yun que: If I go there's trouble, if I stay it's double.

My brother Tobias arrived for a two week vacation.

Getting to Narita was a real adventure, as an earthquake in Chiba had put the Keisei line out for a while. I should have followed Kaoris advice and gone for JR from the beginning. But I got there, and we also got back to Tokyo pretty easily, and went for a one week intense Japan tour catching up with people in Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. This post will be about Nagoya and Kyoto.

Our Nagoya friends Shiho and Makoto. It was soooo good to see them again!!

We went to an Nagoya Izakaya called Sekai no Yama-chan. Makotos sister Tomoyo joined us.

Tobias had just arrived that day, but didn't seem that tired.

Izakaya plate and Umeshu.

Our rather messy hotel room in Nagoya. Tobias is working on university stuff.

Two cranes decorated our beds at the hotel.

Tobias under a Torii gate near Nagoya Castle.

Nagoya Castle has an exhibition of samurai art and the history. Among many other things this wonderful painted scroll of a "special" elephant.

Sakura at the castle grounds.

Gorgeous!

More Sakura.

Tobias and Sakura.

The Castle (and Sakura!)

"When in Rome..."

These laterns were very cute. They took me back to the O-Bon festival I attended at Nagoya Castle a couple of years ago.

Trying to get the best pictures!

Next stop was Kyoto. We stayed at a nice guesthouse called Bon, with the sweetest and most kind and helpful host. Extremely recommendable.

The surroundings were pretty local. We had some cheap food at a very small place. It was good, but the spinach wasn't washed properly. That was a shame, and also very odd for a Japanese restaurant.

We went to the Fushimi Inari Taisha.

It's a dreamy shrine.

Companies donate the Torii gates.

At the top we had Inari sushi. The best I've ever had. Most sushi restaurants don't seem to put much effort into this sweetened treat. Especially not in Denmark.