Christmas Market!

Osaka has a great German Christmas Market every year in Umeda. My pictures were terrible, but I wanted to post something a bit Christmassy before tomorrow :)

沖縄: Some sightseeing!

We managed to drag ourselves away from relaxing at the beach or the hotel to do a little bit of sightseeing. We visited the very famous aquarium, Churaumi, and also Shuri Castle.

Life's a beach...

Yes, this is still Japan! We took a wonderful winter trip to tropical Japan, Okinawa. Mum came to stay and we had a four day weekend we could spend together. So, we booked a relaxing trip to Okinawa... It was incredible.

Geisha Girl..

On a recent trip to Kyoto I underwent a transformation... I became a maiko, an apprentice geisha.

Kumano Kodo: Part 2!

After a relaxing evening, we set off for the second day off our hike... (This post combines the second and third days - we took far too many photos of the beautiful nature).

Kumano Kodo - an ancient pilgrimage hike

We finally made it to Kumano Kodo! We had to cancel our plans twice before because of the typhoons, but we made the most of the national holiday and went this week. Kumano Kodo is an ancient pilgrimage site and a World Heritage site too. It was a fantastic, but exhausting, 3 days.

Nagoya

Unfortunately, we had to cancel our hiking trip to Kumano Kodo (for the second time!) because of the typhoon. But, we made the most of this free weekend and booked a cheap trip to Nagoya! To check out the city and two castles.

Kyoto with Annie! Arashiyama

Annie came to Japan! We had a wonderful time: karaoke, sushi, okonimiyaki, castles... We were still working, but we spent our days off together in Arashiyama.

Awaji Island

We've been so busy lately! I've been really slow with blogging. A few weeks ago we went to Awaji Island to relax. It's a small island in Hyogo prefecture, about 2 hours away from Osaka. A perfect getaway!

Himeji Castle

We finally made it to Himeji Castle. And it is maybe my favourite... Since we arrived in Japan, Himeji Castle has been under reconstruction. It was hidden by covers and we were unable to see it. But now, the external reconstructions have finished! Yay!

Miyajima

On another cloudy, humid summer day, we visited Miyajima. Easily accessible from Hiroshima, Miyajima is a small island famous for the red shrine in the water! There were also a few deer...

Hiroshima

We visited Hiroshima. It's a must for everybody with the chance. We had previously visited Nagasaki so we knew a lot of information about the bombings, but it is so important to visit the affected towns. The museum is informative, moving and terrifying. I do genuinely hope that we can one day live in a world without nuclear weapons. The facts are staggering. America possesses about 3000 nuclear weapons. In some cases, one bomb can be 1000x the strength of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is enough to destroy countries. Barack Obama has never visited the cities, but is still conducting nuclear tests in America. For so many reasons, I urge everybody to learn the facts and strive for nuclear weapon disarmament.

Naoshima

On a fairly murky, but humid Japanese summer day, we jumped on a ferry and popped over to Naoshima - the art island! The island is covered with statues and art installations - this pumpkin chap is particular popular.

Okayama

As we had to cancel our hiking trip, we planned a spontaneous getaway to Okayama! I don't think it's a very popular destination, but we loved it! The town had a great vibe and we got to see an awesome castle and beautiful garden.

Koyasan - a night in a temple

Only about an hour or so from central Osaka, Koyasan is a small temple town on the top of a mountain, and the centre of Shingon Buddhism. Temples are everywhere you turn, and we even spent the night in one... It was an incredible experience.

Fuji Five Lakes: Lake Kawaguchi

There's Fuji-san himself peeking out from behind the clouds! We made a real holiday out of our Fuji climb, and spent about 5 days relaxing by Lake Kawaguchi. Our hotel was gorgeous and had a stunning view of the lake, and when he wanted to be seen, Mount Fuji.

Mount Fuji!

We did it! We climbed Mount Fuji! It was definitely the hardest physical activity I have done, but it was an incredible experience. We were smiling the whole way, joking around, making friends and enjoying the view of the clouds... It was amazing.

Fushimi Inari

If you've seen Memoires of a Geisha you may recognise this place... There is a scene where the young girl is running through hundreds of red tori gates, and it is a fairly popular tourist spot in Kyoto. Fushimi Inari Taisha Temple. It is a beautiful, peaceful place.

Hiking in Nara: Mt Takatori

We have recently got really into hiking! In practice for Fuji-san (we are going this month...) we bought a new hiking bag and have been practicing. But, this hike may be the best thing we've done in Japan so far.. It was incredibly beautiful.

A Weekend in Tokyo

We recently spent another weekend in Tokyo - for a reason you know but I don't want to post on the internet! It's great to be in the huge city, walk around and see a variety of things...

Climbing Mount Rokko

Jonny and I have planned a trip to climb Mount Fuji! So we need some hiking practice before we go. This weekend, we decided to climb Mount Rokko in Kobe. We took our new buddy Finn along with us, and prepared to do some strenuous exercise!

Kyushu - final part: Nagasaki

Our final destination was Nagasaki. I was looking forward to visiting the peace park and museums, and just seeing what the city felt like after such tragedy. There is a cool vibe in Nagasaki: everybody seems like they are friendly and want to have a good time. But, it's not as glamourous and exciting as the guide books make it out to be. The bridge above feels like something in Europe!

Kyushu Part 4: Kumamoto!

The weather was not so good, but before heading to Nagasaki we spent a few hours walking around Kumamoto and seeing the famous castle.

Kyushu Part 3: Oita!

After our time in Fukuoka, we headed to Oita prefecture to relax and enjoy some onsen.

Kyushu Part 2: Dazaifu

Dazaifu is a short train journey away from central Fukuoka. Temples and shrines are scattered throughout the green countyside... It's a great place to visit.

Kyushu Part 1: Fukuoka

We recently returned from a vacation in Kyushu - the southern island of Japan. It was Golden Week in Japan, a big national holiday, and we managed to have about 8 days off work. We first flew into Fukuoka, the 6th biggest city in Japan. It was a great place! Everybody was friendly and I'd love to go back. We spent our first full day visiting a tiny island just off the coast of the city (and as we just missed the hourly ferry we arrived by speed boat ;)).

Osaka Birthday

My birthday was spent in a fairly relaxing way. Luckily it was my day off so we didn't have to work - woohoo! We spent the morning drinking prosecco and eating home cooked pancakes, before heading off for a fancy lunch at a Michelin star restaurant! It was delicious and really reasonably priced.

Wakayama Adventure World

As you know, Jonathan and I LOVE animals. I think we found the best place in the world... Wakayama Adventure World.

Hanami

The cherry blossoms were out in full force in Japan. Unfortunately, their time has finished and we are left with no さくら. During our last days off before the season finished, we wanted to make the most of it and celebrate with a hanami! A hanami is basically picnic under a cherry tree, where everybody admires the blossom and drinks!

Kyoto: Kinkakuji & Ryonaji and Gion!

Our second day in Kyoto with SJ and John was fantastic. It started a little later than the day before (we stayed out pretty late drinking in our karaoke booth!), but it really was beautiful. Cherry blossoms were everywhere!

Kyoto: Nanzenji & Ginkakuji

Spring is well and truly in bloom in Kansai, and we spent a beautiful day in Kyoto admiring temples AND cherry blossoms!

Kinosaki

We recently celebrated our three year anniversary! Unfortunately for us, we were both sick on our anniversay AND on valentine's day (although Valentine's Krispy Kreme's were a wonderful treat), so we couldn't celebrate. However, the next weekend, Jonny spoiled me by booking us into a traditional Japanese 旅館 ryokan in Kinosaki: a magical onsen town about 3 hours from Osaka. And it was one of my highlights of Japan so far.

SpoCha (or the most fun possible ever)

Sorry I haven't been blogging much. It was excited at first but now it's boring and takes a lot of effort! We've had a busy and great few weeks; we even had heavy snowfall! 

A couple of weeks ago we spent the day at 'SpoCha'. Standing for 'Sports Challenge', Spocha is a magical place where you pay an entry fee and you can stay as long as you like and everything is included in the price...

Kobe

For our first adventure into Kobe we hopped off the train at Sannomiya and wandered around.

Tokyo Part 3!

The last post about our trip to Tokyo. On our last day we had arranged to meet Taeko, who I used to work with in London! She is Japanese and now living back in Tokyo - so it was great to be able to see her and have her show us around. Firstly, we went to Tokyo Skytree: the 'largest structure' in the world! Whatever that classification means...

Tokyo Part Two!

Today pretty much revolved around food. 

Tokyo!

Making the most of a three day weekend we took our first trip to Tokyo! We finished work, met at Shin-Osaka and took the shinkansen (bullet train) straight to Tokyo. It was a pretty surreal experience: travelling in our suits straight from work and arriving in Tokyo two and a half hours later. We arrived super late to our hotel (which was surprisingly super fancy), had a drink at the bar overlooking the metropolis at night and then to bed before our day of exploration...

Kinkaku-ji

One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Beware.. many gratuitous shots of the same building to come.

Osaka Museum of Housing and Living

I think this may be the best museum in Osaka purely because you can dress up in traditional clothing!

Yubu Island

The final post about our Okinawan Adventure! When we travelled to Iriomote Island the weather was so bad that we had to take a ferry to a different port. The next bus to take us to the other port - where the hotel staff would pick us up - was not for 2 and a half hours! Needless to say, we were pretty annoyed. But every cloud has a silver lining... Three young Japanese men in a car kindly stopped and said they could take us to Yubu Island - about half way between the two ports. It was a great opportunity for more sightseeing!

Taketomi Island

Four kilometres south of Ishigaki lies Taketomi Island. It is tiny and has a population of just 323 people! We took the 10 minute ferry over crazy huge waves to the small island, and spent the day exploring.

Iriomote Island

After Ishigaki, we headed to Iriomote Island. 90% of the island is jungle and swamps, and Iriomote is also home to the largest river in Okinawa. With terrible weather, again, we took a boat trip on Urauchi river and hiked through the jungle!

Climbing Mount Omoto

We casually decided to climb Okinawa's highest mountain: Mount Omoto.

Ishigaki Island

For our winter vacation we decided to travel to the southernmost islands of Japan - Okinawa. 

Christmas Day

What a Merry Christmas we had in Osaka!