We awoke in our old shukuba to another warm summer morning, with a few hours until the proprieter would arrive to clean the place. We had a lot to sort out, as well as get food ready for the day but before we left we wanted to wander up and down this old post town. … Continue reading Japan 2024 Day 6: Gorges and Post Towns along the Nakasendo
We awoke to a misty and drizzly morning in our 150+ year old shukuba, it had been a good nights sleep and I was excited to be hiking on the Nakasendo in a few short hours. Although we were staying closer to Tsumago I wanted to start the hike from Magome-juku so most of the … Continue reading Japan 2024 Day 5: Hiking the Nakasendo from Magome-Juku to Tsumago-juku
The main aim of our day was to get to our Shukuba (post-town) lodging that we rented out for two nights along the Nakasendo in the Kiso Valley. It is a 280km journey from where we stayed in Saitama to Suhara-juku, a lesser-known post-town north of the famous Magome and Tsumago, which we planned to … Continue reading Japan 2024 Day 4: Driving through Azumino and Narai-juku
Thanks to our early night we woke up at 3am, we opened the curtains and the typhoon had passed, the sky was clear and before long the sun started to come up over the buildings. It is unusual in the summer to be able to see the mountains to the west, but we had a … Continue reading Japan 2024 Day 2: Kawagoe furin festival & Takasaki daruma
In the days leading up to our flight we were getting worried, a massive typhoon was predicted to be hitting Japan the day we were due to land. We were flying out of London early on the 15th of August, so on the 14th we were rapdily refreshing the JAL and Haneda website to see … Continue reading Japan 2024 Day 1: Landing in Tokyo during a typhoon
My Nihon 