Japan

Jan 2 UA459 YYZ-SFO, Jan 3 UA875 SFO-HND, Jan 8 UA876 HND-SFO, AC756 SFO-YYZ

As I was still enjoying frequent flier status with United, I was able to find a flight that you can upgrade to business class. We always love our time in Japan, and I found an available flight that matched our schedule and allowed us to kick off the frequent flier program for 2020. As we had a relatively short trip, I decided to position ourself in Osaka near the bullet train station and do day trips from there.

January 3

After staying overnight near San Francisco airport, we stretched our legs with a walk on the path along San Francisco Bay and watched the planes take off and land. Flying Polaris Class to Japan, we of course visited the Polaris Lounge and enjoyed Prisoner Wine to prepare for the long flight.

SFO Control tower and Terminal 2

777 preparing for takeoff

EVA 777 arriving from Taipei

Sun Country 737 landing

January 5

After arriving in Haneda on the afternoon of January 4th, picking up our rail pass and finding our way to Osaka where we crashed for the night, we started to make the most of our rail pass by speeding off to Kyoto for the day.

Knakakuji Temple Garden in Kyoto

Burning incense in the crowded temple gardens

Blooming trees outside the temple grounds.

Sand sculpture in Ginkaku-Ji Zen temple

More of the temple of Ginkaku-Ji

Further perspective on the zen gardens

Outside moat around the Ginkaku-Ji

Kyoto's Nijo Castle and moat

Further perspective on the castle moat

Holiday crowds outside the Fuhimi Inari Taishi shire

Beginnings of shrines famous Senbon Torii gates

Continuing through the impressive string of gates

For holding a key at the main gate to the shrine

Having explored Kyoto’s highlights, we found our way back to Osaka where we grabbed some dinner for the evening.

January 6

We exercised our rail pass and our feet today exploring Naoshima art island and Osaka’s Dotombri district. Naoshima island is a relatively small island with a number of art galleries, and is most famous for its outdoor contemporary art exhibitions. Between the island and Osaka we got a lot of steps in and unlike the day before, covered new ground.

After three trains, we finally arrived at our boat to Naoshima Island

Red Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama greeted us on arrival

Minamidera - Art House Project, unfortunately closed during our visit

Vista with the coast and surrounding islands

Go’o Shrine Art House Project

Hachiman Shrine

Yayoi Kusama Yellow Pumpkin - one of the more famous art installations

Camel statue as part of the Benesse Museum

"Three Squares Vertical DIagonal" can each pivot and move independently

Naoshima Pavilion made of 250 stainless steel mesh triangles

Back on the main island, interestingly decorated Uno Station on way back to Osaka

The statue of the Goddess of Love outside Uno station

View from Ebisu-bashi bridge over the billboard lit Dotombri-gases and the famous Glico running man, who was first installed in 1935

One of the many colourful characters adorning the shops in the area

More traditional back lane

In Dotombori the restaurants announce their specialties with giant 3D models

This store features an oddly shaped Ferris wheel

After dinner, we crashed after the long day.

January 7

As the weather wasn’t looking too great, we decided to start the day at Osaka Aquarium which is actually the largest in the world, having some pretty impressive displays.

Seal showing off their skills

South American Ring Tail Coati

Not exactly an aquatic animal, but love the capybara

Antarctic Penguins enjoying their fake snow

Penguin closeup

Large sting ray in one of the many large tanks

Very jumbo crab

The inner workings of the very complicated JR ticket-validation machine

Still gray and a little wet, but made it to Osaka Palace

The interior of Osaka Palce

Osaka sign and the modern skyline

After finishing our tour of Osaka, we made our way to Yokohama for the night.

January 8

Prior to heading to the airport, I left Tom at the hotel to recover from our days of walking and explored a new exhibit called Teamlab Borderless in the Tokyo Bay area.

One of the many three dimensional art projections

A combination of light and lanterns

A perspective on just one of the many galleries

After collecting Tom, we headed to the airport and to Toronto through San Francisco, with another visit to the Polaris Lounge to close off our first trip for 2020.