Autumn 2023 Trip

In November 2023 we went on our third trip to Japan, our second time visiting in the Autumn. Last year, we had gone in early fall. It was a wonderful trip, but I didn’t get the spectacular fall colors that I had wanted. The leaves had just started to change in Kyoto when we had to head home. This time we decided to go a few weeks later.

We also had two of our friends joining us for this trip. Because of that, this trip is a mix of old favorites, and things that we didn’t get to do the first time around. We had two weeks, so we stuck to the popular spots, with Hiroshima and Hakone being the only real deviations from the classic route of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka.

I was most excited to visit Amanohashidate. Described in everything I had read as “a pine covered sandbar” it’s supposed to appear like a bridge to heaven (even more so when viewed upside-down). This is one on the Nihon Sankei (日本三景), the Three Views of Japan. It was also the only one I hadn’t visited, and I really wanted to complete the whole set.

Photos are presented in chronological order, group by day. In each day, each topic or location is given its own section. At the end of each section there is a slideshow of “context” photos. These aren’t good photos, but include things I found interesting, weird, or tasty. Some pretty unpolished videos (taken with my phone) are included from the same reason.