Whale watching activity at Guishan Island, Yilan

" Guishan Island is the largest island of Yilan County. With the growing popularity of whale watching, Guishan Island has become the hottest tourist attraction."

The shaped board postcard was sent from Lyo, Japan. 

As a postcrosser, we send and received postcards from different countries. 

But I feel so much happier when I received from Japan instead, 

The reasons are 

1) neat hand-writing from the postcrosser

2) the pretty stamps 

3) never-disappointing postcard

AKB48

AKB48 (pronounced A.K.B. Forty-eight) or Akihabara 48, is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (Akiba for short) area in Tokyo. 

Tokyo Drive

A postcard shows the sights in Tokyo ~

Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Sky Tree tower, Senso-ji Temple, the Imperial palace and so on. 

Thank you to Chiho. 

Japan New Year Greeting Card

I was so delighted when I received the cute-ever postcard from my colleague, Lianne during her recent visit to Japan. 

Wishing all of us have a fresh new year. 

Shuijo Castle, Okinawa Islands

photo by Satoshi Kobashigawa

Shuri Castle was originally built in the late 1300s and played an 

integral role in the political unification of the island.

However, wars and fires destroyed the castle many times. 

The current buildings are reconstructions dating from 1992.

2015 Chinese Zodiac

I received a very nice & warmth postcard from Motoko. 

She lives in Kanazawa , Japan. 

 The postcard is made of a layer of think white felt embossed at the background

2015 is a year of Goat (or Sheep / Ram), is a year of Wooden Goat in precise. The "Wood Goat" is according to Chinese Five Element (Earthly Branch) Theory. 

A "Wood Goat" year occurs every 60 years. 

Floating Garden Observatory

 Good friend of mine visited Japan in Nov 2014 and send me this postcard. 

The Floating Garden Observatory is platform that formed a bridge that connect the two towers of the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka. The roof in doughnut shaped is known as the 'Floating Garden" or Lumi-Skywalk enable the visitors to have an unobstructed 360-degree view. From this observatory can see the panoramic view of Osaka.

The basement of the building houses the Takimi-Koji gourmet street with designed to recreate a simple Osaka village from the Taisho period in the 1910's and 20s. 

Shinhotaka Ropeway : Double Decker Cable Car

The Shin-Hotaka Ropeway is one of Japan's most unique ropeways and it climbs over 1000 meters up the side of the Hotake Mountain Range, which includes Oku-Hotakedake (Japan's third highest peak). The most distinctive feature is its double decker gondola cars, 

the first of their kind in Japan, which offer excellent views of the Okuhida Region.

photo credit : Lay Hoon

Observation deck at the upper station

me stand with little red mail box at this Freezing cold top hill. 

Tateyama - Kurobe (Alpine Route)

My recent trip (Oct 2014) to Central Japan also covered famous moutain sighseeing route between Tateyama - Kurobe. The scene appear to be different in each season. Yukino-ōtani is the most famous sightseeing spot from April to June. You can enjoy the greatest snow walls just before Murodō along this route. The month (Oct - Spring) I went I don't see the ice wall.

The Northern Alps route is 25km long , the vertical (height) is as large as 1,975m. 

It uses 7 different modes of transport to complete the route, which including cable car, bus, trolley bus, ropeway, aeriel tramway. 

Source : Alpine Route

The route is carefully built so that the surrounding environment is not damaged. Consequently, three lines go entirely under tunnels. (This is also to protect the lines from snow.) Among them, two are trolleybus lines. I just read from Wiki that Trolleybuses have all gone from Japan, except for these two lines which are still used here as they don't exhaust fumes in the tunnels.

photo credit : Lay Hoon

Shirakawa-go, Japan

(Chinese version - Aug 2014)

One of the great accomplishment i did in 2014 is that I closed out one of the must-do in a lifetime ~ visit to the Gassho-zukuri Village at Shirakawa-go.

The 3 postcards ...oops..just realise that I bought the illustration postcards only.

(in English - May 2014)

Himeji Castle, Japan

Himeji Castle, also called Shirasagijo (White Heron Castle) due to its white outer walls, is the best preserved castle in all of Japan.The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of 83 buildings with advanced defensive systems from the feudal period.

Illustration Card from Japan

Kinkaku-Ji Temple in Kyoto

This is the famous temple, Kinkaku-Ji Temple in Kyoto. Kyoto is the historical and popular sight-seeing city.

Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺 Temple of the Golden Pavilion), also known as Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺 Deer Garden Temple), is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. The garden complex is an excellent example of Muromachi period garden design.It is designated as a National Special Historic Site and a National Special Landscape, and it is one of 17 locations comprising the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage Site.

Osaka Castle, Japan

Osaka Castle, the symbol of Osaka was originally constructed in 1585 by Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Particularly outstanding are the castle and huge rocks used for the stone walls.

Thank you to Sugiyama Yumi send me this nice postcard. We met last year December in a free KL Walk.

Mount Bandai, Lake Hibara

On the east bank of Lake Hibara locates the Lake Hibara hiking route while on the west bank the Urabandai Yacho-no-mori forest of wild birds and hiking course provides a getaway for all. The south coast of the lake is the site to board cruise ships and by going to the northern shore the Oyamatsumi Shrine torii gate will come into view standing out in the water. This lake is covered with ice in winter and becomes a local, albeit seasonal home of ice fishing



Wishing all of you who celebrating Chinese New Year a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Bunny Year :)

Series of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park , Japan

Snow scene in Hakone

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park (富士箱根伊豆国立公園) is a national park in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Kanagawa Prefectures, and western Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It consists of Mount Fuji (3776m), Fuji Five Lakes, Hakone, the Izu Peninsula, and the Izu Islands.


A Prism Ensnared in a cloud Adrift



Morning at Lake Yamanaka



Dawn Ascends the Mountain



Reflection in Lake Shoji



Winter Stalking Mitsutoge



Summer Clouds gathering at the South Alps





Ray of Morning Across the Night Sky

Tags: Mount Fuji | Fuji Hakone Izu National Park

Shirakawa-go (白川郷) , Japan

Shirakawago is widely-known as one of the most scenic places in Japan.
It is surrounded by pine tree covered mountains, and it is located along the picturesque Shokawa river.

Besides the beautiful scenery, the unique Japanese thatched-roof farmhouses are the center of attraction. There are approximately 180 thatched farmhouses, sheds, and barns, and most of them were built about 200-300 years ago.

The most popular village for visitors is Ogimachi which in 1995 was declared World Cultural and Heritage Site. They are famous for their traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses. Gassho-zukuri means "constructed like hands in prayer", as the farmhouses' steep thatched roofs resemble the hands of Buddhist monks pressed together in prayer.

Please note. All Minshuku (Japanese style farm house) only allow guests to stay a maximum of 1 night in each house. If you would like to stay 2 or more nights you will need stay each night in different houses.

Thank you to Sayaka for posting me this beautiful UNESCO postcard and also the New Year stamp ~ Rabbit.

Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima

Miyajima (also known as Itsukushima), measuring 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) in length and 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) in width, is an island in Hiroshima Bay. With Itsukushima Shrine standing in an inlet backed by the surrounding mountains soaring steeply from the coast, the island is known as one of the three most scenic places in Japan along with Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture and Ama-no-hashidate in Kyoto Prefecture. Since ancient times, the island of Miyajima itself has been worshipped as a god, and living there was prohibited. Even today, Miyajima is considered to be sacred and some of the ancient rules such as no cultivation or burials on the island still remain.