Sapporo Winter Festival

I went for my second trip by myself to Sapporo,Hokkaido. I went there for 4 days 3 night. It was unforgettable trip. Hokkaido is just different compares to other place in Japan. When I arrived Hokkaido area, all I can see from the flight little window was white colour land. Wow,it was really fascinating scenes ever I see. When the flight lower, you can see small pine trees all around the place. It was very cute,like the Christmas cake decoration pines trees. I don`t get to snap picture of that scene,just imagine yourselves. It just wonderful.


Winter in Sapporo equal to winter festival. There were divided to three places. The Oodori Koen, the Susukino Ice Sculptures and the grounds at Community Dome Tsudome.The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of Japan's largest winter events, attracts a growing number of visitors from Japan and abroad every year.Every winter, about two million people come to Sapporo to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures .

Another attraction is Otaru.Otaru (小樽市, Otaru-shi) is a city and port in Shiribeshi, northwest of Sapporo. The city faces the Ishikari Bay (石狩湾）, and has long served as the main port of the bay. With its many historical buildings, Otaru is a popular tourist destination. The city was an Ainu habitation, and the name “Otaru” is recognised as being of Ainu origin, possibly meaning “River running through the sandy beach”.

Winter light path of Otaru definitely is a romantic experience.The unforgettable path  next to the “canal” surrounded by candle light, will transform your journey in an ecstasy of poesies. And the yuki akari no michi (雪あかりの路）there were a thousand of D.I.Y small ice candles that decorated along the path was a fascinating and unforgettable scenes . They also create some photo session places for couple to take picture. A very romantic and nice place to visit, especially in winter time. Its the "MUST" go destination if you are in Sapporo. I am totally fall in love to Otaru!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

白川郷‐合掌造り村

白川郷‐合掌造り村 Shirakawa-go is located in village of Shirakawa, Gifu Prefecture,Japan. This Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama are one of Japan`s UNESCO World Heritage Sides.Another side,The Gokayama (五箇山, "Five Mountains") area is divided between the former villages of Kamitaira and Taira in Nanto, Toyama Prefecture.


These villages are well known for their houses constructed in architectural style known as gassho-zukuri (合掌造り). The Gassho-zukuri, "prayer-hands construction" style is characterized by a thatched and steeply slanting roof resembling two hands joined in prayer. The design is exceptionally strong and, in combination with the unique properties of the thatching, allow the houses to withstand and shed the weight of the region's heavy snowfalls in winter.

Happy New Year 2011!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011! NEW CHALLENGE! NEW GOAL! HAVE A BLAST 2011!

明けましておめでとうございます！

よい一年なりますように！！

新年快乐！新的一年新的挑战！新的目标!

祝大家有个美好的二零一一年！

Its Winter!

When winter come, there will be light decoration around. When we saw the beautiful light decoration. We will be thinking of festival,and of course its Christmas season. No matter we celebrate Christmas or not, everyone like Christmas. 

Around this season, in Kobe, there will be light festival `Kobe Luminarie ` which been held since 1995 to commemorate the Great Hanshin Earthquakes. The light were donated by the Italian Government and the installation itself is produced by Valerio Festi. This light up are kept up for 2 weeks and will be turn on for a few hours each evening. This year theme is ‘光の心情’which mean the heart of light and its starting from 2 Dec 2010-13 Dec 2010. 

I been there yesterday evening. On weekend,the light were turned on 1 hr earlier than weekdays. I lined up from the Motomachi station to the main gate of the luminarie for 45 minutes. There were thousands of people lining up to see the light up. So, its not advised to go on weekends.

Himeji Special Delicacies

As we heard in Osaka its famous for the okonomiyaki. But, in Japan,we can find okonomiyaki or others Japanese Delicacies anywhere. In Himeji, you able to find okonomiyaki,takoyaki,taiyaki,etc too. But,I think 'rice burger' you can only found in Himeji. Here,we called it Himeji Okakure Baga 姫路お隠れバーガーwhich mean Himeji Hidden Burger. The waitress in the shop will dress like ninja. I think its quite attractive to tourist/local customer. There are 2 type of burgers, unagi burger or kobe beef burger. The burger cost 600 yen each. Its wasn`t a cheap burger compare to normal burger. Yet, its worth to try. The shop is nearby the Himeji Tourist Information Center. It is a small shop with やっさ弁当 as the signboard.  

Another special delicacy is taiyaki たい焼き。Taiyaki is a Japanese fish shape pancake. The most common filling is red bean paste made from azuki beans. In Himeji, there are special filling with macha/vanilla ice-cream, cheese, chocolate and many more. I like the macha and vanilla ice cream filling the best. You can find these taiyaki in Miyuki-doori みゆき通り.

初めての一人旅

My 1st time had dedicated to Tottori Sand Dune鳥取県砂丘. Sand dune i s just like small desert. I think you will ask, how come Japan got desert? You can search wiki for further information.Tottori Sand Dunes are natural form, unique sand dunes and the only large dunes system in Japan.

Chizu Express to Tottori

pine trees mountain

I took Jr line from Himeji to Kamigoori. Then changed to Chizu Express to Tottori Prefecture. Along the way Tottori, anyone in the train were asleep. Only me so excited looking out the window. The scenery outside the window change from highway to villages and mountain of pine trees. I love it every much.

villages

Sand dunes behind the trees

Horse Back sand dunes

When I arrived at Tottori Station,it look like ordinary town for me. I wondered where the sand dunes might be. Before I depart to Tottori,I had checked for the location of the sand dune. It should be not far from the station. But,all I can see was tall buildings, schools,shops...etc. From the station I took the local bus (because it isn't weekend so the tourism cute bus didn't operated) to the sand dunes. On the way to sand dunes,just like I said before,it is ordinary road and town. After a while, the bus turn into the wood mountain area. Behind the trees,there was a path of sand and ocean. The ocean is Japanese Sea 日本海。Wow,such a surprise and wonderful scenery. Everyone in the bus have the same expression as me or maybe they much more than me. The sand dunes located at the north part of Tottori Prefecture. 

walk through

Beside the sand dunes,there are another attraction - The Sand Museum. In the sand museum, there are unique sculptures made of sand. The sculpture will change according to the theme. From 29 April 2010-10 January 2011,there will be "Around the World in Sand - Africa". Artists from North America, Europe and Australia worked under the guidance of the museum's General Producer Katsuhiko Chaen of Japan to produce 10 large-scale designs.

Nelson Mandela sand sculpture

Africa Safari 

嵐山の旅

This year autumn is the craziest autumn i ever had. Why? Because the weather drive me crazy.
In japan,when we said about autumn we will thinking of red maple leaf. In Kansai,there are a lot of place we can go for sighseeing red maple leaf a.k.a 紅葉. Last year,I went to Kyoto for kouyou sighseeing. This year I also went to Kyoto but diffrent place which called Arashiyama 嵐山. Main purpose is to ride Arashiyama Sagano Romantic Torokko Train トロッコ電車. I saw the poster in the bus to school everyday. Seem fun,so I think I should it a try. I went there yesterday. The ridding is not as fun as I thought. But the sightseeing is really a 'wow'!! If you wish to have a try...you can search internet for arashiyama sagano torokko romantic train for further infomation.

fake torokko train ^^

took from moving train