For those of you that became interested in Japan thanks to the visually, and emotionally, stunning Ghibli/Miyazaki films that going to the Ghibli museum is a must-do! Please remember to book your tickets before you leave your home country, and in advance to. There is no photography allowed in the building, and I don't want … Continue reading Japan 2010: Day 5; Ghibli Museum
Looking back through these old memories it seems like our plan was just to do a tour of Tokyo's park! As the day after exploring Ueno park we headed to Yoyogi park, next to the famous Meiji Jingu. Now, exploring Tokyo's parks is actually a great way to experience Tokyo, as they all have a … Continue reading Japan 2010: Day 4; Yoyogi Park & Meiji Jingu
For our second (full) day in Japan, our third since arriving, we headed to the local large city of Ueno. Ueno has a long history, the park itself was first opened in 1876, so it has been open for over 140 years! Sadly, a lot of Ueno was damaged or destroyed due to the bombings … Continue reading Japan 2010: Day 3; Exploring Ueno park
So we awoke in our tiny "double" bed in Asakusa feeling fresh thanks to a good nights sleep after 40 hours of travelling. We decided that we wanted to explore the area around our hotel a little, we had both been to Japan before, separately, but Asakusa Senso-ji is always a good place to start … Continue reading Japan 2010: Day 2; Asakusa in the rain
In most countries great tourist attractions or areas of great beauty close at 5pm, tourism is over for the night and everything is barred shut, this is especially true in the UK where I live. So with this mentality I traveled to Japan, visiting the tourist destinations during the day and used the evenings for … Continue reading Exploring Japan after dark
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 14 and another morning of now 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
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
My Nihon 