I’ve been meaning to post more but I’ve just been too busy and tired in the evenings. Do keep an eye on Instagram (@ali_haikugirl) for regular updates though! (It’s much easier to post quickly on there, and at the moment I’m posting a few times a day.) When I’m back in the UK I’ll post about everything, but for now here’s another postcard snippet for you.
I visited Koyasan (高野山) on my very first trip to Japan in 2006. In fact, that first trip was centred around the idea of going to Koyasan, but that’s another story. Yesterday I returned to Koyasan after nine years! I was so looking forward to going back, and wasn’t disappointed at all. It was interesting to see how the town has changed though, or at least how it differed from my memory. There was a lot more English there than I remembered there being before, and even a Family Mart convenience store that was built almost three years ago.
Koyasan is a beautiful and fascinating place to visit, and it remains my favourite place in Japan.
Haikugirl's Japan 
Its such a beautiful place isn’t it. I loved sitting and listening to them chime the big bell and wander through that beautiful graveyard. I would love to go back and do the walk up the mountain some day.
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I was moved to tears to stmble on the “monument of three flags” that no one at the information bay knew of or could find when I asked.
It is readily found on the right side of the path as you wander along from the ‘main’ walking trail from the WSW. It marks the dead of Australia, Malaya and Indonesia (as I recall) under the Japanese campaign.
“Please pray for their souls”. As others have before, I left a small koala at the base of the flag pole.
Yes, a strikingly impressive place and one of the big drawcards for those who love Japanese culture, no matter what their faith.
Make sure you get the headset rental to extract the most from the experience.
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Are there a lot more foreign tourist there now compared to when you were last there?
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Yes, there were a lot more foreign tourists in Koya compared to 2006, but still it didn’t feel like there were too many. It also felt like Koya was better prepared for the tourists.
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