We awoke to a clear and sunny day in Sapporo and a beautiful view of snow-covered streets from our hotel window. We were staying at the Daiwa Roynet Sapporo-Susukino hotel, as I had booked everything prior to Japan announcing their re-opening I was able to get a really good deal - two nights for less … Continue reading JAPAN 2023 Winter DAY 2: Exploring Sapporo
Our trip on the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto began with a sighting of some sumo wrestlers! Dressed is airy summer yukata they waited for a train on the other side of our platform! As always when travelling between Tokyo and Kyoto make sure to sit in seats D & E to try and get … Continue reading Japan 2010: Day 8 Kyoto- Kinkakuji and Gion
History of Asama Jinja Mount Fuji has been worshipped in Japan for hundreds of years, initially by the Ainu, then Shinto, and finally Buddhism. Fuji is worshipped as a Goddess, giving fertile soils and clear water. To keep her happy eight Shinto shrines were erected around the base of Mount Fuji, with numerous smaller shrines … Continue reading Tenku no torii; Mount Fuji and the torii in the sky
When the alarm went off at 4am we were once again treated to a view of fluffy clouds and nothing else. Not to be deterred we suited up and headed back up the mountain to Hahanoshirotaki carpark, to get to the torii gate on the edge of the mountain face. As we drove through Kawaguchiko … Continue reading Japan 2019 Day 17: Stunning views of Mount Fuji & climbing Mount Mitsutoge
No trip to Japan would be complete without going to see Mount Fuji and no trip of mine to Japan would be complete without staying in the area for at least week! Mimicing our 2017 trip we had booked to stay 8 nights in Kawaguchiko to do some hiking, photography, and have a slower pace … Continue reading Japan 2019 Day 15: Driving to Kawaguchiko to see Mount Fuji
Having been in Tokyo on 4 separate trips before, I have already visited most of the main tourist spots. I wanted to visit some less well known places in our one full Tokyo day, starting in Nezu. Nezu is north of Ueno park, and is one of the only areas in the whole of Tokyo … Continue reading Japan 2019 Day 14: Tokyo's Cat Temple Gotokuji
Our penultimate day in Japan and our final day in Yamanashi prefecture, a sad day. We awoke at 3am as we wanted to get to the north shore of Kawaguch-ko for sunrise, and without a car this walk is almost 2 miles, so we needed a quick start. It was the darkest morning we had … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 17; Kawaguchi-ko and Narita-san
Day 12 was going to be another fun packed day of adventuring around the fuji five lakes area. On this morning we decided to pick another spot for sunrise and got up very early to drive over to the other side of Ohashi bridge, to a little spot of rocky shore line. Unfortunately no red … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 12 – Kawaguchi-ko pt 3; Yamanaka-ko, Gotemba, shrines and mountains
Staying overnight in Hiroshima enabled us to travel over to the very famous Miyajima, in Hiroshima bay. To get there you need to take a local train to the ferry station (JR pass can be used) and then get the ferry. There are two ferry companies running frequent boats between the port and island, both … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 7 – Miyajima island
For our next trip, getting the most out of our JR passes, we headed far to the south, our destination for a nights stay was Hiroshima. We managed to book (not by choice) very early tickets on the shinkansen with a planned stop in Himeji, as we were forced to get an earlier train than … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 6 – Himeji & Hiroshima
My Nihon 