It was possibly the coldest morning of our whole trip, at -10°C and our little car was completely frozen up. The doors wouldn't open, and the windows were covered in thick frost. The previous cars we rented in Hokkaido and Tohoku came with snow and ice tools, but the Tokyo office provided no such thing. … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter day 12: Shirakawago & Hida Folk Village
We woke up early to a snow-dusted Nagano City as we wanted to get a good start on our hour drive to one of the places I was most looking forward to on our winter trip. Before heading off we had a walk around Nagano and found a series of very intriguing statues along the … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 11: Togakushi Shrine Nagano, the snowiest hike
It was time to get back on the road and we had rented from Nippon Rent a Car for the first time. We were staying near Tokyo station so I booked from the Tokyo Station Yaesu South Exit branch, which was in the basement parking structure underneath the station. The Google reviews had said it … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 10: Tokyo to Nagano – Daruma & Snow
We had one day in Tokyo on this trip in order to recover between the northern and central legs of our trip. My aim for this day was to meet a new friend and to see plum blossom. We had a slow morning, which was the first for our trip, and met my lovely friend … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 9: A rainy Tokyo day
It was our last morning in Tohoku, and it is always sad to leave as it is my favourite region in Japan (Kawaguchiko aside). We had a very early shinkansen to catch as we needed the specific seats with space for large luggage and all other trains were already booked when we got around to … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 8: Aomori to Tokyo
Even though driving home through the blizzard was a challenge I was glad of it when we woke up to Akita city covered by a blanket of fresh, white snow. We had another exciting day in Akita ahead, meeting some more of the famous monsters of the prefecture. Before our next road trip, we explored … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 7: The Snow Monsters of Akita -Juhyo
We woke up in snowy Aomori city, with a view of the Shinkansen tracks and the busy Friday morning traffic. We went for a walk around the area and enjoyed another day of seeing Japan under the snow. Once ready we checked out and walked across the road to the Times Car Rental to pick … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 6: Driving to Akita to see the Namahage Festival
As we weren't able to spend any time in Hakodate the previous day we decided to get up early before our shinkansen left at 12:48pm. We paid an extra 2000Y to check out later, at midday rather than 11am so that we could keep our luggage in the room until we returned from our excursion. … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 5: Hakodate to Aomori
After a chilly night we woke up to a stunning sunrise across Toyako, what a view for our first look at the lake! When we checked in the night before we were able to select between Japanese and Western-style breakfast, and we chose Japanese as with my allergies to wheat, eggs, and milk a Western … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 4: Lake Toya to Hakodate
We woke up to another beautiful day in Sapporo and after a quick conbini breakfast, we went for a walk around the block to stretch our legs. When we returned I asked the front desk to order us a taxi for a little later as the car rental spot was quite a walk away. They … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 3: Sapporo to Toyako
My Nihon 