Sapporo

We finally made it to Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. Even though winter had technically finished, snow was still everywhere.

Boys in Nara!

We also took the boys to Nara Park - perhaps the best place to go sightseeing in Kansai.

Boys in Osaka

Our friends came to Japan! First Louis and Josh came, and Tommy joined us a few days later. We had a lot of fun exploring Kansai, eating, doing karaoke, playing arcade games and drinking.

Kagoshima Day 2

 The next day in Kagoshima, we visited Sengan-en. It is a beautiful garden and the old house of an important Japanese family. Again, we could see the volcano from the garden. I guess it's not a bad place to build a house!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 ;)).

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.

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...