[Introduction]

On our final day in Japan, we only had time for a morning quick trip to Nanzoin Temple - known for its bronze statue of a reclining Buddha, said to be the largest bronze statue in the world. After that we will be catching a long Shinkansen ride from Hakata back to Tokyo, before heading to Haneda airport to catch our flight back.

[Trip Report]
Day 1: Explore around Nagano
Day 2: Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
Day 3: Matsumoto Castle, Nakamachi District, Matsumoto City Museum of Art and night exploring around Nagano
Day 4: Nagano Zenkoji Temple and Kanazawa Higashi Chaya District
Day 5: Shirakawago
Day 6: Hida-Takayama, Hida-Furukawa, and “Your Name” location spots
Day 7: Kanazawa Omicho Market, Kenrokuen Garden, and Kanazawa Castle Park
Day 8: Explore around Osaka
Day 9: Osaka Shinsekai, Tempozan Ferris Wheel, Glion Museum, and Cosmo Tower Observatory
Day 10: Osaka Castle, Gozabune Boat, HEP FIVE Ferris Wheel, and Kuchu Teien Observatory
Day 11: Kyoto Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Kinkakuji, and Yasaka Shrine
Day 12: Osaka Dotonbori, Kaiyukan, and Shinsekai
Day 13: Kyoto Fushimi Inari, Ginkakuji, and Arashiyama
Day 14: Okayama Korakuen, Okayama Castle, and Kojima Jeans Street
Day 15: Miyajima
Day 16: Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, Peace Memorial Park, Peace Memorial Museum
Day 17: Yufuin
Day 18: Ohori Park, Fukuoka Castle Ruins, and Fukuoka Tower
Day 19: Nanzoin Temple [current post]

[Travel Date]
2019-10-27 to 2019-11-14

[Walking towards Nanzoin Temple]

After arriving at Kido Nanzoin-Mae Station (we took the train from Hakata Station), it was a nice and peaceful few minutes walk towards Nanzoin Temple, taking in the scenery in good weather!

**Reaching the foot of Nanzoin Temple**
Fukuoka

**First stairway at the entrance**
Fukuoka

[Nanzoin Temple 南蔵院]

Upon seeing this stairway, you know you are in the vicinity of Nanzoin Temple.

We did walk around the area, before heading towards the reclining buddha; which you will need to enter the Shichifukujin - Seven Gods of Fortune Tunnel.

After that, we resume the sightseeing around the area, taking in the natural scenery surrounding the temple grounds, before heading up another stairway to the reclining buddha.

**Shichifukujin - Seven Gods of Fortune Tunnel**
Fukuoka

**Nice look at the countryside-ish scenery after coming out from the tunnel**
Fukuoka

**Last stairway to climb to reach the reclining Buddha**
Fukuoka

**Largest bronze Reclining Buddha statue in the world**
Fukuoka

[Nanzoin Temple Reclining Buddha]

Now you can see in the full glory of the Nanzoin Temple Reclining Buddha.

The dimensions of the world largest bronze statue:

Length: 41 meters
Height: 11 meters
Weight: 300 tons

My wife and I are both free thinkers, but I do personally like to learn more about different cultures/religions, more knowledge is always good. From my mother’s family side, at least my grandma as she is a Buddhist, so when I was young I definitely know a bit of it through her.

But I digress, seeing this reclining Buddha in real life is still very spectacular and grand, and furthermore, we are graced with very good weather (blue skies and white clouds). Very grateful for such weather and for viewing the reclining Buddha in such an environment.

Hope you guys enjoy the photos, and if you are a Buddhist this will be a very well worth trip, there are not much tourists so definitely you can explore and do your prayers and respect in a calm and focused state.

**Close up on the side of the head**
Fukuoka

**Description of the buddha’s foot details**
Fukuoka

**The details on the Buddha’s foot**
Fukuoka

[Walking back to Kido Nanzoin-Mae Station]

After paying respect to the Buddha and also taking the photos, we started our walk back to the station.

Of course, on a leisurely pace while taking in as much of the sights and nature Nanzoin Temple and its surroundings is offering us.

[Back to Tokyo Haneda Airport]

After packing up our luggage at the hotel in Hakata, it’s time for the (approximately) 6+ hours train ride back to Haneda Airport. Bought an ekiben to have some bites for our long ride back to Tokyo.

Shinkansen from Hakata to Shin-Kobe, followed by Shinkansen from Shin-Kobe to Shinagawa, followed by local JR from Shinagawa to Hamamatsucho, lastly Tokyo Monorail from Hamamatsucho to Haneda Airport.

Why such a long-winded route? Because we are using the trains that are covered under JR pass. Can’t take Nozomi Shinkansen, else it will be a direct train ride from Hakata to Shinagawa, and taking an airport line train from Shinagawa to Haneda.

This is our flight out of Japan to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

We can’t wait to visit Japan again soon…hopefully!

[Closing]

It’s not a perfect first trip to Japan, but we do enjoy and learned about it (and the process) very much, the next trip to Japan we will definitely be able to plan much better! (In terms of pacing and hotel choosing)!

In short, our summary for this trip is, because we are so highly packed, we cannot allow a not so convenient hotel location in any of our cities, but it happened for the Osaka leg.

Because it will cause additional stress in extra walking (when we are already doing 25-30k steps a day + carrying photography equipment) + we are doing a lot of day trips of the hotel base. We need to stay at a hotel that is near the main train or Shinkansen station.

Hotels stayed for this trip:

Nagano - Hotel Metropolitan Nagano
Beside Nagano station, very convenient; malls, good ramen restaurant, and Don Quixote beside.
Kanazawa - Kanazawa Manten Hotel Ekimae
Around 5 minutes walk from Kanazawa station, not too bad of a walk, but compensated with a public onsen in the hotel!
Osaka - RIHGA Place Higobashi
Located beside Higobashi Station Yotsubashi Line (Blue line), which is not a line you want to base your hotel in and we highly regretted it. Because for every day trip out of Osaka, we need to walk to Midosuji Line (Red line) and then take the metro to Shin-Osaka (day trip out of Osaka) or to downtown Osaka, yes it seems like just a several minutes walk, but the mental and physical strength will take a toll when you are waking up at 5am and then exploring with all the photography equipment daily and embarking on a 19 days trip where you will be doing this almost daily. Even for local Osaka places to go, one will use the Midosuji Line 95% of the time.

One should aim to stay near Midosuji Line (Red line), and the best is either near Umeda or Shinsaibashi/Namba station, but generally, any stations between Umeda and Namba is good enough. Do not make the same mistake as us, unless you are on a tight budget AND on a slower pace of travelling which doesn’t mind a not so good location.

Due to this, the Osaka hotel’s location actually cascaded the effect down the entire trip from here onwards, even though the next couple of hotels are either beside or near the train station, it doesn’t really matter cause we are too tired from the Osaka hotel part.
Hiroshima - Hotel Granvia Hiroshima
Beside Hiroshima station, very convenient relatively; although the downtown area is a short bus ride away.
Fukuoka - Hotel Nikko Fukuoka
Around 5 minutes walk from Hakata station, with underground linked walk too. Mostly have to walk back to Hakata station for train/bus ride. Vicinity of Hakata station has major malls, restaurants, etc.

Will we stay back in the same hotel when I revisit those cities again?

For Nagano and Hiroshima a definite yes!

For Fukuoka if I can find a good priced hotels around the same standard as Hotel Nikko that is near Hakata Station, we will try a new hotel, else we will stay back at Hotel Nikko.

For Kanazawa if we still want the onsen experience, then yes. But if for more local city experience/convenience AND not doing much day trips out of Kanazawa, we will opt for hotels near Korinbo which is the downtown area. Currently we shortlisted Hotel Trusty Kanazawa Korinbo and Tokyu Stay Kanazawa for future stays.

For Osaka, we definitely will be opting to stay near Umeda or Shinsaibashi/Namba station, and we have shortlisted Hotel Granvia Osaka, Hotel Hankyu Respire Osaka, and Cross Hotel Osaka.

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Japan 2019 Trip Day 19: Nanzoin Temple