We’d decided to travel to Japan two years ago when I realized that the next World Expo would be in Osaka during the summer that Hiroshima would also mark 80 years since the war crime that became synonymous with its name. At the time, that’s all I really had planned, and as I collected points of interest and eventually developed something of an itinerary, I still regarded our stay in Osaka as mostly a pitstop that just happened to host a mega-event I was nerding out about while we adjusted to the jetlag. And yet, by the time it was time to leave, I was charmed and felt happy to come back here again someday.
Our trip would take us from Osaka to Hiroshima to Kyoto and Nara, then Tokyo, with a daytrip down to Kamakura as well, thanks to a pro-tip from @sumiresuzan. So we spent a lot of time on trains.
Here’s a quiet moment of bliss on our first—the Nankai from Rinkū-Town to Namba Station.
The one thing these photos don’t capture is the intense heat and humidity we experienced that day, quite possibly the worst I’ve ever willingly endured. It was 99 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just 99% too hot, and there were moments walking around when I questioned our sanity. It’s safe to say that we walked around far less than we probably could have in milder conditions.