1 year in the Land of the Rising Sun

Today marks 1 year since we moved to Japan.  It has been an amazing, wonderful, tough, eye-opening, life-changing experience.  We are trying to pack in as much as possible in these two years and I can look back on this first year without any regrets.  Here are some highlights of the things and places we've experienced in this beautiful country...

Cable car up to the top of Rokko Mountain to get a great view of Kobe, the city we live in.

we live in one of those 'twin' towers, the one closer to the water.

A view of the Kobe harbor

Top of the Sky Tower Building in Osaka (the building I worked in for most of the first year)

Day time on a lunch date and then back at night with the kiddos

The park that is 2 blocks from our apartment...we are there almost every single day (thanks to Siena!)

our apartment is that closest white building

A day trip to visit Todaiji Temple in Nara, a World Heritage site.  

The building behind us is Daibutsu-den and it is the world's largest wooden structure 

It is home to Daibutsu, the world's largest gilded bronze Buddha (15 meters, 49 feet)

feeding the famous deer of Nara

Several trips to Kyoto...and still so much left to see there!

Kinkakuji - the golden pavilion

Tenryu-ji Temple

Daigoji Temple

no nails! only wood slats fit together perfectly

Heian Shrine

Back to Tenryu-ji Temple on another day

yes, a random clown photobombed them!

the famous bamboo forest

Fushimi inari shrine....one of my favorite sites so far, you walk through thousands of torii gates.  So beautiful! 

 so great to have our friends Brian & Cristina visit us...friends from college days!

another trip to the amazing bamboo forest

These are just a few of our pictures from 4 different trips to Kyoto and we have only seen a small fraction of the beautiful sites, we hope to go back several times this year as it is only 1 hour by train.



We have been to Himeji Castle two times, once in December and the other time in the spring for a very special ohanami, which is viewing the sakuras (cherry blossoms).  The ohanami is one of our favorite memories so far, it was magical!  The castle is under reconstruction right now and will open next spring in time for ohanami.

Spring - sakura time!

Everyone is so full of joy and want you to join in the festivities!  The Japanese especially want foreigners to have a positive sakura experience as it is one of their most important cultural rituals.  We were invited to join a couple of picnics! :)

this is Siena's boyfriend, Remy ;)

A different variety of sakura in Osaka....

Osaka Castle

Okinawa - celebrating Jon's 40th birthday!

 Arima - a town full of natural hot springs, called onsen
 (about 1 hour train ride away from where we live)

We rented a private one...so amazing!

the meal after the onsen experience...

Hiking Rokko Mountain, to the Ashiya Rock Garden

complete with a wild boar siting!



the kids first Shinkansen ride....to Hiroshima

they made peace cranes on the way to the peace memorial park and museum

Atomic bomb dome...very sombering site

 adding our peace cranes to ones from all around the world...

a difficult, but important day for us to learn about the effects of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.


Then we went on to Miyajima....one of the most beautiful places in all of Japan!

a night cruise to go under the great Torii gate

we rented bikes and rode across the huge sand dune (so big that 8,000 pine trees have grown on it)

Taue - rice planting!  we will go back in September to harvest it.

Tomita Lavender Farm in Hokkaido

I wish I could've gone there at peak season, but still it was so beautiful.  Only I (Dawn) got to go because I was in the area for a work event.  Click on the link above to see the farm in full bloom.  Stripes of flowers, so beautiful!

This post has been about the places in Japan, and it will take another post to share all of the wonderful people we have met and been spending our time with.  We also had opportunities to go to the Philippines (all of us), Dubai UAE (Dawn) and Shanghai, China (Jon)...looking back on the year, it's hard to believe all that we packed in.  It has been such a rich life experience and we are so grateful and will savor every moment of this next year. 

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our year in Japan!