This itinerary was actually the latter half of a two-country, nearly two-month trip encompassing China and Japan. In this itinerary write-up, we’re only focusing on Japan since this leg of the trip could easily stand out on its own Japan separate from China…

We couldn’t read the Japanese script by this closure sign, but a sign further up the path showed a picture of a menacing bear. “I don’t need to read Japanese to understand that sign,” said Julie…