I visited Shizuoka on a trip to see my cousin who was at the time teaching in Japan. This was certainly the highlight of my trip to Japan, though I cannot separate the personal experience of visiting with my cousin and his Teach for America co-workers and Japanese students from the location. The Japanese culture is exceptionally unique and difficult to not find fascinating as a visitor.  

EXPERIENCE

Mount Fuji is the obvious beacon of the region. Though, in my entire 4 day visit, the fog was so thick,  I merely caught a glimpse of the mountain as I left the city heading back to Tokyo via the high speed train for a moment. Other activities included a day trip to Atami where we saw a Geisha show and had a tea cermony. We were pleasantly surprised to be some of the only Americans in this venue. In Atami we also checked out the Kinomiya Shrine. Several other shrines and temples exist in and around the city. Several markets exist and are easily found walking around on foot.

A great site that captures many things to do in the region is: http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/a_foreign/english/, If I could do it again, I’d love to go back at the proper time of year to do the day hike up walk up Mt. Fuji, which I sorely regret missing due to visiitng at the wrong time of the year. 

EAT

Ramen of all varieties is the thing to do late night after karaoke fun. One of the more interesting ones included horse. The other memorable dining experience I had was carousel sushi! My group sat at a table and a little train on a conveyor belt cruised through on a track with sushi offerings. This is a great way to try lots of new things, without having to order a large portion, it is also nice because it allows non-Japanese speakers to select their food with their eyes and not worry about menu translations and ordering.