Our flight should have got to Japan at 6am but Saturday flights from London to Tokyo now only leave in the late afternoon, meaning we lost a whole day in Japan. Our flight from Heathrow left at 17:45 and we didn't reach Haneda until 15:30 the next day. The new flight route had added 3.5 … Continue reading Japan 2023 Winter Day 1: Planes & snow
On our 6th day in Kawaguchi-ko we were up at 4am again and decided to walk around Kawaugchi-ko and try some of the local attractions. We first returned to the northern shore to see how the blossom was getting on. Luckily they were at full bloom against the blue sky, perfect for photography! It was … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 15- Kawaguchi-ko pt 6; boats and ropes
Day 14 and another morning of no visible Fuji for sunrise, such a shame. We headed off at around 6am to get to Chureito Pagoda, as from the night before we knew it was all in full bloom. Although the flowers were on our side, the weather was not, and Fuji had a cloudy hat … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 14- Kawaguchi-ko pt 5; Tanuki-ko, waterfalls and sakura
So another morning in the beautiful Kawaguchi-ko. We set our alarms for 4am as usual, but when we checked there was no Fuji to be seen, so we got an extra hour in bed! When we finally got up and started our day Fuji could be seen in glimpses, our first cloudy day. So we … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 13- Kawaguchi-ko pt 4; Tanuki-ko, waterfalls and sakura
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
So, our first morning in Kawaguchi-ko. Knowing that Mt Fuji is more often seen early in the morning and late at night we set our alarms from 4am, an hour and a bit before sunrise. With our fuji view room we were able to brew some tea and set up the DSLR to take a … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 11 – Kawaguchi-ko pt 2; Fuji Five Lakes
Today was the day to leave Kyoto, after five nights of travelling far and wide each day we headed towards Hachioji, a small area on the Western edge of Tokyo. The only claim to fame for Hachioji is the nearby Mt Takao, a popular hiking spot with a view of Mt Fuji on a clear … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 9 – Hachioji & Mt Takao
For our third day "in" Kyoto we headed to the nearby Mie prefecture to spend some time in unspoilt nature. Mie prefecture is not well known among the Japanese prefectures by international tourists which leaves a very quaint feeling here, we loved it! The journey was a little tricky using local trains to a small … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 8 – Akame 48 waterfalls & Nara
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
On day 5 we awoke in the beautiful ancient capital of Kyoto. As we have traveled to Kyoto before we weren't planning on spending much of our time in the city itself, rather using this as a base in central Japan to travel around. Today we wanted to visit another castle, after being so impressed … Continue reading Japan 2017: Day 5 – Hikone castle
My Nihon 