A flying visit to Wakayama

We took a quick trip down to Wakayama to see Baa-chan (mother in law). She is quite poorly and unfortunately stuck in hospital. It's been a pretty rough 18 months all in all. First Jii-chan got sick and passed away, unfortunately Baa-chan wasn't doing well with his passing and her heath deteriorated and then she slipped and broke her spine.

And also my mom back in the UK also took a turn for the worse, she had COPD and a heart issue, she passed away in the spring. 

Baa-chan is still hanging on but she has lost so much weight and there was little of her in the first place. She was so happy to see Ebi-kun though and we spent a few hours each day chatting with her.

It's a 6 hour trip on the Shinkansen and express train to get to Wakayama but we wanted to see her whilst Ebi-kun was still here, he flies back to uni on September 1st. We did manage to co-ordinate dinner with brother-in-law, his wife and one of his kids, which was good. And we visited Jii-chans grave, Ebi-kun got to say his goodbyes, he was away at uni when Jii-chan passed and funerals happen really quickly here.

If you have ever wonder what a Japanese funeral is like or you have to attend one and have no idea what you are getting into, I wrote this post explaining how it works.

So, Wakayama, is it worth a visit?

If you are visiting Japan for a couple of weeks, probably not. Although a trip to the founding place of Japanese Buddhism, at Koya-san is a lovely trip, but give yourself a few days so that you can relax and enjoy the place. 

Wakayama does have a castle, we usually stay at Daiwa Roynet Hotel Wakayama (great buffet breakfast) which overlooks the castle. The castle isn't huge, you can see it all and the grounds in a couple of hours. If you are lucky, you might see ninja hanging out and about!

Wakayamajo Hall is a concert hall, just down the road from the hotel. You can enter the building for free, it is beautiful and from the top floor there is open decking where you can sit and relax, with views of the castle. Each time we have been up there we have the place pretty much to ourselves, its a great hidden gem in Wakayama!

Another spot worth a visit is The Museum of Modern Art, over the years we have seen some interesting exhibitions there.

And if you want to do something totally un-Japanese, visit Porto Europa, it's a port area that is designed to look like somewhere in Europe, it gives off Spanish/Italian vibes. We have been a couple of times, there are some rides and restaurants. I wouldn't go out of my way to g if you are on a tight schedule but if you find yourself with nothing to do in Wakayama, its worth an afternoons visit.

Needless to say, we didn't do any of these things this time, it really was train - hospital- dinner - sleep - hospital - train type of trip!

Here are other posts about Wakayama, some of them are quite old so do double check any info before you visit!

If you happen to be a Wakayama local and know of any good places to visit, do let me know, no doubt we will be down there again soon.

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