Universal Studios Japan

Universal Studios Japan is a theme park in Osaka, inspired by the Universal Studios Movies. The park opened in March 2001, and is currently ranked number 9th among the top 25 amusement/theme parks of the world.

There is a small mall marking the way to the entrance, after this you need to manage the crowds to get in. The park, as most of the attractions in Japan, gets a large number of visitors,  but due to its large size, it does not feel crowed. The queues for the popular attractions are certainly not for the impatient, but you can always use the “single rider” option, that will give you a faster access to the rides, if you don’t mind riding by yourself.

The park areas are themed on movies locations, the major ones being: New York, San Francisco, Hollywood, Jurassic Park, and Amity.

All the buildings and the interiors are reproductions of movies locations, be sure to check the small plates on the buildings before going in, to help you locate the movie.

If you bring small children, there is also a kids section with enough variety to spend a complete afternoon on it.

The park is definitively one of the best in Japan and it’s worth making a trip just to visit it.

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Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route

The Tateyama Kurobe alpine route is a mountain route between Tateyama in Toyama and Omachi in Nagano. The route opened in 1971 is 37 km long, ascending 1,795m.

The route uses several transport methods to cover the route without damaging the environment.

I started the route from Ogisawa station on the Omachi side of the route; from there a trolleybus connects this station with kurobedam station, in a 16 minutes ride through a tunnel. This line, together with the one on the Tateyama tunnel trolleybus are the only remaining trolleybus lines in Japan.

Kurobe dam the highest in Japan provides dramatics views of the Tateyama range and the North alpine, the dam 186 meters high concrete wall is an impressive view, especially when is discharging water.

After a 15 minutes’ walk to next station, kurobeko, you can ride the kurobe cable car to kurobedaira in a short 5 minutes tunnel ride.

From Kurobedaira, the tateyama ropeway will take you to daikanbo in a 7 minutes breathtaking ride.

From Daikanbo another trolley ride using a tunnel connects to Murodou, the Tateyama station at 2450 meters. Next to the station, the Tateyama hotel is the highest resort in Japan.

There are several hiking routes from this station, for all levels of expertise.

From Murodou a bus takes you to Biyodaira, during the spring, the snow corridor is open to pedestrians, this year the snow wall reached 17 m, I skipped this part of the trip as it was out of season already.

The Alpine route is one of the best ways to escape the summer heat of Tokyo, and enjoy the fantastic views from the Japanese Alps.

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Osaka Station

Osaka station in Umeda district in Osaka, is the main train station in the north of this city.

The station underwent extensive renovations and in 2011, a new north station building opened creating one of the most beautiful stations of Japan.

A large glass roof spans over the railway tracks, this roof has a close resemblance to Kyoto station’s one. Making this two stations compete for the title of the most beautiful one. The beautifully designed roof, provide protection to the elements and provide natural light to illuminate the station area.

The building at the north and south gates contain department stores, shopping complex, restaurants, and green areas.

Although the Shinkansen (bullet train) does not stop here, it’s definitively worth a visit if in the area.

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Limited Express Rapi:t

The Limited Express Rapi:t is an express train that runs between Namba station and Kansai Airport Station in Osaka. The train’s top speed is 120km, fast compared to the local line trains, but less than half of top speed of the bullet train.  

The true beauty of this train is in the design. Designed around a concept of “retro-future”, the cool front of the train, resembling a pilot’s helmet, gives the train a very distinctive appearance.

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Hibiya Shrine in Shinbashi

The hibiya Shrine in Shibashi is a small shrine surrounded by the Shiodome and Shinbashi buildings. Founded in 1606, it was rebuilt and relocated to current location in 2009.

The Shrine surrounded by the Shiodome skyscrapers, present an striking view, with the great contrast of an old style shrine and modern architecture.

If you visit the shiodome area, this shrine is a must to appreciate the mix of old and new, characteristic of Tokyo.

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Sakura Season

Cherry Blossom (sakura) season is back in Tokyo, the most anticipated and brief season on the year has finally come to town.

Large parks are the most popular places to enjoy the cherry trees, but there is always an area not far from work or home with of a large number of cherry trees, making it easy to go out and enjoy the season.

As it is usual every year, large number of people goes out to enjoy the the sakuras, sitting under the trees, on the open tables set by the restaurants or just walking around the blooming trees, giving the city a great ambiance.

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Uniqlo Ginza

Japanese casual clothing store Uniqlo has just open a new store in Ginza. The new flagship store is the company largest in the world. The 12^th floors building glass and steel beam front, it is effectively used as a display for the store clothes.

A large number of the store employees are foreigners, to accommodate for the large number of foreigners customers visiting Ginza. Since the store opening large queues form in front of the store, to my surprise many Japanese people also queued to enter the store, even though there are uniqlo store everywhere, perhaps is due to the store novelty and exclusive models.

A casual low cost clothing store and Ginza may seem like a mismatch, the store is looking to enhance its brand to compete with competitors like H&M and Zara, whom already have stores at Ginza, and point up that low cost does not equal to low quality.

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