So this is the last official day.

Tomorrow we still have all day, but it’ll be spent prepping and getting to the airport.

Today, Amelia wanted to go to these gardens called the Ashikaga Gakko gardens, which was about a 3 hour train ride feom Tokyo.

It was a nice ride, leaving the hustle and bustle of Tokyo for a small country side train station.The attractions here were a shrine and restaurants a couple Kilometers from the train station.

However, the main attraction was the gardens.

We were a little apprehensive about going because it was, after all, fall here in Japan. We were concerned there would be nothing blooming to see. However, the Google Gods said there would be fall blooms so the trip seemed to be a good gamble.

Once we arrived, naturally there was a gift shop. But in this case it was a scary gift shop.

First off, there was an entire section dedicated to Studio Ghibli merchandise. After this there was another small but impressive section of beautiful fabrics weaved from a mill in the town down the road. This mill had been in business for over 1000 years.

This may not mean much to the average traveler, but I am not an average traveler. I was tasked by my wife to come home with whatever fabrics I could find with ‘lots of colors’. Needless to say, between little vibrating soot sprits from Spirited Away and fabric, it turned out to be a costly visit, but, costly in a good way.

But then there was an entire section that was a green house and garden center.

If I had been at home I would have filled the back of the car with plants.

But after that was the actual gardens.There were so many amazing flowers; I never knew how many bloomed so late in the season.

And roses…

Wow…

(Gonna have to get me some roses next season…).

And what’s additionally interesting is that they also do a light show.

The place closes at around 3:00 PM but re-opens at 3:30 until 8:00 PM.

When you look at the photos, you can see there are lights strung all over the place. Additionally, the garden Butts up against a rather steep overgrown slope. In front of this slope they built a complex collection of light displays that I’m sure show beautiful colorful displays during the darker hours.

We definitely came on a good day. It was cool, and practically empty of people. You could tell however that during the spring and summer seasons the place would be filled with people enjoying all kinds of attractions centered around the garden.

In this case, most of the pictures I took were of the flowers, so I will conclude this post with a gallery of some of my favorites.

This was also Thanksgiving back in the states. Now Japan doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving but they do celebrate Christmas.

and in Japan, the favorite holiday feast fir Christmas is Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Colonel Sanders became famous for Christmas in Japan through a marketing campaign back in 1970. After a struggling store owner, Takeshi Okawara, marketed fried chicken as a Christmas meal, a 1974 nationwide campaign with the slogan “Kentucky for Christmas” took off, cementing the tradition. The popularity grew further after an interview where Okawara mistakenly claimed that eating KFC at Christmas was a common Western custom. 

So…

When in Japan….

Thankfully there was a store right there in the hotel building. We couldn’t get the traditional Christmas feast as it was still a little early. But, they had a table set up with the menu options and the pre-order forms to fill out.

Yes, it really is that popular.

Next up:

Wrapping it up with my conclusions, opinions and thoughts about the trip, the country, and her people.

And, maybe a follow-up about the food as well.