Japan

I joined the company in May 1996 and a year later, in July 1997, I had my first overseas trip after I graduated. The course "Training the Trainers" was actually a collaboration training course between the company and the Japanese Employers Federation. My immediate boss and I were sent to have an in-depth study on Corporate Planning.

A two-week course went on smoothly, the staff at the office were very helpful and nice to us. I still treasure their warm hospitality. They even made an arrangement for tour, guides us with the "line" (subway train) to various places etc.

View from my hotel room, Tokyo river

no traffic jam

When we reached Tokyo, my boss suggested we go to the Tokyo zoo.

A view of part of the zoo

The other day, we went to Asakusa,

the entrance

one of Tokyo's few districts, which have preserved a certain atmosphere of the old Tokyo. Asakusa's main attraction is Sensoji, a very popular Buddhist temple, built in the 7th century. The temple is approached via the Nakamise, a shopping street that has been providing temple visitors with a variety of traditional, local snacks and tourist souvenirs for centuries (I copied from here)

Nakamise - we did a lot of souvenir shopping here

A visit to Disneyland is a must for a cartoon lover like me.

the entrance

house of cartoon

"Cinderella's castle"

a view from "sky way"? I forgot its name

parade

Our next itinerary was Fuji Mountain Hakone 1D return by Shinkansen (bullet train). We were taken to Fujiyama by a tour bus. Stopped by Fujiyama Visitor Centre, where all the info about Mount Fuji was displayed. I bought some postcards and other souvenirs.

Then, drew halfway up Mt.Fuji to the Station (altitude of 1,500m) enjoying the natural scenery en route.

Ride an aerial cableway up and down Mt. Komagatake for a view of Hakone National Park.

A cruise on Lake Ashi (Ashinoko Yuransen) aboard a large sightseeing boat.

We went back to Tokyo by Shinkansen, tired, but full of satisfaction! You can view the virtual tour here.

All the photos were in hardcopies. I noticed some of the important photos are missing. I'll post it later when I find it.

Italy

Bonjourno! Way back in September 1999, I was sent for a training in Turin, Italy. A three-week training was filled with in-class lecture, site visits and of course, tour! There were 4 of us from Malaysia. We had the opportunity to go to Monaco, the leaning tower of Pisa, Florence, Nice, Rom and Milan. Unfortunately, there were mostly personal photographs, less on scenery photo. Nevertheless, these are some of the sceneries I managed to capture with my unsophisticated camera.

A journey to Monaco from Turin by bus took about 4 hours if I'm not mistaken. Fascinating view I can say. I did take photographs along the way, but they were not so good :-(

Monaco

Air show at Monaco

Mediterranean sea, beautiful

On the other day, we went to the leaning tower of Pisa. Unfortunately, the tower was close to the visitor and we were only allowed to take photographs from outside of the tower.

Pisa

the leaning tower

top of leaning tower

base of leaning tower

If I'm not mistaken, this is Nice

We went for a site visit in Rome. We stopped at the Colliseum, but it was almost night, so the photographs didn't turn up well.

in Rome, taken from a moving bus

"little island" (if I'm not mistaken)

On our free day, we also went to Milan by train. We just went for a sight-seeing and did some shopping. For me, it was really an enjoyable trip. I wish I had the opportunity to visit Italy again in the future.