JR Pass May 2023 trip

[paolo]

Hello everyone,

 

just wanted to post a few memories about my (second to) last trip to Japan. It was back in May, 14 days with the JR Pass (back when it was still super cheap), starting and ending in Tokyo, going all the way down to Nagasaki, and staying off the beaten path as much as possible.

This is a map of all the cities I slept in, to give you an idea:

 

 

May is my favorite month to travel in Japan, right after Golden Week and before the rainy season at the beginning of June.

This time I went a bit too late, and at the end I got quite a lot of rain, lesson learned.

 

This is a video of the first five days, with all the trains I took:

 

 

Day one

I took the Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo, a JR West N700A, Kodama service, to Atami and visited a few shrines in the area, like Izusan shrine:

 

The Izukyu 3000 Aloha was the prettiest train there:

 

Also the new Odoriko is quite nice:

 

From Atami, I took a local train on the Tokaido like to Fuji station, and then I jumped on a JR Central one-man train on the Minobu line to Fujimomiya:

 

Then I took a bus to Shiraito falls, a very nice place:

 

Day 2

The next day, I took the Fujikawa limited express to Kofu. It is a beautiful ride along the Fuji river:

 

From Kofu, I took a bus to get to the Mitake Shosenkyo gorge, another beautiful place:

 

Day 3

From Kofu, I took a local train on the Chuo line to the Lake Suwa area, where I visited the four shrines of Suwa Taisha:

 

 

From Kami-Suwa, I took the Azusa limited express to Matsumoto, where I quickly visited the gorgeous castle:

 

Back to the station, I took the Shinano limited express to Nagano:

 

And from there the E7 Hokuriku shinkansen to Kanazawa, where I spent the night:

 

Day 4

The next day, from Kanazawa I took the Shirasagi limited express to Fukui:

 

From there, I took a Echitetsu local train on the beautiful Katsuyama-Eiheiji Line to Katsuyama and then back to Eiheijiguchi, and visited a couple of shrines and temples along the way:

 

 

I cannot upload anymore pictures due to size limitations, so see you later for part 2 🙂

[kuro68000]

Wow, looks like you had an amazing trip, and those are some fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing, I'm going to watch the video later!