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
We had a few hikes planned for this summer trip, the reason for coming back to Japan in summer again, including two two-day hikes so we felt like we needed a warm-up hike. We wanted to go back to Gunma and I had learned of the hyakumeizan (one hundred famous mountains of Japan) and I … Continue reading Japan 2024 Day 3: Climbing Tanigawadake aka Death Mountain
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
Our original departure time was 11:20am, but once JAL had updated their flights with the longer route, we were scheduled to leave at 9:25am. With needing to be at the airport three hours before take-off we had no morning left before needing to leave the hotel. We always stay at Hotel JAL City Haneda, about … Continue reading Japan 2023 Summer Day 15: Flying home from Haneda
It was a sad day, the day we left Kawaguchiko. We woke up to a white sky and no Mount Fuji in sight, but checking the webcams from higher altitudes showed Fuji wasn't completely covered. We rushed to the car and drove straight up the nearby mountain. Just in case the clouds changed their minds … Continue reading Japan 2023 Summer Day 14: Goodbye to Mount Fuji, hello Tokyo
Almost like she was apologising, when we woke up Mount Fuji was completely visible! This is so unlikely in the summer, but I was so hopeful we'd get at least one morning when the waether was clear. I got ready in absolute record time and was out of the house on the way to Oishi … Continue reading Japan 2023 Summer Day 13: Breath-taking Mount Fuji
I left the last post on a bit of a cliff hanger about this night being a bit of a nightmare, and it truly was. Chojo Fujikan is the weirdest, dirtiest place I have ever stayed. After we checked in we were shown to our futon for the night, and were able to take off … Continue reading Japan 2023 Summer day 12: Descending Mount Fuji on the Subashiri trail with altitude sickness
My Nihon 