Takahashi

Takahashi is an old castle town and has one of the 12 original remaining castles, which is on top of a mountain. The town itself has some nice old temples, preserved Samurai houses and old merchant homes.

Fujisan again

On the flight from Tokyo to Matsue I got a good view of Fujisan.

From Matsue to Takahashi

There was quite a bit of snow on the ground as the train passed through the mountains .

Matsue

Matsue is a small city on the edge of a rather large lake. The Japanese inn that I'm staying at is on the river that flows from that lake.

Tokyo

On the flight to Matsue,  I got a good view of Tokyo.

Early plum blossom

It looked like a plum tree at Meguro Fudoson had already started to blossom. Normally plum trees don't flower to February.

Meguro Fudoson

Meguro Fudoson is a Tendai Buddhist temple and a temple in Tokyo I've never been to. It's an old temple and has elements of Shinto religion as well as Buddhism.

Falconry at Hamarikyu garden

Got a chance to see some falconry at Hamarikyu garden in Tokyo.
Hamarikyu used to be a hunting ground for the Shogun several hundred years ago.

Ruby Chocolate

Ruby is a new variety of chocolate that is naturally pink. I'm staying at the ANA Intercontinental Tokyo Hotel which is having a chocolate celebration, which features ruby. They produced some amazing scultures made from chocolate.

Osechi

Osechi is a new years meal the consists of symbolic food, such as prawn, breem and various red and white coloured foods. served in a multi-teired box. The meal is finished with a bowl of zoni, a soup containing mochi rice cake and is considered very auspicious. It's also rather filling.