Exploring Japan: A Family Adventure
Our family was lucky enough to spend two weeks exploring Japan during the June school holidays. With my husband & our three children aged 15, 17, and 21, Japan proved to be the perfect destination, offering a variety of activities and attractions to keep everyone happy. The mix of history, culture (both old and new), diverse food, and great shopping made it an unforgettable experience.
While my kids were most excited about shopping in Harajuku, Tokyo, and testing out different ramen shops, I eagerly anticipated discovering the beautiful art, design, and particularly textile and pattern design.
Over the two weeks, we visited Tokyo, Takayama, Hiroshima, Osaka, and Kyoto. Traveling between cities on the Shinkansen (bullet train) and using public transport within the cities was incredibly efficient. We managed to pack light with only carry-on bags, making hopping on and off trains much easier.
Tokyo
We spent 5 nights in Tokyo, and with so much to do, you could easily spend a week or more there. Here are some of our highlights:
Shopping & People Watching in Harajuku: Takeshita Street is famous and very busy, perfect for soaking in the vibrant atmosphere. We also checked out some unique pet cafes, including a Cat cafe and a Mini Pig cafe!
Meji Jingu Shrine: Just a short walk from the bustling Harajuku area, this beautiful Shinto shrine is surrounded by a large forested area, offering a peaceful retreat.
Shopping in Ginza: The Muji Flagship store in Ginza was a delight, and I stocked up on Muji sketchbooks. Tokyo’s largest stationary store, Itoya Ginza, is definitely worth a visit for anyone who loves stationery.
Tokyo DisneySea: This was our first visit to a Disney park, and we loved the immersive rides. I was particularly fascinated by how Japanese young women dressed up in funky and creative outfits for their visit. I would recommend getting there early and perhaps purchasing an express pass (we did not).
Tokyo National Museum: I was keen to see some Japanese art, so I took a trip to the Tokyo National Museum. They have a great collection of paintings and woodcuts. I loved the beautiful kimono collection and the Samurai armor.
Takayama
Takayama is a historic city in the central Alps, famous for sake making, local Hida beef, and artisan wood crafts. It was a lovely change of pace from Tokyo with a quieter, smaller town feel, easy to explore on foot. The old town district is beautiful, with small streets filled with restaurants, shops, and traditional wooden houses dating back to the Edo period. We enjoyed spending a couple of hours strolling around the morning riverside markets, with lots of food stalls and some local crafts. Espresso in cookie cups with bunny art was a favorite.
We also took a day trip to Shirakawa-go, a traditional village featuring ‘gassho-zukuri’ style houses with distinctively steeply sloping roofs. The tiny streams that crisscrossed the village, filled with colorful koi and the backdrop of mountains, made it seem like a scene from a picture book.
Hiroshima
Beautiful train ride through the mountains from Takayama to Nagoya & then the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. We had just 2 days in Hiroshima, The first place we visited was the Hiroshima Peace Museum,a powerful and moving museum displaying photos, personal stories & belongings of the victims of the devastating atomic bombing. A somber & sometimes confronting museum, but an important one to visit. On our 2nd day we visited Miyajima Island, famous for Itsukushima Jinga, a huge red shrine that rises out of the water.
Osaka
I loved the energy and vibrancy of Osaka. We stayed close to the Dotombori district, a colorful area packed with small streets and alleyways filled with tiny restaurants and bars. Osaka is famous for its huge variety of food and also for being a little more laid back than Tokyo. We did manage some family touristy things in Osaka; we visited the aquarium, Asia’s largest apparently, and we also spent a day at Universal Studios. Osaka is also great for shopping. We especially enjoyed vintage shopping in the Amerika-mura district.
Kyoto
A short train ride from Osaka to Kyoto brought us to a city filled with temples, shrines, and traditional wooden architecture. The Kiyomizudera temple (Pure Water temple) was stunning, perched on a forested hillside overlooking the city. We visited the Instagram-famous bamboo forest and fed the monkeys at the nearby Iwatayama Monkey Park. The highlight for me was walking through the red gates of the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Thousands of vermillion torii gates line the trails along the side of the sacred Mount Inari. We visited on a rainy day, which I think only added to its otherworldly air.
Japan is a fantastic and fun location for a family holiday, but it is also filled with inspiration for artists and designers. The traditional patterns on kimonos, the stylized brush painting, and the intricate woodblock prints are mesmerizing. The simple and elegant lines of traditional architecture alongside modern buildings provide a beautiful contrast. I took a sketchbook with me on the trip, but I only managed to fill a couple of pages. However, I did take lots of photos (still unorganized), which I have been looking at for inspiration for sketchbook drawings and hopefully a future design group. Look out for a possible ‘Kimono Flower’ or ‘Osaka Street Lights’ pattern group in the near future!
The Joy of a Creative Challenge
It’s often hard to make time to be creative. Somehow in the busyness of our daily lives we often don’t allow ourselves time to just sketch or doodle in a sketchbook. It feels almost indulgent to take 30, or even just 15 minutes to draw, paint or journal just for the sake if it.
Over the last couple of months I have been making it a priority to sketch daily, sometimes I miss a day or two, but thats ok, I just start again the next day.
A great (and fun) way to encourage daily creativity is to sign up to an online creative challenge. I just recently completed the Make it in Design(@makeitindesign) ‘7 day florals challenge’. The format is simple, every day for 1 week we are given a different flower to draw or paint in your own style. You then share your artwork on Instagram & tag it #7dayfloralschallenge . It’s a great way to connnect with other creatives & super fun to see all of the different styles & approaches of the many other artists that participated in the challenge.
Beautiful Minjerribah
Here in Brisbane we are very fortunate to be close to so many beautiful natural places within a couple of hours from home. Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) is a large sand island just off the coast & a short 45 minute ferry ride away.It is the ancestral home of the Quandamooka people. Apparently Minjerribah means ‘place of many mosquitoes’ in the local Quandamooka language. Here are some photos from our recent camping trip there. Thankfully there weren’t too many mosquitoes, & yes, I did take my sketchbook.
