Japan and Taiwan

I took a 10 day trip with visits to Japan and Taiwan. I was going to Taiwan for my cousin's wedding, and made a stop in Japan on the way to Taiwan. It was my first visit to Japan and we joined a tour group with 9 other tourists.


We traveled in a tour bus with a guide. Our tour group concentrated within the Kanto region and saw temples, shrines, a castle, Imperial Palace, shopping districts, a national park, hot springs, Toyota show room, and parts of Tokyo. We enjoyed great Japanese food - sushi, udon, tempura, and green tea ice cream.

Japan is a clean country, with a focus on hygiene, and safety. It is also hospitable towards visitors, and many Japan service workers are used to dealing with foreign visitors - if you visit Japan you will know what I mean.


My favorite hotel was the New Akao Hotel which has a Japanese theme (rooms look like Japan houses) and is located on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This hotel has hot springs for people to dip in. The procedure is: shower then dip in the hot springs naked - that's right, everyone enters the springs with absolutely no clothes on.

Pictures
Japan - batch 1
Japan - batch 2
Japan - batch 3

Taiwan (the Taiwan album includes pictures from my last 2 trips to Taiwan - first week of November 2008 and during the 2007 Christmas season)