko Until You’ve Seen Nikko” – it’s an old Japanese saying, so no wonder Nikko is a popular destination for Japanese and international tourists.
(“Kekko” means beautiful.)
I’ve visited Nikko and indeed, it’s a lovely place!
There are very special temples plus amazing nature is around (mountainous, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, wild monkeys).
Tomorrow, I’ll show you something from Nikko, that I’m sure almost all of you’ve seen it before. I saw it before I went to Japan, however I didn’t know it’s from Japan…
Traditional Japanese houses consist of a few typical things like special flooring, “walls/doors”, “tables” etc. Each of them have their own names, they are a bit complicated (for me) so I’ll mention only 2 of them that you can see in today’s picture. The typical mat on the floor is called tatami. Nice sliding doors made of wood and paper are called shōji or fusuma (they are not synonyms just a bit different kinds of “doors”).
I stayed overnight in this place you see today. And it’s definitely another great experience from Japan. A traditional Japanese house looks much more beautiful than a capsule hotel, but both are worth visiting! 🙂
A capsule hotel is a kind of Japanese accommodation where guests stay in a small capsule (like in today’s picture).
Does it sound crazy? Maybe a bit…
The idea was to provide a basic and cheap overnight stay for men. These days you’ll find capsules for men and separately for women. Each capsule is more or less of the size of bed, but you don’t really feel claustrophobic. There are common rooms to relax, lockers for luggage, washrooms or even sauna, swimming pool etc. So they can be “quite” luxurious!
I stayed in a capsule hotel only once, when I was visiting Japan, and I can recommend it as a very unique experience! Try it while being in Japan! 🙂
Japan is famous from high-speed trains. They reach the speed of around 300 km/h, but test runs have reached even over 600 km/h – isn’t it crazy?!?
Japanese high-speed trains are called Shinkansen or simply bullet trains. While being in Japan, you have to take a ride! These trains are very nice, safe and very reliable. If I’m correct, each year the Japan Railways companies make statistics about average delay from schedule and these results are pretty impressive.
However, as you see in today’s picture, the delay can be also quite big (5 minutes is a lot! – seriously! people were very confused because of that!).
Actually, I took this photo on the 31st of December, so the last day of that year destroyed yearly statistics… 😉
Today you see two of my first pictures taken in Japan. 😀
Yes, I couldn’t resist not to take a photo of a Japanese fancy toilet. 😀
Fortunately, their manuals are also in English, otherwise I’d be lost…
What’s funny, there is even a separate article on Wikipedia called “Toilets in Japan”! 😀
Welcome in March!
This month is going to be all about the Land of the Rising Sun – Japan.
Have you been to Japan? What are your impressions?
I have very positive memories from Japan and hope to visit this interesting country again! 🙂
In March, I’ll show you a few nice places I’ve visited in Japan. I’ll also try to share some interesting facts about Japan. Stay tuned! 🙂
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Witajcie w marcu! Tym razem zapraszam na miesiąc poświęcony Japonii.
Uwaga! Od dzisiaj wstrzymuję publikowanie postów w języku polskim.
Tymczasowo (póki co bezterminowo) będą się pojawiać tylko posty po angielsku – jeżeli nie podoba Wam ten pomysł – dajcie mi znać w komentarzach albo napiszcie do mnie używając formularza z zakładki “Contact”.