Patience Pays Off: Capturing Mt. Fuji and Cherry Blossoms in Shizuoka

May 02 | Evan | No Comments |

After a spell of endless rain and unexpected adventures in Tokyo, our 2023 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour continued towards Shizuoka. Our mission? To capture the majesty of Mt. Fuji framed by the delicate cherry blossoms. As anyone who’s tried to photograph this elusive mountain knows, patience is key, and a little help from Mt. Fuji never hurts either.

On arrival, I have to admit, my heart sank a bit. The mountain was shrouded, hidden from sight, and I couldn’t help but feel our trip might be a lost cause. But one thing I’ve learned in my years of photography is the power of patience, and so we waited. As the day faded and the sun disappeared, something incredible happened – for a brief 15 minutes, the clouds around Mt. Fuji parted. It was like the mountain knew we were waiting, and it rewarded our patience with a stunning, albeit fleeting, appearance.

The next morning, we set off for Miho no Matsubara, a stunning beach known for its pinetrees and views of Mt. Fuji. The haze that morning was heavy, masking much of the mountain, but we could just make out its iconic outline. We captured what we could, the hazy silhouette of Fuji adding a mysterious touch to our shots.

Even as the sun came out later in the day, Mt. Fuji remained stubbornly hidden. But if there’s one thing our rain-soaked Tokyo adventure taught us, it’s to make the most of unexpected circumstances. So we turned our lenses towards Shizuoka’s beautiful tea plantations. Bathed in sunlight, the vibrant green fields offered a whole new world of photographic opportunities, a stark contrast to the elusive snow-capped peak we’d been chasing.

We also took the time to delve deeper into the history and significance of Mt. Fuji at the Fuji World Heritage Centre. The experience added a layer of depth to our photographic journey, reminding us that the mountain we were so keen to capture is more than just a beautiful landscape; it’s a symbol of Japan’s natural beauty and cultural heritage.

Our time in Shizuoka was a testament to the unpredictable nature of photography tours. We didn’t get the clear, sunlit shots of Mt. Fuji framed by cherry blossoms that we’d envisioned. But we left with something possibly even more valuable – a deeper appreciation for the process, the patience, and the ability to find beauty in unexpected places.

Whether it’s rain in Tokyo or a shy Mt. Fuji, the 2023 Cherry Blossom Photography Tour has taught us that the best way to capture Japan’s beauty is to embrace the unexpected. And for that, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Immerse yourself in the breathtaking beauty of Japan’s cherry blossom season in 2024! Reach out now to secure your spot on our guided photography tour, or explore our 2023 cherry blossom tour of Japan posts to get a glimpse of the unforgettable experiences that await you.

Traveling to Japan Post COVID

Oct 05 | Evan | No Comments |

Step by step traveling procedures in June and Oct 2022

Yes, it might be still too early to say it’s “Post COVID” particular in Japanese standard, but things are clearly changing in the right direction even in Japan when it comes to international traveling! We just recently shared the exciting news about Japan finally opening its border to international tourists without any restrictions (tour groups or individuals) after the country finally opened its borders on June 10th 2022 to tour groups only. This time though, it is completely open without any restrictions. Since the country has been so strict about international travelers entering Japan for such a long time, we thought it would be helpful to get an inside experience of what exactly you have to do when traveling to Japan. 

In this article, we provide actual pictures and steps of a traveler who traveled from Hawaii to Japan in June 2022 so that you can also prepare yourself for your journey to the country. Yes, it’s from a few months back so things have changed, but you can get a sense of what the traveling procedure is like so that you can start thinking about a photo tour of Japan. (Note: the traveler holds a Japanese passport, but as of Oct 11th 2022, procedures are the same for any individual travelers if he/she is a Japanese citizen or not so this is still informative for anybody.) 

What you need to prepare before traveling to Japan 

If you were traveling to Japan as of June 2022 below items were needed to enter Japan. (This article is only focusing on tourists, thus we are omitting the information for business personnel and international students/interns.) 

  • PCR test within 72 hours before traveling to Japan (+-$150 per test) needed to use the particular certificate (updated June 2022) 
  • Vaccine & booster record (upload to the app MySOS) 
  • MySOS
  • Q&A
  • Pledge

However, as the Japanese Prime Minister made an announcement on September 22nd 2022, the requirements for entering Japan have changed dramatically (individual tourists will be finally welcomed back, no daily limit of entry, no more visa applications for those who have not had visa requirements prior to COVID, and no more PCR test if you have 3 vaccines done) and below items will be required as of Oct 11th. There are slight differences between those who have had 3 COVID vaccines or not so you need to know what is required in your case. 

Those who have had 3 COVID vaccines: 

Those who have not had 3 COVID vaccines: 

  • Proof of negative test within 72 hours of departure (not antigen test) 
  • Questionner 
  • MySOS

As you probably noticed, you still need to download the app MySOS for traveling to Japan. This was not required prior to COVID, but this is something you must have to travel to Japan today. With the app, everything is smooth as you can provide the proof of vaccine/proof of negative test as well as submit the questionnaire so everything is in one spot. As you use the app, it starts from the red screen shown below and as you provide information and documents, the screen color changes to yellow and so on. In order to enter Japan without any hiccups, the screen needs to turn to blue by the time you are passing immigration so that you can avoid extra steps to pass through the immigeration. 

*This is the actual smart phone app screen for MySOS. It starts from Red, but once you submit all the necessary documents and they review, the color changes to Yellow. Further, the color changes to blue and green so know the colors of MySOS and what each means. 

Traveling from Hawaii/Daniel K Inouye Airport 

When international travel first opened up in June 2022, only 5 airports were accepting international flights in Japan. These were Haneda(Tokyo), Narita(Tokyo), Kansai(Osaka), Fukuoka(Fukuoka), and Nagoya(Aichi). To follow these airports, at the end of June, both Naha (Okinawa) and New Chitose (Hokkaido) opened up to allow international flights to depart/arrive. As Oct 11th fast approaches, Japan welcomes any travelers from around the world, we are expecting more airports opening up as well as more flights being available for travelers. 

Here is an experience of traveling from Hawaii, Daniel K Inouye Airport to Haneda Airport in Tokyo Japan as of June 20th 2022. The waiting time in line to get everything sorted out before passing immigration was 30 minutes total. As indicated above, if you have everything ready in MySOS you won’t have any problem and it should be smooth. However, every airport is different so come prepared to arrive at the airport early! 

Things hopefully have changed since then, but one thing that was inconvenient traveling in June through Daniel K Inouye Airport was that they didn’t open the gated waiting area for this particular flight to Japan till an hour before the flight so that not everyone had a comfortable chair to sit and wait until an hour before the flight departed. As more fights become available and COVID measures get relaxed, hopefully airport functions like how it used to be so that we don’t need to worry about stretching legs before being on an international flight in a restricted position on a plane for hours. 

Procedures at Haneda Airport 

Entering Japan during and post COVID time (current) is quite different from how it was before, prior to COVID time. It’s a lot better in the last few months, but you might need to be prepared to cover a long distance of walking from A to B to C and even D and further. One great thing though is that it has improved dramatically over the last months and it is expected to get better so the time it takes to pass the immigration is way shorter than how it used to be. Now that you no longer need to take a PCR test at the airport and staff at the airport are getting more used to the new normal, it won’t be as stressful for visitors as it was before.  

In this individual’s case, she traveled with a toddler, thus she had a priority to pass the immigration with COVID measures a lot more quickly than others. Even though they had to cover the same distance of endless walking around the airport, the time it took them to pass everything was only 10 to 15 mins, when it used to take hours and hours. However, you need to have everything prepared to be able to pass each station of checks with MySOS ready in hand so be prepared to have everything listed above so that you don’t need to waste extra time at the airport. 

A useful tip you might like to know is that MySOS requires the internet. Haneda Airport like other airports have free Wifi so connect to the free Wifi as soon as you get a chance so that everything is smooth. If you are planning to rent a pocket Wifi, until you pass the immigration, you can’t get there so you first have to use free Wifi at the airport unless you are fine paying high cost of international roaming from your home country! Furthermore, when you return to your home country through Haneda Airport, the airport is yet operating at a full capacity as of Aug 2022 so if you travel at night, you may not have all the options available to eat and shop so make sure to finish your souvenir shopping before arriving at the airport as well as don’t get disappointed with the food choice the airport provides in the evenings. 

Conclusion 

Hopefully this article has provided you with some insightful information about what it is like traveling to Japan in 2022 and gave you confidence to plan a trip there. Yes, things are constantly changing and for the better so let’s hope next year we don’t even need to download MySOS app etc, but for now, follow the simple procedures and finally enjoy the time to visit Japan! Yes, it’s time to go and capture beautiful Japan on the photo tour of Japan that we all long been waiting for. 

For those of you who want to know the changes that will take place starting Oct 11th 2022, there is another article in detail that you can read about so check out the article here

No more travel restrictions to Japan!

Sep 30 | Evan | No Comments |

Oct 11th 2022 onward, all the travel restrictions will be removed

Yes, it is official! A long awaited travel restriction will be removed on October 11th 2022 to travel to Japan. Yes, it is legit, not fake news. Finally, we can plan a photography tour of Japan that we have long awaited!! This is an official announcement made by the Prime Minister Kishida who announced this big news in New York on September 22nd 2022. 

As well as Japan finally opening its borders to the entire world in October, Japan’s neighbor, Taiwan, also finally opened its borders to the international visitors a little earlier than Japan on September 29th. Asia, which has been having a lot tighter restrictions than elsewhere to the international travelers, is finally opening up! Are you ready to travel as well? Are you ready to be on a photo tour of Japan? 

NASA Satellite View of Japan Captured March 5, 2011
NASA Satellite View of Japan Captured March 5, 2011 by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC-BY 2.0

What will be removed starting on Oct 11th, 2022? 

So what will exactly change starting Oct 11th, 2022? As the Prime Minister Kishida announced, there will be no more daily limit to entering Japan, which is currently set to 50,000 people per day. In addition, the international tourists no longer need to obtain the visas (up to 90 days) for those countries previously not needing to obtain visas prior to COVID. Furthermore, so far only tour groups have been allowed to enter Japan, but Japan will completely open up the borders so that individuals can travel without any restrictions as well. Japan has already removed the PCR test for those who have done 3 COVID vaccines starting September 7th 2022, and this will remain for those who have already taken the 3 COVID vaccines. For those who have not gotten the vaccines, a proof of a negative test within 72 hours of departure is required for entering Japan. 

These changes are dramatic considering how slow Japan has been opening up its borders compared to the rest of the world. A lot of people have been waiting for Japan to open up, but when the country announced in spring that they were only allowing tour groups, many were disappointed and not keen on traveling to the country in a group so many have been waiting. These no restrictions to any groups of people entering Japan will definitely attract everyone who has long been waiting for this update as well as those who want to take advantage of historically weak Japanese yen that Japan has been experiencing in the last few months. 

So what do you still need to enter Japan? 

With these changes, what do we need to prepare to enter Japan? The preparation to enter Japan differs depending on your COVID vaccine status so the requirements are separated by the individual’s vaccine history. Below is what is decided for October 11th 2022 onward as of October 3rd 2022. 

Those who have done 3 COVID vaccines 

Those who have not done 3 COVID vaccines 

  • Proof of negative test within 72 hours of departure (not antigen test) 
  • Questionner 
  • MySOS

Downloading MySOS for Japan trip will be crucial as everything can be uploaded and managed on your phone regardless of your vaccine status. Below is an example of MySOS screens on a smartphone when traveling from Hawaii, USA. As you complete each task of uploading the required fields and authority checking your submissions, the screen colors change from Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green and you eventually want to get to either Blue or Green to easily enter Japan. 

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For those of you who want to learn more about the details for entering Japan with these new guidelines,it is highly recommend to check the official government website from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare on COVID-19: Current Japanese Border Control so that you know what vaccines are recognized as vaccines in Japan as well as which tests are approved as a form of negative COVID test.

Tourism and entertaining promotions October 11th onward 

As well as these new changes to international travel, the Prime Minister Kishida also announced on September 22nd that there will be promotions to support domestic travel industries and entertainment industries that have been impacted significantly due to COVID in the last three years. These special promotions also start on October 11th and the details and duration of these promotions are handled by Prefectural basis. 

The travel promotion allows Japanese citizens and residents to get discounts to travel around Japan for accommodations and transportations up to 11,000 JPY a day including coupons so this is a favorable discount for those who are eager to travel domestically. The entertainment promotion is for entertainment such as concerts, theme parks, museums, theaters, zoos, aquariums, movies, and sports that people can get up to 2,000 JPY per person to get discounts for the tickets. Certain venues and entertainments won’t cost the full amount so you might be able to enjoy free entertainment! By the way, the catch is that in order to enjoy these discounts, one must finish the vaccines with a booster shot or need to provide proof of a negative PCR test. 

Unfortunately, these promotions only target Japanese citizens and residents of Japan, thus it won’t impact international travelers, but from what you see, Japan is really trying to push its economy back to where it used to be and it is an encouraging news for international travelers too as you can expect many entertainments to open up that have been closed or operated at smaller scales by the time you get there. 

Are you ready to travel to Japan? 

So what do you think? With these positive changes, are you ready to travel to Japan this fall or do you want to wait a little bit to see how the new change will  impact travelers like yourself to finally make a way to Japan? The Japanese yen is at an all time low so the advantage of going to Japan right now is to fully enjoy this special time. Hopefully, we will be able to make an exciting announcement of a photography tour of Japan tour plans shortly so that you will be able to finally travel to Japan and enjoy taking photographs there soon! It has been so long! The time is here. 

Btw for those of you who want to know what it’s like to actually travel to Japan in 2022, check this article here so that you can get a better feel of what you expect with traveling to Japan today.

Tour of Japan | Cary Academy Goes to Japan 2019 – FAQ Part 3

Aug 01 | Evan | No Comments |

Sometimes when you’ve visited a place a few times, it can be easy to forget all the little things that you noticed when you first visited. Traveling with someone who has never visited a place helps you to remember what you first noticed and to notice new things as well! Teenagers are especially fun to travel with because they’re not afraid to ask questions. The next couple of blog posts will focus on the “frequently asked questions” that this year’s group asked. Perhaps you’ll have some of the same questions when we visit Japan!

TeamLab Planets

Can we do that again?

Of all the questions our students ask, our favorite is “can we do that again?” or its twin, “can we stay longer?” Most students’ favorite experience on our trip was visiting Team Lab: Planets, an immersive art installation is Odaiba, one of the newer areas of Tokyo created out of reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay. Team Lab is an artist collective that creates pieces unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. At “Planets”, we jumped in giant bean bags, walked through knee-high water with digital “fish” floating in it, and walked through strings or lights and a room of giant floating spheres. Elements of the installations were static, but typically you’d never experience the same room the same way twice. Your movements and the timing of your visit, combined with the movements of the people around you, create a unique experience each time you visit. Students wanted to go through another time after we finished!

TeamLab Planets 2

Students also really enjoyed Orizuru Tower in Hiroshima. The top of the tower has an amazing observation deck that overlooks the “Atomic Bomb Dome” and the Peace Park and provides a beautiful vantage point to see the entire city and the nearby mountains. “Orizuru” means crane, a reference to the ubiquitous paper cranes associated with Sadako and the children’s peace monument. Students especially liked the slide (yes, like a playground) that made up part of the path down from the top of the tower. They wanted to walk back up and slide again! Other popular “repeat” spots included arcades, ice cream shops, and covered shopping arcades like Teramachi in Kyoto. It’s fun to return to a favorite store or restaurant when I visit Japan, and it’s so rewarding when students want to return too.

That’s it for the “FAQ” and our 2019 trip report. We’re excited about the 2020 trip. Traveling in Japan is always a great experience, and we hope that our students will stay curious and keep asking questions!

This summer, Japan Photo Guide by Evan Pike was once again able to offer a spectacular trip to Japan just for Cary Academy students. Katie Taylor, 6th grade Language Arts teacher and Japan enthusiast, co-led the group with Evan. We began our trip in Tokyo, then traveled to Nagoya, Hiroshima, and Kyoto before returning home from Osaka. This post is written by Katie Taylor, a 6th grade teacher at Cary Academy and Japan enthusiast. Read about our 2016 trip to Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Kyoto or see all reports from the 2018 tour of Japan or 2019 tour of Japan.

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