6.11 Day 1 Kansai Airport 關西機場 - Izumisanocity, Osaka 大阪府泉佐野市 Rinku Premium Outlets Fudouguchikan 犬鳴山温泉不動口館 We picked up our Cube and drove to Inunaki yama 犬鳴山 which was only 30 minutes away from the airport.
6.12 Day 2 Kyoto Yamasaki 京都山崎 150km Suntory Yamasaki Distillery サントリー 山崎蒸溜所 Keburikawa 京都・烟河 I booked a month ahead but it was only 'entrance' to the distillery museum I could reserve. All the guided tours were full. We still planned to go and arrived a bit early as we had got not much to do that day. We were so fortunate that there were a few cancellations that day and i f we could wait for another hour, all 4 of us could join the Yamasaki Distillery Tour! It includes the tasting of unblended whisky (not for sale) that makes up Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky! We were all overjoyed!!
6.13 Day 3 Amanohashidate 天橋立 - Ine 伊根 - Kyōtango京丹後 160km Yuuhigaura夕日ヶ浦 After breakfast, we drove 90km to the north to Amanohashidate 天橋立 which is is one of the three views of Japan 日本三景. It is famous because of the sand bar in Miyazu Bay. We took cable car and chair-lift to Kasamatsu Park傘松公園. After that we visted Amanohashidate Winery nearby and had a super fresh sashimi lunch (yummy!) before driving further north to Ine, a beautiful place with a lot of stilt houses.We drove along the shoreline, visited Kyoga Misaki Lighthouse 経ケ岬灯台 and before we called it a day, we spent quite some time in Tateiwa 立岩 where there is an anicent tomb大成古墳群.
6.14 Day 4 Genbudo Park 玄武洞公園 - Tajima Coast 但馬海岸 90km Yumura Onsen Tomiya 湯村温泉 とみや Before breakfast, we went down to the beautiful Hamazume 浜詰 Beach. Cute little footprints of seagulls were all over the beach. Quiet and peaceful, we could sit there all day! We drove west along the shoreline to Genbudo Park玄武洞公園, which had been on my bucket list. It was designated as a Natural Monument of Japan in 1931. It is the site of a lava flow from a volcanic eruption that happened 1.6 million years ago. Apart from the beautiful hexagonal columnars, it is also well known as being the place where Quaternary reversed polarity was first discovered.
6.15 Day 5 Uradome Coast 浦富海岸 - Tottori Sand Dunes 鳥取砂丘 120km Kyukamura Hiruzen Kogen 休暇村蒜山高原 Before breakfast, we went down to the beautiful Hamazume 浜詰 Beach. Cute little footprints of seagulls were all over the beach. Quiet and peaceful, we could sit there all day! We drove west along the shoreline to Genbudo Park玄武洞公園, which had been on my bucket list. It was designated as a Natural Monument of Japan in 1931. It is the site of a lava flow from a volcanic eruption that happened 1.6 million years ago. Apart from the beautiful hexagonal columnars, it is also well known as being the place where Quaternary reversed polarity was first discovered.
6.16 Day 6 Hiruzen Heights Cycling Road 蒜山高原自転車道 (30km) 130km Ueyama 上山旅館 Hiruzen Kogen is famous as the largest breeding zone for Jersey cows in Japan. I was attracted by the cycling route and decided to make a side trip to stay a night there.
6.17 Day 7 Himeji Castle 姬路城 - Arima Onsen 有馬温泉 80km Arima Hatago 四季の彩旅篭 Our last day this trip before flying back the next day, we went to the famous Himeji Castle, also known as White Heron Castle (Shirasagijo 白鷺城). Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and it was registered in 1993 as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan.

 © 2017 Garro Ho

6.11 Day 1 Kansai Airport 關西機場 - Izumisanocity, Osaka 大阪府泉佐野市 Rinku Premium Outlets Fudouguchikan 犬鳴山温泉不動口館 We picked up our Cube and drove to Inunaki yama 犬鳴山 which was only 30 minutes away from the airport.
Nissan Cube Automatic, ¥68,263 for 7 days including full insurance coverage We drove for only 30 minutes to Inunakisan 犬鳴山from Kansai Airport. Perfect transit place with great onsen! Our first meal... very nice..Oishi! Our host at 不動口館speaks good English. He was extremely helpful, well in fact all Japanese are helpful!
6.12 Day 2 Kyoto Yamasaki 京都山崎 150km Suntory Yamasaki Distillery サントリー 山崎蒸溜所 Keburikawa 京都・烟河 I booked a month ahead but it was only 'entrance' to the distillery museum I could reserve. All the guided tours were full. We still planned to go and arrived a bit early as we had got not much to do that day. We were so fortunate that there were a few cancellations that day and i f we could wait for another hour, all 4 of us could join the Yamasaki Distillery Tour! It includes the tasting of unblended whisky (not for sale) that makes up Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky! We were all overjoyed!!
There is no car park around the distillery for the obvious reason. Visitors are suggested to take JR there. It is a pleasant 15 minutes walk from the station to the distillery. It is a huge plant in production. It was the season for hydrangea. They were everywhere! No way I could make justice of this phenomenal history of Suntory wiskey. Beauty and the Beast! Second step and third step of whisky making: Mashing and Fermentation. This picture is step 2 mashing. Step 4: Distillation. Once you step in to this facility, you instantly feel the alcohol and the heat. Tons of pure alcohol inside! Step 5: Maturation... impressive! These oak casks cost a fortune even without the juice inside. Our guide explaining how 4 years whisky (the far one) was different from 12 year. Imagine 21, 30, 40... there would not be a lot left there! The sweet aroma of whisky filled the air. Mr. Alan Wong didn't even know that he had closed his eyes! 1992! 25 years single malt! What a tour! A great experience for whisky lovers! 1979! 38 years! Imagine how much the juice will cost! First 2 glasses on the left were unblended juice straight from cask. We were told to put in mineral water to dilute it before we should drink it. 1st: White oak cask malt whisky 2nd: Wine cask malt whisky 3rd: Yamasaki straight up 4th: Yamasaki highball 京都・烟河Keburikawa is quite a nice ryokan. We went fireflies watching at night. It was so freezing that night, only 16C!
6.13 Day 3 Amanohashidate 天橋立 - Ine 伊根 - Kyōtango京丹後 160km Yuuhigaura夕日ヶ浦 After breakfast, we drove 90km to the north to Amanohashidate 天橋立 which is is one of the three views of Japan 日本三景. It is famous because of the sand bar in Miyazu Bay. We took cable car and chair-lift to Kasamatsu Park傘松公園. After that we visted Amanohashidate Winery nearby and had a super fresh sashimi lunch (yummy!) before driving further north to Ine, a beautiful place with a lot of stilt houses.We drove along the shoreline, visited Kyoga Misaki Lighthouse 経ケ岬灯台 and before we called it a day, we spent quite some time in Tateiwa 立岩 where there is an anicent tomb大成古墳群.
Going up to 傘松公園 Kasamatsu Park by this cable car. It was surprisingly cold that morning. We needed to grab our windbreakders before going up to the park. Awh! Mr. Alan Wong, we were all out-fo!! Look at the sand bar in the background. That's beautiful! Mini skywalk! Selfie time! It was not the best weather nevertheless the view was beautiful! The first thing to do at Amanohashidate view land is Matanozoki 股のぞきと飛龍観(looking through your legs and see a dragon flying to the sky ) This is matanozoki 股のぞき LOL And we rode this chair lift down Hello there!! We went to Amanohashidate Winery and did some wine tasting. Mr. Wong being our only driver couldn't drink! Parked in Ine 伊根 Beautiful Ineura Park 伊根の舟屋 Ine was so peaceful. A very beautiful place, not as rustic as our Tai O. We drove along the shoreline for ~20km and reached Kyoga Misaki Lighthouse 経ケ岬灯台. At the lighthouse At first we did not see the path to the lighthouse, we thought it was collapsed!! So dumb! LOL It was an approximately 30 minutes hike from the parking place to the lighthouse. This white lighthouse was built in 1898. This is one of only five lighthouses in Japan that uses a first-grade lens. There are remains of a quarry on the coast below the lighthouse. Stone quarried from there was used to build the lighthouse. We drove for another 25km to Tenkitenki Mura 道の駅てんきてんき丹後. Beautiful andesite columnar joints A short walk across the beautiful beach to the ancient tombs. The rock in the background is called Tateiwa 立岩. I can live there for the rest of my life! Beautiful! Onaru Ancient Tomb 大成古墳群 was from the end of the 6th century to the beginning of the 7th century. Yuuhigaura夕日ヶ浦 is a nice beach front ryokan. It is by the sea so naturally our dinner was all about fresh seafood. We had this abalone and a lot of different sashimi!! We had our dinner with this beautiful sunset as backdrop. This beach is famous in Japan for this beautiful sunset!
6.14 Day 4 Genbudo Park 玄武洞公園 - Tajima Coast 但馬海岸 90km Yumura Onsen Tomiya 湯村温泉 とみや Before breakfast, we went down to the beautiful Hamazume 浜詰 Beach. Cute little footprints of seagulls were all over the beach. Quiet and peaceful, we could sit there all day! We drove west along the shoreline to Genbudo Park玄武洞公園, which had been on my bucket list. It was designated as a Natural Monument of Japan in 1931. It is the site of a lava flow from a volcanic eruption that happened 1.6 million years ago. Apart from the beautiful hexagonal columnars, it is also well known as being the place where Quaternary reversed polarity was first discovered.
Birds walk! Look at these funny and cute footprints left by a seagull. They were all over the beach! Jump Jump Jump! Nissan's Cube has become our favorite car! It was super sunny. All the pictures were literally over exposed. It was a weekday so we had no complaints. We had the park almost to ourselves! Green and green and green! :) Spectacular!!! The picture was not doing justice to the magnificent view! The stones use to be mined by local people and there was a major collapse resulted from earthquarke. We in the picture could provide some perspective of how large & great the cave is. This is called Seiryuu Cave 青龍洞. Beautiful white columars you can't find elsewhere. We stopped by this 'side-walk' cafe operated by a housewife! Chilling out! Tajima Coast Tour Boat. Great tour it was. The best way to tour the beautiful Taijima coast, part of San'in Kaigan UNESCO Global Geopark 山陰海岸地質公園. One of the rented onsen 貸切風呂 in the ryoken we stayed that night. Our favorite part of a day - dinner!
6.15 Day 5 Uradome Coast 浦富海岸 - Tottori Sand Dunes 鳥取砂丘 120km Kyukamura Hiruzen Kogen 休暇村蒜山高原 Before breakfast, we went down to the beautiful Hamazume 浜詰 Beach. Cute little footprints of seagulls were all over the beach. Quiet and peaceful, we could sit there all day! We drove west along the shoreline to Genbudo Park玄武洞公園, which had been on my bucket list. It was designated as a Natural Monument of Japan in 1931. It is the site of a lava flow from a volcanic eruption that happened 1.6 million years ago. Apart from the beautiful hexagonal columnars, it is also well known as being the place where Quaternary reversed polarity was first discovered.
Good morning おはようございます. Before breakfast, we came down from our ryokan to the famous Yumura hotspring 湯村温泉. Yumura's hot springs have an unusually high temperature of 98 °C. Even locals still use the onsen water to boil eggs (onsen tamago), corn, and sweet potato etc. Hot spring "Arayu" Our ryokan gave us 4 eggs so that we could try to book them in the onsen. Ashiyu Fureainoyu (footbath) 湯村温泉 足湯 ふれ愛の湯 Japanese grey heron 蒼鷺 We drove further 30km to board the Uradome Coast 浦富海岸 boat tour. It was even more impressive than Tajima Coast! This is Sengan-matsushima 千貫松島 The Uradome Coast is made up of granite. With continuous marine erosion, distinctive natural sea walls, cliffs, tunnels, caves, and large rocks of unusual shapes are all over. Carpool :) It came my favorite: Tottori Sand Dunes鳥取砂丘! The Tottori Sand Dunes (鳥取砂丘, Tottori Sakyu) are the largest sand dunes in Japan and are up to two kilometers wide and 50 meters high. The sand dunes were created over thousands of years, as sand from Sendaigawa River was washed out to sea and eventually redeposited along the coast by the ocean's currents. We met this young man from Hong Kong. We saw him earlier and were on the same boat tour. We met the MOST number of Chinese tourists here! Totally awesome! And we couldn't resist to jump on the desert! If you will go, please remember to bring a wide brim hat, UV sunglasses, sunblock and try to wear light shoes which you can put off easily (not to walk on barefoot though!). Fabulous! We will go again!
6.16 Day 6 Hiruzen Heights Cycling Road 蒜山高原自転車道 (30km) 130km Ueyama 上山旅館 Hiruzen Kogen is famous as the largest breeding zone for Jersey cows in Japan. I was attracted by the cycling route and decided to make a side trip to stay a night there.
On the road... Fun Ride Beautiful paddy rice fields were everywhere. Random flowers on the road. The full circle is 29.8km. Including the derail we had ride around 35km that day. Beautiful evening sun... on our way back to the ryokan from its outdoor onsen. That's the path to our rooms. Breakfast time!
6.17 Day 7 Himeji Castle 姬路城 - Arima Onsen 有馬温泉 80km Arima Hatago 四季の彩旅篭 Our last day this trip before flying back the next day, we went to the famous Himeji Castle, also known as White Heron Castle (Shirasagijo 白鷺城). Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and it was registered in 1993 as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan.
Himeji Castle 姬路城, one can say it is the most beautiful castle in Japan. Outlook from the top of Himeji Castle. Miyuki-dori みゆき通, the way from JR station to the castle and vice versa. Late lunch... sushi set dor. Dessert time! TAIYAKI 鯛焼き is a Japanese fish-shaped cake filled with red bean paste. This shop had got a lot of locals queuing for this... With ice-cream .. very yummy! JPY320 each. Awesome Kobe beef dinner. 百万一心味。
6.11 Day 1 Kansai Airport 關西機場 - Izumisanocity, Osaka 大阪府泉佐野市 Rinku Premium Outlets Fudouguchikan 犬鳴山温泉不動口館 We picked up our Cube and drove to Inunaki yama 犬鳴山 which was only 30 minutes away from the airport.
Nissan Cube Automatic, ¥68,263 for 7 days including full insurance coverage We drove for only 30 minutes to Inunakisan 犬鳴山from Kansai Airport. Perfect transit place with great onsen! Our first meal... very nice..Oishi! Our host at 不動口館speaks good English. He was extremely helpful, well in fact all Japanese are helpful!
6.12 Day 2 Kyoto Yamasaki 京都山崎 150km Suntory Yamasaki Distillery サントリー 山崎蒸溜所 Keburikawa 京都・烟河 I booked a month ahead but it was only 'entrance' to the distillery museum I could reserve. All the guided tours were full. We still planned to go and arrived a bit early as we had got not much to do that day. We were so fortunate that there were a few cancellations that day and i f we could wait for another hour, all 4 of us could join the Yamasaki Distillery Tour! It includes the tasting of unblended whisky (not for sale) that makes up Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky! We were all overjoyed!!
There is no car park around the distillery for the obvious reason. Visitors are suggested to take JR there. It is a pleasant 15 minutes walk from the station to the distillery. It is a huge plant in production. It was the season for hydrangea. They were everywhere! No way I could make justice of this phenomenal history of Suntory wiskey. Beauty and the Beast! Second step and third step of whisky making: Mashing and Fermentation. This picture is step 2 mashing. Step 4: Distillation. Once you step in to this facility, you instantly feel the alcohol and the heat. Tons of pure alcohol inside! Step 5: Maturation... impressive! These oak casks cost a fortune even without the juice inside. Our guide explaining how 4 years whisky (the far one) was different from 12 year. Imagine 21, 30, 40... there would not be a lot left there! The sweet aroma of whisky filled the air. Mr. Alan Wong didn't even know that he had closed his eyes! 1992! 25 years single malt! What a tour! A great experience for whisky lovers! 1979! 38 years! Imagine how much the juice will cost! First 2 glasses on the left were unblended juice straight from cask. We were told to put in mineral water to dilute it before we should drink it. 1st: White oak cask malt whisky 2nd: Wine cask malt whisky 3rd: Yamasaki straight up 4th: Yamasaki highball 京都・烟河Keburikawa is quite a nice ryokan. We went fireflies watching at night. It was so freezing that night, only 16C!
6.13 Day 3 Amanohashidate 天橋立 - Ine 伊根 - Kyōtango京丹後 160km Yuuhigaura夕日ヶ浦 After breakfast, we drove 90km to the north to Amanohashidate 天橋立 which is is one of the three views of Japan 日本三景. It is famous because of the sand bar in Miyazu Bay. We took cable car and chair-lift to Kasamatsu Park傘松公園. After that we visted Amanohashidate Winery nearby and had a super fresh sashimi lunch (yummy!) before driving further north to Ine, a beautiful place with a lot of stilt houses.We drove along the shoreline, visited Kyoga Misaki Lighthouse 経ケ岬灯台 and before we called it a day, we spent quite some time in Tateiwa 立岩 where there is an anicent tomb大成古墳群.
Going up to 傘松公園 Kasamatsu Park by this cable car. It was surprisingly cold that morning. We needed to grab our windbreakders before going up to the park. Awh! Mr. Alan Wong, we were all out-fo!! Look at the sand bar in the background. That's beautiful! Mini skywalk! Selfie time! It was not the best weather nevertheless the view was beautiful! The first thing to do at Amanohashidate view land is Matanozoki 股のぞきと飛龍観(looking through your legs and see a dragon flying to the sky ) This is matanozoki 股のぞき LOL And we rode this chair lift down Hello there!! We went to Amanohashidate Winery and did some wine tasting. Mr. Wong being our only driver couldn't drink! Parked in Ine 伊根 Beautiful Ineura Park 伊根の舟屋 Ine was so peaceful. A very beautiful place, not as rustic as our Tai O. We drove along the shoreline for ~20km and reached Kyoga Misaki Lighthouse 経ケ岬灯台. At the lighthouse At first we did not see the path to the lighthouse, we thought it was collapsed!! So dumb! LOL It was an approximately 30 minutes hike from the parking place to the lighthouse. This white lighthouse was built in 1898. This is one of only five lighthouses in Japan that uses a first-grade lens. There are remains of a quarry on the coast below the lighthouse. Stone quarried from there was used to build the lighthouse. We drove for another 25km to Tenkitenki Mura 道の駅てんきてんき丹後. Beautiful andesite columnar joints A short walk across the beautiful beach to the ancient tombs. The rock in the background is called Tateiwa 立岩. I can live there for the rest of my life! Beautiful! Onaru Ancient Tomb 大成古墳群 was from the end of the 6th century to the beginning of the 7th century. Yuuhigaura夕日ヶ浦 is a nice beach front ryokan. It is by the sea so naturally our dinner was all about fresh seafood. We had this abalone and a lot of different sashimi!! We had our dinner with this beautiful sunset as backdrop. This beach is famous in Japan for this beautiful sunset!
6.14 Day 4 Genbudo Park 玄武洞公園 - Tajima Coast 但馬海岸 90km Yumura Onsen Tomiya 湯村温泉 とみや Before breakfast, we went down to the beautiful Hamazume 浜詰 Beach. Cute little footprints of seagulls were all over the beach. Quiet and peaceful, we could sit there all day! We drove west along the shoreline to Genbudo Park玄武洞公園, which had been on my bucket list. It was designated as a Natural Monument of Japan in 1931. It is the site of a lava flow from a volcanic eruption that happened 1.6 million years ago. Apart from the beautiful hexagonal columnars, it is also well known as being the place where Quaternary reversed polarity was first discovered.
Birds walk! Look at these funny and cute footprints left by a seagull. They were all over the beach! Jump Jump Jump! Nissan's Cube has become our favorite car! It was super sunny. All the pictures were literally over exposed. It was a weekday so we had no complaints. We had the park almost to ourselves! Green and green and green! :) Spectacular!!! The picture was not doing justice to the magnificent view! The stones use to be mined by local people and there was a major collapse resulted from earthquarke. We in the picture could provide some perspective of how large & great the cave is. This is called Seiryuu Cave 青龍洞. Beautiful white columars you can't find elsewhere. We stopped by this 'side-walk' cafe operated by a housewife! Chilling out! Tajima Coast Tour Boat. Great tour it was. The best way to tour the beautiful Taijima coast, part of San'in Kaigan UNESCO Global Geopark 山陰海岸地質公園. One of the rented onsen 貸切風呂 in the ryoken we stayed that night. Our favorite part of a day - dinner!
6.15 Day 5 Uradome Coast 浦富海岸 - Tottori Sand Dunes 鳥取砂丘 120km Kyukamura Hiruzen Kogen 休暇村蒜山高原 Before breakfast, we went down to the beautiful Hamazume 浜詰 Beach. Cute little footprints of seagulls were all over the beach. Quiet and peaceful, we could sit there all day! We drove west along the shoreline to Genbudo Park玄武洞公園, which had been on my bucket list. It was designated as a Natural Monument of Japan in 1931. It is the site of a lava flow from a volcanic eruption that happened 1.6 million years ago. Apart from the beautiful hexagonal columnars, it is also well known as being the place where Quaternary reversed polarity was first discovered.
Good morning おはようございます. Before breakfast, we came down from our ryokan to the famous Yumura hotspring 湯村温泉. Yumura's hot springs have an unusually high temperature of 98 °C. Even locals still use the onsen water to boil eggs (onsen tamago), corn, and sweet potato etc. Hot spring "Arayu" Our ryokan gave us 4 eggs so that we could try to book them in the onsen. Ashiyu Fureainoyu (footbath) 湯村温泉 足湯 ふれ愛の湯 Japanese grey heron 蒼鷺 We drove further 30km to board the Uradome Coast 浦富海岸 boat tour. It was even more impressive than Tajima Coast! This is Sengan-matsushima 千貫松島 The Uradome Coast is made up of granite. With continuous marine erosion, distinctive natural sea walls, cliffs, tunnels, caves, and large rocks of unusual shapes are all over. Carpool :) It came my favorite: Tottori Sand Dunes鳥取砂丘! The Tottori Sand Dunes (鳥取砂丘, Tottori Sakyu) are the largest sand dunes in Japan and are up to two kilometers wide and 50 meters high. The sand dunes were created over thousands of years, as sand from Sendaigawa River was washed out to sea and eventually redeposited along the coast by the ocean's currents. We met this young man from Hong Kong. We saw him earlier and were on the same boat tour. We met the MOST number of Chinese tourists here! Totally awesome! And we couldn't resist to jump on the desert! If you will go, please remember to bring a wide brim hat, UV sunglasses, sunblock and try to wear light shoes which you can put off easily (not to walk on barefoot though!). Fabulous! We will go again!
6.16 Day 6 Hiruzen Heights Cycling Road 蒜山高原自転車道 (30km) 130km Ueyama 上山旅館 Hiruzen Kogen is famous as the largest breeding zone for Jersey cows in Japan. I was attracted by the cycling route and decided to make a side trip to stay a night there.
On the road... Fun Ride Beautiful paddy rice fields were everywhere. Random flowers on the road. The full circle is 29.8km. Including the derail we had ride around 35km that day. Beautiful evening sun... on our way back to the ryokan from its outdoor onsen. That's the path to our rooms. Breakfast time!
6.17 Day 7 Himeji Castle 姬路城 - Arima Onsen 有馬温泉 80km Arima Hatago 四季の彩旅篭 Our last day this trip before flying back the next day, we went to the famous Himeji Castle, also known as White Heron Castle (Shirasagijo 白鷺城). Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and it was registered in 1993 as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan.
Himeji Castle 姬路城, one can say it is the most beautiful castle in Japan. Outlook from the top of Himeji Castle. Miyuki-dori みゆき通, the way from JR station to the castle and vice versa. Late lunch... sushi set dor. Dessert time! TAIYAKI 鯛焼き is a Japanese fish-shaped cake filled with red bean paste. This shop had got a lot of locals queuing for this... With ice-cream .. very yummy! JPY320 each. Awesome Kobe beef dinner. 百万一心味。