Tokyo, Japan - #033

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It's just a 5-minute walk from Shinjuku Train Station and the Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo offers sweeping views of Shinjuku. 

The Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo is the ideal location to explore the delights of the city of Tokyo. Only minutes away from the most popular shopping and entertainment spots, their luxury hotel provides stunning views over central Tokyo. 

A cozy bed, a good meal, friendly faces - these are just some of the comforts that you seek after stepping inside the hotel door.  

• The Keio Plaza Hotel offers a wide variety of home-away-from-home hospitality, with 1,455 guest rooms to choose from to accommodate your every need. A very beautiful hotel and a friendly doorman!  

Located in Shinjuku, in the very heart of the Tokyo metropolis, the Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo extends top rated services and facilities, features that guests come to expect of a world class hotel.  

There was even a place that locks up your umbrella!  Look for the umbrella stand where you can keep your umbrella and save it there with a combination lock for a small charge.

Here's some photos as we begin our wonderful tour...

Is a bronze statue of Amida Buddha!

The tour bus picked us up right in front of the hotel and whisked us off on our first adventure across the city and there was much to observe as we traveled to our first excursion.

The Great Buddha of Kamakura (鎌倉大仏, Kamakura Daibutsu) is a bronze statue of Amida Buddha, which stands on the grounds of Kotokuin Temple. With a height of 11.4 meters, it has long been the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan - a monk turned Buddha who is widely celebrated in the Pure Land (Jodo) form of Buddhism.  

One of the largest tourist destinations in the Kanto area is the Kotoku-in temple of Kamakura.  Here every year tourists from all over the world arrive in order to witness the 13.35 meter (43.8 feet) tall Buddha.  Besides being the tallest Buddha statute in the Kanagawa prefecture, the Buddha also has a very rich history that most visitors are not familiar with.

In your vacation, you'll find the Buddha statue in Japan - ​Hase-dera, commonly called the Hase-kannon, is one of the Buddhist temples in the city of Kamakura. 

The Hasedera Temple, commonly known as "Hase Kannon" is a site well worth a visit when visiting Kamakura.  It houses a magnificent statue of Hase Kannon for Buddists to worship. 

It is just over 30 feet tall - making it one of the largest wooden Buddist statues in Japan.  Kannon is usually described in English as the Buddist Goddess of Mercy who is a future Buddha destined for enlightenment and represents mercy and love. 

Meiji Shrine is located in the Shibuya district of Tokyo - is a beautiful spot in the busy Harajuku area where you can find some peace and quiet.  Standing at the entranceway of the shrine is a large arch called a ‘torii’, a traditional Japanese gate that symbolizes the entry into a sacred space.  

As you go though the magnificent "40 foot high" Torii gates, you will feel like a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  Although Meiji Shrine has many of these torii gates around its grounds, one of the wooden gates has gained recognition as the largest in the country. 

The Hase-dera temple in Kamakura is certainly along with the big Buddha, worth the visit!  The temple gardens were so peaceful and photogenic and we went up the stairs to the high point on the hill so we could get a great view of the bay and beach - it was breathtaking!!! 

Check out our photos of all this on the download we made for you so you can add to your own library!

We hopped onto a ferry boat that gave us a wonderful boat ride over to Itsukushima, also known as Miyajima, is a small island in Hiroshima Bay, western Japan. It is known for it's forests and ancient temples. 

Just offshore, the giant, orange Great Torii Gate is partially submerged at high tide. It marks the entrance to the Itsukushima Shrine, which was first built in the 12th century.

We had a great surprise - in the daytime the little deer wander around the same sites as the tourists and in the evening, they sleep along the walking paths.

The island is more popularly known as "Miyajima", literally "shrine island" in Japanese, thanks to its star attraction. The shrine is known worldwide for its iconic "floating" torii gate.

The shrine complex itself consists of two main buildings: the Honsha shrine and the Sessha Marodo-jinja, as well as 17 other different buildings and structures that help to distinguish it. 

The complex is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and six of its buildings and possessions have been designated by the Japanese government as National Treasures.

Miyajima Island, one of the most scenic spots in Japan, has long been regarded as an Island of Gods on the beautiful Seto Inland Sea.

It is a romantic and historical island where Itsukushima Shrine, a World Heritage site, is located, along with the Virgin Forest of Mt. Misen and numerous preserved shrines, temples and historical monuments.  While we were there, they had a dance in costume that I got in a video.  

The shrine complex consists of multiple buildings, including a prayer hall, a main hall and a noh theater stage, which are connected by boardwalks and supported by pillars above the sea.

But what you'll most remember was an island of small deer roaming the streets and everywhere you look was a deer!  We took lots of pictures and one of our ladies sat down right beside one for a picture of her and the cute little deer!