The Rapid Mie connects Nagoya Station in Aichi Prefecture and Toba Station in Mie Prefecture in about two hours. It is also a convenient train for transferring from the Tokaido Shinkansen and heading toward Ise and Toba.

The sea is the birthplace of all the life on Earth. Even now, many lifeforms are created there. Toba Aquarium brings people closer to the vastness, richness, and mysteriousness of the sea.

This hot spring village extends along the beach facing the Pacific Ocean. Enjoy the view from your room’s window as well as fresh seafood.

Futamigaura is in a pure waterfront location where pilgrims to Ise-Jingu Shrine have first stopped since ancient times to conduct a purification ceremony and cleanse themselves. The practice is known as hama-sangu, and you will want to visit this spot before going to Ise-Jingu Shrine. The Meoto Iwa are known as the symbol of Futamigaura.

You’ll arrive first at Geku (Outer Ise Shrine). Visit the shrine with a feeling of tranquility.

Ise-Jingu Shrine is officially a jingu Shinto shrine comprised of a total of 125 gusha shrines including Naiku (Inner Ise Shrine) and Geku (Outer Ise Shrine). According to the Nihon Shoki (The Chronicles of Japan), Shinto shrines began about 2,000 years ago when the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Oomikami built the Inner Ise Shrine at the top of the Isuzu-gawa River in Ise.

Enjoy a stroll sampling food and looking for souvenirs in the streets that replicate Japan’s Taisho period (1912-1926). There are also restaurants where you can sit and savor a meal at ease. When you are full, pay a visit to Naiku.

Savor Nagoya’s gourmet cuisine for dinner. Nagoya has a great variety of specialties, including miso-katsu pork cutlets with miso sauce, miso-nikomi udon noodles in a miso broth, tebasaki chicken wings, and kishimen flat noodles. Recharge your power for tomorrow!

Toji Temple is a Mikkyo temple of the Toji Shingon sect of Buddhism located on Kujo Street in Minami-ku in Kyoto. It was registered as a World Heritage Site in 1994. Toji serves as the konpon dojo (central training center) of the Mikkyo esoteric teachings of the Shingon sect and is also the sect’s headquarters.

photo:(c)Toji Temple

Heian Jingu Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Sakyo-ku in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture established in 1895 to commemorate 1,100 years since the relocation of the capital to Kyoto (known as Heian-kyo) and to enshrine Emperor Kanmu. In later years, Emperor Komei, the final emperor when Kyoto was still the capital, was also enshrined.

photo:(c)Heian Jingu Shrine

Arashiyama in Kyoto is famous for its cherry blossoms in spring and its foliage in fall, as immortalized in many traditional poems since ancient times. Abounding with charming picturesque scenery that changes colors with the four seasons, Sagano and Arashiyama contain many temples and well-known places.

photo: (c) Kyoto Media Support Center

It’s also fun to buy an ekiben and browse the souvenirs before your train’s departure time.

Eat your ekiben on the train while taking in the view outside your window.

Izumo Grand Shrine, renowned for its gods of matchmaking and good fortune, is so old that its establishment was inscribed in the Kojiki (The Records of Ancient Matters), Japan’s oldest history book. It was called Kizuki-taisha Grand Shrine until the early Meiji period.

This is an exemplary onsen of the San’in Region. Compiled in the year 733, the Izumo no Kuni Fudoki describes “a hot spring in the mountains thriving with men and women of all ages.” It was already prospering as a famous onsen 1,300 years ago, but because its official opening date is not confirmed, it can be counted as one of Japan’s oldest hot springs.