The Meiji Shrine was built in 1920 in honour of the late Emperor Meiji. Apart from admiring it's architecture, one can witness wedding processions at the shrine. When's the best time to catch a wedding procession?
A panoramic view of the city of Tokyo awaits you at the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. And on a clear day, you will be able to catch Mt Fuji, Tokyo Sky Tree and the Tokyo Tower, among other iconic sights and buildings.
Hakone is well known as a resort destination of traditional Japanese ryokan hotels and onsens and catching amazing view of Mt Fuji. Where are the best spots to catch Mt Fuji from Hakone?
Watch this space. Another feature item will come soon.
Watch this space. Another feature item will come soon.
Our flight took us from Singapore to Chitose via Nagoya. Upon arriving at Chitose, we were transported to the Toyota-Rent-a-Car facility to get our rental car; a Toyoto Prius fully equipped with English-speaking GPS. Loved the license plate number 336-88-88.
First stop was for lunch, a 5-minute drive found us at Bibi Beef Restaurant. This beautiful log house, in lush greenery by a calm stream, was the restaurant. We had wagyu beef and grilled them ourselves right at our table.
The Bibi restaurant was in lush setting, with fir trees, wooden bridges... a very calm and picturesque setting.
Next stop - another picturesque environment - Lake Shikotsu. It is Japan's second largest caldera lake with a circumference of 42 km, formed as a result of a volcanic eruption about 32,000 years ago. With the average temperature at 3.6 degrees it is Japan’s coldest ice-free lake. Around the lake spread the deep green virgin forests of broad leaved deciduous trees such as maple and oak and conifer trees as Jezo spruce.
It was a misty autumn afternoon at Lake Shikotsu. The mist added to the beauty as the rich autumn colours graced the foliage by the lake.
A path at lake Shikotsu covered with autumn leaves.
Beautiful red and yellow maple leaves at Lake Shikotsu.
Our first hotel in this trip; Nororibetsu Mahoroba Hotel.
As it was getting dark, we rushed to our hotel; Nororibetsu Mahoroba Hotel. Our room floor was covered with tatami mats, a small square table in the middle of the room and floor chairs. Hmmm... where are the beds?
We heard about the technology in Japanese toilets so we had to determine if our hotel room's toilet was equally equipped. It was. Noticing the various buttons on a side panel we experimented. Trrust me... the aim was very accurate indeed! As we were late to join the rest of our group for dinner, we quickly changed to the traditional yukatas and made our way to the dining room.
Dinner was a Japanese set with lots of seafood; crabs, sashimi. It was nice to meet our fellow travellers over dinner too. Then a quick dip into the hotels onsen before retiring for the day. Yes, our first experience in a Japanese hot spring. A little intimidating at first, but you get over that quickly, scrub down while sitting on short stools and dipping into a couple of indoor and outdoor tubs. It was an incredibly relaxing experience.
Once back to our hotel room, the answer to our earlier question about our beds was answered. While we were at dinner, housekeeping folded out our mattressess to the tatami mats. It was either the comfortable floor arrangements, or the awesome dinner, or the relaxing dip in the onsen, or perhaps a combination of all, but we had a most relaxing and peaceful sleep that night.
Breakfast at Nororibetsu Mahoroba Hotel.
Jigokudani (Hell Valley) - A place where clouds of steam, hot water and volcanic gas are given off from the surface giving the whole place a strong smell of sulphur.
After checking out of the hotel we drove to our next destination - Sobetsu town - home to many fruit farms and orchards.
At the Ano Kano Fruit farm, we went orchard picking. For ¥1700 for two adults, we were free to roam, pick and eat as much apples, plums and grapes in their orchard.
We has the juiciest and crunchiest apples, hand picked ourselves from the trees.
Red and green grapes hung at their vineyard. The grapes had a strong winery taste to them.
Lunch time. A small sushi bar in a very local area was recommended to us. Reaching there at 2pm, past the lunch time crowd, we almost had the entire place to ourselves. This young guy hand made the sushi for us.
Fresh sushi.... yummy!
Onuma Quasi National Park. Designated as a "quasi" national park and located about 20 km north of Hakodate.
Onuma Quasi National Park is known for its picturesque island dotted lakes and majestic dormant volcano Mt Komagatake.
The bridges add to the charm of the Onuma Quasi National Park.
Reaching the city of Hakodate, we stopped by the local yatai for a quick bite.
Hakodate Yatai. The charms of yatai are not so much about their food but rather the cosy atmosphere of being in one sitting shoulder to shoulder chatting and laughing with people you don't know.
The elderly husband-wife couple served at one of the yatais where we had mince meat rolled in cabbage and a couple of beers.
Since only I was drinking at the yatai, wifey took to the wheel and drove us to our hotel - the Hotel Hanabishi. There were checked in quickly, donned on our yukatas and joined the rest for a sumptuous Japanese set dinner.
After dinner, we soaked in the hotel's onsen, then retired for the day in a very comfortable Japanese style bedroom.
The Hakodate morning market opens from 4 am to 12 noon. There are stalls selling local seafood produce.
Hokkaido King crabs - a local delicacy.
A female fishmonger weighs the crab for her customer.
Konbu - Japanese seaweed. Cut small strips of this and cook with soup.
An old lady sells dried octopus.
Fresh raw salmon and salmon roe on sale at the market.
The Hachiman-zaka slope. Hakodate town has many slopes. One of the most popular photo spots that taken from the hill looks down the slope to Hakodate Harbour and Bay.
Old Pubic Hall, at Hakodate.
Orthodox Church. this chapel is Japan’s first Orthodox church. Built in 1916 it features a bell tower and a dome representing a leek flower.
Catholic Motomachi Church. Mermete de cachon, a French missionary, originally had a temporary church building constructed. The building however suffered numerous incidents of fire until the current church was built in 1924. This church features Gothic architecture and the only altar in Japan that has been presented by the Vatican as a gift.
Statue of Our Lady greets visitors at the Trapestine Convent organised by the Citeaux Order. The Trappistine Convent was founded in 1898 by 8 Catholic nuns from France and managed by the Trappist Order was Japan's first convent built to house nuns.
Our Lady of Angels Convent. The nuns' living conditions at the beginning were very poor, so much so that the headquarters in France was considering to recall their nuns. Most of the present day building was reconstructed in 1927 after being burnt down in 1925. The general public is only allowed to the gardens where statues of St Michael and St Mary stand. The candy and cookies made by the nuns are popular and regarded as Hokkaido's specialities and can be purchased at many gift and souvenir shops.
We reached the observation deck of Mt Hakodate just before dusk. We could get a good view of Hakodate Bay and the city,just before dusk... and after the sun set... 
... we were treated to an illuminating view of the same scene as city lights started coming on.
After checking out from Hotel Hanabishi Hakodate we made our way to the Konbu Museum.
then it was to Mt Usu. Mt Usu is a volcano which erupted 4 times in past 100 years. Its most recent eruption occurred in year 2000.
Viewing lake from the top of Mt Usu. 
The ropeway car taking people up to Mt Usu.
Lunch was a Japanese-Western meal of pork chops at Boyotei restaurant, a 5 minute drive from Mt Usu.
Boyotei restaurant.
Another 5 minute drive away and we reached the Nishiyama Kako Sansakuro (Nihsiyama Promenande). This trail was created after the year 2000 eruption which caused the ground to undergo subsequent upheavals and significant damage to be sustained by National Route 230 and surrounding homes and factories.
It made us pause and reflect on the damage that volcanic eruptions could make to nearby villages and towns.
On route to our hotel, we stopped by this cute little farm for ice cream.
The Lake Hill Farm makes their own ice cream from Hokkaido's own dairy products.
Many flavours to choose from. And a huge scoop on top of that cone. Comes with a mega watt smile from the Japanese lady serving behind the counter.
Lake Hill Farm.
We arrived at our hotel, the Rusutsu Hotel. This hotel is usually packed in winter as people visit this part of Hokkaido for skiing.
The room was super huge. This bedroom was on one level.
Walking down the stairs, we have the living/dining room, with bar counter and bathroom.
We headed off to the hotel restaurant for a buffet dinner of Japanese delicacies.
The crab legs here were divine!
The living/dining room had beds that could be pulled down. In all our hotel room now has 4 beds. Now where do we sleep tonight?
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