There are still many great places for cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo that I haven’t been to yet, but given the sunny spring weather this weekend we were again going somewhere further. Looking southwest in the Kanagawa Prefecture (神奈川県), a […]
During my parents’ visit in Japan in Golden Week earlier this month, we made a day trip to Oiso (大磯), a fairly small seaside town south-west of Tokyo. It was the only day during their trip when we didn’t have […]
Strawberry picking season in Japan starts from December, and lasts up to early May. We went three times in past two years: in Jan, early Feb, and most recently last April. One interesting thing we noticed was that prices everywhere […]
It’s late November and autumn colours are arriving in Tokyo and the Kanto area. We set our sight a bit further away from the popular (crowded) viewing spots in Tokyo, and headed out for “Momiji-dani” (もみじ谷), literally “Maple Valley”, in […]
For signs of autumn in Japan, apart from tree leaves turning into shades of red and yellow, one also shouldn’t miss the flowering silver grass. With their silver and golden plumes, the silver grass field becomes a beautiful sight, sparkling […]
Reluctant upgrade I tend not to upgrade unless I really have to – my main laptop had been on Ubuntu (Xubuntu) 12.10 Quantal since 2012. Although the Linux installation process has been increasing leaps (versus the old days when I […]
Yesterday we finished the northern Hokkaido part of the trip; but before returning to Tokyo this evening, we had time to visit two more places not too far from Sapporo – Lake Toya (Toyako)(洞爺湖) and Lake Shikotsu (Shikotsuko)(支笏湖). I love […]
Our last day on Rishiri Island. We would be departing by ferry around 2 pm, and then taking a long bus journey going all the way back to Sapporo late tonight. The small patch of sunshine we had yesterday gave […]
Weather forecast for today was still pessimistic, but we found the rain had stopped in the morning. This was the only full day we had on Rishiri Island, we had to make the most of this! There is an excellent […]
The spell of fine weather finally lost its grip, and we heard it had been raining outside all night. I left our only indoor activity on Rebun Island for today, so at least we wouldn’t have to worry about the […]
Momo-iwa Observatory Trail (桃岩展望台コース) After the excellent lunch at Kafuka, we met up with our next host from Pension Uni at the ferry terminal. He would be giving us a lift to the starting point of the Momo-iwa Hiking Trail […]
Yesterday we didn’t complete the “Roam the capes” trail, so we planned to finish the business in the morning to visit Cape Sukai (澄海岬). Some shells we picked up on the beach yesterday evening – the area is known for […]
The best way to enjoy the natural scenery in Rebun Island is definitely by hiking on its several well defined trails. Some of the main sight-seeing spots (such as the northernmost point, Cape Sukoton (スコトン岬), in previous post) are accessible […]
The first of our outlying island stay would be in Rebun Island, the northernmost inhabited island in Japan. During the travel season in spring and summer, there are 3 direct ferry services per day from Wakkanai. The first one is […]
Cape Soya is about half an hour drive away from Wakkanai station (稚内駅). Once past the town area, it’s a very pleasant drive following the coastline, with the sea on one side and lush green hills on the other. Cape […]
We arrived at the northernmost city in Japan, Wakkani, just after 5 am by overnight bus. It’s pretty early, but at this latitude, the sun was already up an hour ago, and it’s an amazingly clear day. Wakkani is the […]
There’s no direct flight to Rebun Island; it’s accessible by ferry only which runs among Wakkanai (on Hokkaido “mainland”) and Rishiri Island. The latter two do have airports, and Wakkanai being a relatively larger town is served by several domestic […]
Sea urchin is a delicacy in Japan and my wife loves it. The little (but expensive) packs sea urchin roe as sold in supermarkets, some you might find bearing the product origin of “Rebun” (礼文産). Where it is – an […]
Why static? WordPress is really convenient for people to publish to the web. It’s flexible enough to be a blog or an e-commerce site. But for a purely content-oriented site, it has some downsides: Performance: If the content is static, […]
The sakura season (cherry blossom) in early Spring is a big thing in Japan. But just a few weeks after is the flowering season for shibazakura (literally: lawn cherry)(芝桜). It’s a completely different type of plant that grows close to […]