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Himeji is the second largest city in Hyogo and is famous for Himeji Castle and Kokoen garden. There are many statues on Otemaedori.
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Shianbashi is Nagasaki's nightlife area (and former red light district). At night, it comes alive with little restaurants and snack bars.
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Teramachi literally means "Temple town" and it is a street full of ... temples. There's an amazing variety of temples here.
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We also explored various places around the Nagasaki historic quarter including Oura Machi and Minami Yamate-Machi.
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We visited Namba City, next to Namba Station, and then walked to Namba Parks, another huge shopping centre with an interesting architecture.
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Namba Walk is an underground mall that looks like it has seen better days. They have a Hello Kitty spring promotion so we took photos.
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Day 1 in Osaka. We walked around the Shinsaibashi area, starting from Midosuji towards Amerikamura, then Europe-dori and the shopping street.
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Last day in Singapore! It was raining very heavily, so we decided to take the MRT and visit Orchard Road, the famous shopping district.
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Little India was originally an enclave designated by the British for Indian immigrants, and the main thoroughfare is Serangoon Road.
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Suntec City is one of Singapore’s largest malls and shopping destination nestled in the heart of the bustling Marina Bay precinct.
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We woke up early and took a stroll from our hotel to Marina Bay. We walked towards The Promontory, then Clifford Pier towards Merlion Park.
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We spent the evening exploring the Christmas Lights at Orchard Road with Christmas decorations and pop up stores.
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After dinner my cousin and her husband drove us back to the heart of Singapore where we walked around at night taking photos of the various buildings.
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On my last day in Auckland (Day 3), I wandered around High St and Queen St. Sad to be flying back later in the day!
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Auckland at night is a strange city at night full of wondrous visions that I never encounter during the day.
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From Albert Park, I explored Auckland City, starting from Khartoum Place where there is a memorial to the Women's Suffrage movement.
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We spend the rest of evening walking back from the Tokyo Metropolitan Goverment building along the subways and streets of Shinjuku.
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The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (東京都庁舎) is the tallest city hall in the world, with observation decks proving amazing views.
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Shinjuku (新宿区) has been a major secondary center of Tokyo and a commercial hub full of skyscrapers and retail shops.
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Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑) is a large park and garden. It was originally a residence of the Naitō family, then became an Imperial Park.
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Character Street is a row of shops selling toys based on various character themes, located underground in Tokyo Station.
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The Imperial Palace East Gardens encompasses the former Honmaru and Ninomaru areas of Edo Castle and the Imperial Tokagakudo Music Hall.
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Today we traveled from Osaka to Kyoto and arrived in the morning. Along the way we passed through some interesting sculpture street art.
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We travelled from Hiroshima to Osaka and arrived around 3pm. We checked into the Ritz Carlton and spent the afternoon exploring the area.
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On the way back to Fukuyama station, I saw a rose trellis in honour of Hugh Jackman - I took a picture there.
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We walked around Hiroshima in the evening and finished up with a dinner of the Hiroshima variant of okonomiyaki.
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Hiroshima is infamous as the first city targeted by an atomic bomb. Largely rebuilt post war, the city is once again a significant city.
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After visiting the castle and the garden, we wandered around the commercial heart of Okayama, primarily for dinner but also some shopping.
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We took a day trip to Kurashiki. The old merchant quarter (Bikan) contains wooden warehouses along a canal.
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Our return to Japan after nearly a decade! On arrival in Tokyo (Haneda Airport), we took the train to Asakusa and checked into our hotel.
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Nara is the ancient capital of Japan. We begin our visit at the Okumura Museum, with an interesting earthquake simulator.
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The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (東京都庁舎) is the tallest city hall in the world, with observation decks proving amazing views.
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Today we flew out of Wellington to Christchurch. After that, we wandered around and visited the Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens.