Welcome to my first Travel Blog series post. To those who like a lot of photos, you are in luck. In this series, I document everywhere I went on my latest trip in Japan with alot of pictures to help visualize as you read. Let's get into it!

This past week, November 23rd to be exact, was Yukina's birthday. Last year since I was unemployed, I had hardly any money and couldn't afford more than a cake for her birthday. This year, since I am employed and actually have money coming in now, I promised to make her last birthday in her 20's special. I gave her a budget of 100,000 yen (around $700 USD) and said she can pick anywhere she wants to go and I will pay completely for it.

She did all of the searching by herself and came up with the plan to visit this city called Shimoda. I had never heard of it before, but her grandfather had apparently taken her there many times before when she was little. This was one of her most precious places, a place where she made some of her best childhood memories. And it would soon become important to me as well. I didn't realize until visiting in person how historically important of a city it actually was.

Arriving in Shimoda

The journey from Tokyo to Shimoda wasn't quick. It took about 3.5 hours by train. When we arrived at the station the first thing we were greeted by was this giant black ship in front of the station. I didn't really know what the significance of this was until a little while later. It turns out that Shimoda was actually the first trade port opened and place where the first US Consulate was established when Matthew Perry landed in Japan, forcing Japan to open their borders to trade for the first time in 250 years.

Let me say, this is not a historic blog where I give in depth information for everything Japan related, so if you want to read more in depth I recommend checking out this Wikipedia Page .

But Perry is a major historical figure in Japan and probably even part of the reason Japan is like it is today. It is in part, thanks to Perry, that Japan/American relations are as good as they are today as Perry created a deeply rooted relationship that started all the way in the 1800's. Without him, who knows when Japan would have finally opened, and they likely wouldn't have nearly as strong as an economy as they do today.

Also around the station there was this footbath where you could put your feet in and relax. This town also apparently has natural hot springs so the water comes from directly underground. Just as I was taking the photo someone on the left side was about to use it. I was also thinking about trying it but I didn't have a towel. Maybe next time.

Riding the ropeway

After we got to the station, the very first thing Yukina wanted to do was go up the ropeway. There was this famous mountain called Mt. Nesugata (寝姿山) that apparently resembles someone sleeping, hence the name. I personally couldn't find any similarities but I was probably looking at the wrong direction. As we were going up the ropeway, I saw this dilapidated castle. Normally in Japan, historic castles are very well preserved. This was the first time I had ever seen a castle this run down.

I was curious what exactly happened so I asked my AI friends. It turns out this is not a castle, but an abandoned art museum that was designed to look like a castle. It was built in 1965 as a tourist attraction but ended up closing down in 2008. It has been abandoned ever since. Also according to some sources I found, people who went near the castle could hear voices inside. Kinda spooky.

The view from up top

Once we got to the top, the view was quite nice as you can see. Mt. Nesugata (寝姿山) actually played a crucial role during the Edo period. This mountain was actually used as a lookout post for seeing incoming ships, and yes you guessed it, spotting Matthew Perry's black ships as well. This was the same view that they had hundreds of years ago. I'm sure they were pretty scared to see multiple black ships coming into their harbor, fully armed and loaded. (over 73 cannons!)

Funny enough, there was actually a black ship in the harbor that day that I could see from the lookout. They do tour boat rides for the black ship. I guess I got the full historical experience that day.

The love shrine

Up on the mountain there was also a shrine called 愛染堂 (Aizendo shrine). This is a shrine that's dedicated to romance/love for couples. (It's almost like Yukina planned this in advance). Here's what my AI friend had to say about it:

"The shrine is famous as a "enmusubi power spot" (縁結びのパワースポット) - a matchmaking/romance power spot - with benefits for good matches (良縁), fertility (子宝), and marital harmony (夫婦和合). It's popular enough that many celebrities have visited.

The whole Mt. Nesugata area has this romantic vibe - even the mountain's name comes from it looking like a woman lying down. So having a major love/romance shrine up there fits the theme perfectly. It's become a popular date spot and place for people hoping to find love or strengthen their relationships."

Also in the shrine there was this little mini game they had set up where you and your partner throw rocks through the right/left hole at the same time and if they both hit the rock behind that says "peace" (和), it is said that your wish for good relationships and harmony will come true. Yukina and I tried, failing the first time but we got it second try. (I hope that still counts). Each try costs 200 yen so something tells me it might just be a way to make money, but who am I to say.

Ending the first day

After that, we started to head back to go back down the mountain. Before leaving, there was one more scenic spot along the way. This is where that beautiful picture you saw in the intro was taken. Here it is one more time for you to admire a little longer:

They say on good days you can even see Mt. Fuji. I mean this day seemed pretty clear but we couldn't see the mountain. I'm not sure if we were looking in the wrong direction or it can get even more clear than this. (It's supposed to be directly ahead) Regardless, this view was really pretty. I also for the first time in Japan, saw wind turbines. I saw alot of them in America but in my 3 years on living in Japan this was my first time. I got a little excited and tried testing out the zoom on my Pixel 10 camera. You can see the turbines in the top left on the photo. Here is what it looks like when I took a zoomed in shot on my phone.

Not too bad of a shot for a phone camera right? I was actually pretty impressed. I utilized the zoom function alot on this trip and it made me a little proud of my phone camera.

After that, we headed back down the ropeway and to our lodging for the night. The buses in this area ended fairly early so we got pretty fortunate that day. Like, there was one bus around 3pm and then if you missed that one, you have to wait over an hour for the next one. And if you missed that one, well you are out of luck for the night.

Speaking of lodging

Yukina also found a pretty nice place to stay for us. The room had two separate beds and a private onsen that used water directly from underground. For me this was perfect because if you don't know, Japan has a pretty unique culture where it is completely normal to be naked with other guys in the onsen. That includes showering with them together before entering etc. And then even in the onsen, the water is clear so you know...

Despite being in Japan for over 3 years now, I still haven't gotten over that cultural difference and I have yet to use a public onsen or experience actual naturally heated water. But thanks to Yukina, I was able to use the private onsen completely by myself and didn't have any worries.

Also, this hotel came with all-you-can-eat breakfast and dinner included for both days. And it wasn't low quality food either. I am talking all you can eat sashimi, steak, salad, ice cream and much more. I personally got a plateful of steak and atleast 5 or 6 helpings of salad over the course of both days. For breakfast they had all-you-can-eat eggs, omelets, cereal, yogurt and more. Only thing, was the food never changed over the days, so if you stayed a week you would be eating the same food every day and night. Thankfully for us it was only 2 days.

Boat tour and hiking up to a lighthouse

The next morning after eating breakfast, we were going to take the bus back into the city but the next one wouldn't come for over an hour again. So we had to walk 30 minutes to a different bus stop and then take that one to our next destination. While we were walking, I got reminded a lot of Muroto.

The first thing Yukina had planned was a boat ride. Originally, she wanted to take that black ship you saw earlier, but it just so happened that was the last day they were operating for the year, and tickets were already sold out long in advance. So she settled on a different boat ride, but still owned and operated by the same company.

We were fortunate to get a departure with very little people because when we returned there was a huge line of people waiting to get on the boat. The ride itself lasts around 25 minutes and takes you around a bunch of different rock formations and tiny islands. I've been on many different boat rides and this one didn't seem any much different, but Yukina seemed to enjoy it and said it was one of the best parts of the trip so I am glad.

This was another cool use of my zoom function on my camera. You see those people all the way up top? Let's zoom in on them.

Oh look, they are waving at us.

The hike

After we finished the boat tour, we barely missed the bus to our next destination, so in the hour of waiting for the next bus, we decided to hike up to the lighthouse we just passed by on the boat. There happened to be a trail to it right next to where we got off the boat so we continued on that path. It was pretty steep but it only lasted for about 10 minutes. Also, remember those wind turbines you saw earlier? It turns out the boat ride happened to be right next to them so I got a super close shot.

The hike up was really pretty as well. The boat we had just gotten off of was just passing by, so of course I took a zoomed in shot.

Once we got to the lighthouse it reminded me more of Muroto again, because there is a one that looks almost exactly like it there. But looking at my photos, I somehow don't have a photo of neither this lighthouse nor the Muroto lighthouse up close. Sorry.

Remember that guy waving at us? Here is a photo taken from the exact spot he was standing.

Perry's Road

After we made it to the top, we had to quickly head back down to make it in time for our last destination: Perry's Road. This was apparently the exact road that Commodore Matthew Perry walked after the Treaty of Kanagawa was signed where he led 300 of his men to Ryosenji temple, negotiating the provisions of the treaty.

Now, while it is a road, the main scenic part, in my opinion, is the river next to it.

Also while we were walking, Yukina pointed out the stone foundation at the bottom. She explained that this traditional Izu stone construction technique isn't commonly used anymore; another reminder that this road dates back to the mid-1800s Edo period.

As we reached the end of the road we found this ancient cannon from 1829. Yukina said this was her first time ever seeing something this old up close before and I told her in Chickamauga, GA (Where I grew up) there is a historic park called the Chickamauga Battlefield where there are tons of cannons like these from the civil war. Then she said "Now I have to go to Chickamauga". So maybe one day she'll be making a visit to my hometown.

Near the cannon, there was also a monument dedicated to the man himself, Perry. Alongside a signed engraving by President George Bush called the U.S. Japan Friendship Flame, celebrating the 150th Anniversary of U.S/Japan relations. He also mentioned Matthew Perry as well.

By the way, this was the harbor that the monument was located at. Very peaceful and serene.

As we were heading back there was a Grey Heron a little ways away perched on top of a building. Yea, you already know what I had to do. Another zoomed photo. Here it is:

Night at the beach

After that, it was getting dark so we headed back to the hotel. After eating dinner, we decided to head out to the nearby beach at night to see if we could get a good glimpse of the stars.

You could see the stars crystal clear. "It's like being in an actual observatory" Yukina said. She said it was the clearest she ever saw the stars in her life. It really helps when you don't have all the light pollution in Tokyo. You could never get this kind of view in Tokyo. While this photo does it no justice at all, here is a photo I took of the night sky.

It was pretty surreal to be in total darkness with only the light from the nearby lighthouse shining every 10 seconds our direction. That night was a new moon so there was absolutely no moonlight either. Just us, the stars and the waves. Very calming, and it made me appreciate the countryside of Japan even more. This sort of experience would be impossible in Tokyo.

Ending thoughts

And that concludes our trip to Shimoda. What did you guys think? Let me know in the comments. I personally thought it was a really nice port town with rich history and beautiful scenery.

Coming to the countryside like this really made Japan's population crisis stand out. Not shown in this blog is the large amount of abandoned stores, closed shops and empty houses. Even though there is technically an overflow of tourists with the news saying there are too many, in the countryside parts of Japan, the opposite is true. There are hardly any tourists in these areas when there should be. I could count on my hands the number of tourists that I saw during my stay. Unfortunately, most people coming to Japan only visit the main tourist locations like Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Sapporo when these places are already filled with tourists and don't need any more.

I really hope the government could implement a countryside tourism program that could help fuel these lowly traversed areas with foreign money. Because at this rate these services like the bus, ropeway, boat rides won't be able to last another 20 years. I mean, the bus already only comes like once every 1-4 hours. But at the same time a lot of these tourists likely don't even know about a place like Shimoda. I mean, I've been here for three years and only learned about it thanks to Yukina.

Japan is such a beautiful country and I really hope more people coming to Japan can understand the countryside of Japan has just as much charm, if not more, than the major cities. Thanks for reading.