For our family holiday we headed off for 10days to Japan. We flew in to Tokyo and caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) down to Kyoto. We were there in our hotel by lunch time. The train system in Japan is such an efficient and comfortable experience. We arrived in the summer and realised that we were in for about of hot weather. At the beginning of our holiday we found it a welcome relief from the cold we had left in Auckland. Over the 10 days we realised though that exploring in the heat of the day was exhausting. We adjusted our exploring to mornings and evenings. Added bonus is that it is better light for photography. We had organised a photo walking tour with a great guide who is an American living in Kyoto - Paul Crouse. Not only was he informative about Japan, Kyoto and photography he was really good company. 
The 3 of us agree Kyoto proved to be the favourite part of our holiday.
We headed off to Osaka which we used as a base before travelling up the mountain to Koyasan. The mountain region home to Buddhism in Japan. We stayed in a temple overnight where we enjoyed fantastic vegetarian food and explored the history of Buddhism in Japan. The World Heritage areas are well worth exploring. From Osaka we headed off to Hakone hoping to see the famous Mt Fuji. Two mornings in a row we were lucky when it made an appearance. Of course being in the heat of summer it wasn't snow capped like the famous photos. We loved the modes of transport - cable car, rope way, bus, train and boat. We enjoyed the hot springs and bathing in our own private hot tub at the end of each day. We headed off for the final part of our holiday to explore Tokyo. A city we also really enjoyed. The following pages share a few of our  highlights of Japan