A trip with Laurel to JAPAN!

Laurel led us through a tour of her Tokyo, Japan Mission!

We had a wonderful time in Japan. The people were so nice and the country so beautiful. Laurel had served a mission in Japan. We returned together including Randy. Below are our highlights and suggestions for do not miss opportunities. We hope, that if you go, you enjoy the Tokyo area as much as we did.

Flew into Narita Airport! Took a bus, walked, walked, and walked until we found our reprieve...MANY hours later… (by the grace of a gentleman who took time to help us find our VRBO. Exhausted, the floor mats looked like heaven to lay down on!

Hibarigaoka - Sun Road shopping and Inokashira Park swan boats!

Recommended hands down - a bicycle tour of Tokyo!

20 miles of fun and excitement. Tokyo bike tour! Ask for Gaku! We rode to Meiji-Jingu Shrine, through Aoyama cemetery, to the Imperial Palace, through downtown Ginza, a neighborhood shrine (Gaku taught us some customs), Zojoji Temple, and sights of Tokyo riding around! We loved it!

The Imperial palace. If you want to go in, make sure to make reservations well in advance.

Meiji-Jingu Shrine on the best bike tour!

JR train was the BEST way to travel!

Before we left for Japan we ordered and bought JR rail passes. It was definitely the best way to get around. Laurel knew how to get us around on the other trains also. It was fabulous!

We took the JR down to Nara and another train over to Nara to see the Big Budha!

Walked through a Bamboo Garden and fed the Royal deer wafers out of our hands.

Kyoto-Golden Palace

Fushimi-Inari temple hike

Another MUST-DO! It was a hot sweltering August day, but the sacred hike was beautiful!

Fujisawa-Odawara Castle

Yokohamo-Chinatown

Our good friend Kanako took us around Yokohama! She is the daughter of a young man my father baptized on his mission in Japan over 50 years ago!

Laurel showed us around to her friends and families she met on her mission. Kanako showed us some history of the first missionaries of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints in Yokohama/Japan.