It was an absolutely sweltering morning in Kanazawa, even though we were packed and out of the house by 7am, the humidity was intense. Our plan for the day was to get to our rental house in Kawaguchiko, some 200 miles away, with plenty of stops along the way. We couldn't leave Kanazawa without visitng … Continue reading Japan 2023 Summer Day 7: Kenroku-en, Ainokura & Gokoyama
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
Japan has a rich history of castle building, it is estimated that at one point there were 5,000 castles across Japan. The castles were originally built as fortifications for military defense along important routes or in strategic locations. These castles were traditionally made of a wooden frame with stone fortifications. Many Japanese castles were destroyed … Continue reading The black crow castle of Matsumoto
On our last day in Tokyo we activated our 7 day JR Rail Pass- such a bargain! To start our trips outside of Tokyo we headed to Matsumoto to visit Matsumoto castle all the way up in Nagano prefecture. There is no direct train to Matsumoto so we took the shinkansen to Nagano station and … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 3 – Matsumoto
My Nihon 