A little background history to Meiji Mura and good to know facts:

Ever wondered how Japan’s Meiji era looked like? In Meiji Mura, architecture as well as lifestyle is simulated to the glorious modernization era helm by the Meiji emperor for 45 years.

The Meiji open air museum is open-air architectural museum/theme park in Inuyama, near Nagoya in Aichi prefecture, Japan. It was opened on March 18, 1965. The museum preserves historic buildings from Japan’s Meiji (1867-1912), Taisho (1912-1926), and early Showa (1926-1989) periods. Over 60 historical buildings have been moved and reconstructed onto 1 km² (247 acres) of rolling hills alongside Lake Iruka. The most noteworthy building there is the reconstructed main entrance and lobby of Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark Imperial Hotel, which originally stood in Tokyo from 1923 to 1967, when the main structure was demolished to make way for a new, larger version of the hotel.

The Meiji era was a period of rapid change in Japan. After centuries of isolation, Japan began to incorporate ideas from the west, including building styles and construction techniques. Meiji Mura’s goal is to preserve these historic early examples of western architecture mixed with Japanese construction techniques and materials. Incidentally, many of the buildings were saved from demolition during the post World War II period, another time of transition and rapid progress in Japanese history.

In addition, notable buildings of historical or cultural importance including those of later eras are preserved as well, including a few Japanese style buildings. Nine of the buildings are designated as Important Cultural Assets, and nearly all the rest are registered as tangible cultural assets. The museum includes buildings from Hawaii and Seattle in the United States, and also Brazil. A steam locomotive and street car, along with shuttle buses and horse-drawn carriages, provide transportation within the grounds. An operational historic post office is included among the 67 buildings (as of 2005). Though some buildings are somewhat empty, others have displays showing the history of the building and period, period furniture, and other displays.

The former Imperial Hotel was moved from Tokyo between 1967 and 1985. Though only the entrance and lobby remain, it is the largest structure in Meiji Mura.

Other structures preserved at Meiji Mura include Lafcadio Hearn’s summer house from Shizuoka (1868) and Kyoto’s old St. Francis Xavier Cathedral (1890). The former Cathedral is available to rent for weddings.

Meiji Mura is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from March to October, and until 4:00 p.m. from November to February.

Official Meiji Mura website

Did you manage to catch a firework show this summer?

Mount Rokkō is 931m high and is the perfect spot for a city’s picturesque view. Various tourist attractions can be found such as a botanical garden and a music box museum. Japan’s first golf course was on top of Mount Rokkō too. There is no single mountain or peak called “Rokkō.” The highest peak of the mountains is called Rokkō-Saikōhō (六甲最高峰, Rokkō-Saikōhō?), literally, the highest peak in Rokkō Mountains.

Top of Rokkō-Saikoho

How to get there?

From central Kobe:

From Sannomiya Station, take the Hankyu Kobe Line to Rokko Station (7 minutes, 180 Yen), from where you can catch the Rokko Cablecar up the mountain (10 minutes, 570 Yen one way, 1000 Yen round trip).

The “Omote Rokko Shuyu Joshaken” ticket consists of a round trip ticket for the Rokko Cablecar and unlimited use of the circular bus line on top of the mountain for 1300 Yen.

From Arima Onsen:

The Rokko Arima Ropeway connects Arima Onsen with the top of Mount Rokko. The one way trip takes 12 minutes and costs 980 Yen. A round trip ticket costs 1770 Yen.

The “Ura Rokko Shuyu Joshaken” ticket consists of a round trip ticket for the Rokko Arima Ropeway and unlimited use of the circular bus line on top of the mountain for 1900 Yen.

From Kobe to Arima or the other way around:

The “Rokko Arima Katamichi Joshaken” ticket provides a one way trip between Rokko Station and Arima Onsen using cablecar, bus and ropeway plus unlimited use of the circular bus line on Mount Rokko for 1700 Yen. It is a nice way to access Arima Onsen from Kobe.

More info on how to get to Mount Rokko: Travel Guide Japan

Japanese Edo period castles are everywhere in Japan but the Matsumoto Castle is a very nice one to check out if you’re in Matsumoto city. Matsumoto city is the second largest city in the Nagano perfecture and is the perfect grounds to start your hiking trips to the Japanese Alps, i.e. Kamikochi.

Places to checkout while you’re in the city are:

- Matsumoto Castle
- Nakamachi
- Japan Ukiyoe Museum
- Kamikochi
- Alpine Route

Matsumoto City Official Website

Kushiro Shitsugen National Park (釧路湿原国立公園, Kushiro Shitsugen Kokuritsu Kōen?) is a national park located in the east of the island of Hokkaidō, Japan. It was designated as a national park on 31 July 1987, and is the 28th and most recent of Japan’s national parks. The park is known for its wetlands ecosystems.

Kushiro Shitsugen covers an area of 268.61 km² and contains the largest tracts of reedbeds in Japan. During the Ramsar Convention of 1980, in which Japan participated, the park was first registered as a peatland with raised bogs. In 1967, the wetlands themselves had been designated as a national natural monument. For that reason, access is strictly limited and the landscape, most typical of Hokkaidō, has been preserved.

Reeds, sedges, peat moss wetlands, black alder thickets, rivers which bend freely back and forth, groups of lakes and marshes, and other wet ecosystems comprise a varied environment. The park is considered to be a valuable haven for wild species such as the Red-crowned Crane, huchen (Hucho perryi), Siberian salamander (Salamandrella keyserlingii) and dragonfly (Leucorrhinia intermedia ijimai), among others.

Check out its official site: Kushiro National Park

Mount Takasaki houses over 1500 wild monkeys and they live in a colony. The monkeys are fed regularly by park wardens so that they would not disrupt the local farmers nearby by wrecking their crops. But these quirky creatures are very entertaining to see especially when they live together in the park. A visit to Mount Takasaki is best combined with visiting the nearby aquarium, Umitamago Aquarium.

Check out this clip of a feeding time with the monkeys

Takasakiyama Monkey Park can be reached in a 10 minute bus ride from central Beppu (Beppu Station or Beppu Kitahama). Get off at “Takasakiyama” bus stop.

The “Monkey Marine Ticket” for 2200 Yen consists of a round trip from Beppu to the monkey park and admission to the monkey park and nearby Umitamago Aquarium.

The Windsor are an international chain of hotels that is well known around the world. If you are visiting Lake Toya, check out Lake Toya Windsor, it looks like a really posh place amidst the beautiful land and mountainous range.

It is the official season for climbing Mount Fuji, 1st July – 31 August. The weather is perfect and the view is clear. It is during this season that experience and inexperience mountain climbers throng the Fuji. It is recommended that the inexperience climbers climb Mt. Fuji during this season as visibility is good and the weather less harsh.

There are five routes you can start out with to climb Mt. Fuji:

Kawaguchiko 5th Station (Yamanashi Prefecture)

Altitude: about 2300 meters
Ascent: 5-7 hours
Descent: 3-5 hours

This is the most popular base for the climb to the summit, and the most easily accessible 5th Station from the Fuji Five Lake region and central Tokyo. The road to this 5th Station, the Fuji Subaru Line, is a toll road (2300 Yen), which gets closed to private vehicles during the peak of the summer holidays (August 9 to 19 and 23 to 24, 2008).

The Yoshidaguchi Trail leads from the Kawaguchiko 5th Station to the summit. Lots of mountain huts line the trail around the 7th and 8th stations, and there are separate trails for the ascent and descent. The sunrise takes place on this side of the mountain.

Subashiri 5th Station (Shizuoka Prefecture)

Altitude: about 2000 meters
Ascent: 5-8 hours
Descent: 3-5 hours

This 5th Station is located only at 2000 meters above sea level and is the base of the Subashiri Trail. The Subashiri Trail meets the Yoshidaguchi Trail around the 8th station.

Gotemba 5th Station (Shizuoka Prefecture)

Altitude: about 1400 meters
Ascent: 7-10 hours
Descent: 3-6 hours

This is by far the lowest 5th Station, and the ascent to the summit is accordingly much longer than from the other 5th stations. The Gotemba Trail leads from the Gotemba 5th Station to the summit. There are about four huts around the 7th and 8th station.

Fujinomiya 5th Station (Shizuoka Prefecture)

Altitude: about 2400 meters
Ascent: 4-7 hours
Descent: 2-4 hours

The closest 5th Station to the summit, the Fujinomiya 5th Station is the base for the southern approach via the Fujinomiya Trail. It is easily accessible from the railway stations on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line between Tokyo and Osaka. There are about half a dozen mountain huts along this trail.

The road to the Fujinomiya 5th Station is toll free and gets closed to private vehicles during the peak of the climbing season (July 15-17 and August 5-14, 2006).

This website is a good place to start if you want to contact an operator for your Mt Fuji expedition: Viator. It sets out from Tokyo, which is convenient for all.

For more resources, click here.

Doesn’t it make you wanna go there?