Japan

Our last stop in Japan was a comfortable one in Hana Hostel, Hiroshima. Located close to the main train station, it was just a quick walk with our backpacks before we were lounging under air conditioning in a...

My favorite stop of all in Japan was the beautiful mountaintop town of Koyasan. We attended morning prayers with Buddhist monks, slept in a capsule hotel and visited our first onsen. Then we caught the bullet...

There are many ways to get around Japan through public transportation including subways, busses and bullet trains. One of the most popular options is the JR Pass, (Japan Rail), which provides train and ferry...

When my alarm woke me at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, I quickly dressed, grabbed my camera and crawled out of my capsule hotel room to meet Britnee. Together we walked to the Okunoin cemetery in Koyasan where we...

Kyoto was incredible! We enjoyed the great company of fellow tourists and explored some of Japan's most stunning historic sites. However, the best highlight of all might have been the find of an amazing little...

Barely did Jan hesitate before adding, "And I'll have the jellyfish I think," in his thick German accent, topping off our large order of food and drinks. Britnee and I had just met Jan the day before when...

There's no better place to monkey around in Kyoto than at the Iwatayama Monkey Park with 140 free-roaming Japanese Monkeys (Macaques). The park had only three rules: no touching the monkeys, no picking up the...

When tourists visit the secluded temple town of Koyasan, it's usually for an overnight stay at a temple lodging where one can experience the life of the Shingon Buddhist monks who reside there. Koyasan,...

Kyoto was our longest stay in one city here in Japan. Since we were there for five nights, we chose to book a dorm room instead of a private room at Bakpak Kyoto Hostel to make the stay less expensive. Both...

After burning ourselves out in Tokyo, the peace and quiet we found in the comfortable surroundings of the Sakura Guest House in Takayama was just what we needed. Upon our arrival we made ourselves...

After the rush of Tokyo, our next stop in Japan was the historic mountain town of Takayama. After exploring Higashiyama-teramachi, we took a tour to Shirakawa-go, a historic rural community in a deep valley...

Charging through Tokyo on what felt like an endless train, Britnee and I still had six more stops before transferring to another line and we were both beyond exhausted. Flying SLC to LAX, then LAX to NRT in...

Our first stop in our round-the-world trip was one of the most incredible cities in the world: Tokyo, Japan! Over the course of three days, we barely had time to recover from the jet lag as we celebrated our...