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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The G7 Summit 2016 in Ise-shima (伊勢志摩) was all the rage in Japan (not?). Several heads of states having a chat and nothing in the world would change after that. Anyway, the event probably made Ise a bit more well […]
The Sanin region mainly refers to the prefectures Shimane (島根県) and Tottori (鳥取県), which aren’t really well known tourist destinations. Getting off the beaten tracks is of course always an attraction to us, but our decision to go there this […]
The 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear incident occurred in the region of Northeast Japan, or Tohoku (東北) in Japanese. The region covers a large swath of northern Honshu (the main island of Japan), spanning 6 prefectures, facing the Pacific Ocean […]
The “Golden Week” vacation this year was all for flower-viewing! After seeing the amazing Nemophila (“baby blue eyes”) fields 2 days ago (), we’re off again for another day trip, this time to see the “miraculous” Wisteria (藤), in the […]
Hitachi Seaside Park (ひたち海浜公園) I was captivated when I first saw a photo of this – an endless carpet of blue flowers as if a extension of the sky. It’s actually a large field of Nemophila (or commonly called “baby […]
We wanted to try out strawberry-picking in Japan, and although there are plenty of strawberry farms in the nearby prefectures of Tokyo, it would be best if we could do some other activity before stuffing ourselves in an “all you […]
I had been waiting for winter time for this trip! 2 things on my list: World heritage site Shirakawago – famous for its historical village houses, best seen when they are covered in snow – the area is one of […]
For people visiting Japan the first time, Kyoto would be one of the most popular destinations, on par with Tokyo. Being the ancient capital of Japan, it’s packed with some beautiful historical sites and temples, many of which are designated […]
To see some autumn colours, and have a short day trip away from Tokyo – this time we went to Nagatoro (長瀞) in Saitama prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. It has a park named “Tsuki no Ishi Momiji Koen” (月の石もみじ公園), literally […]
In these two weeks, we would be travelling to the south – latitudinally south of Tokyo that is, though actually it’s more southwest, following the Japan archipelago down. On our way we’d be hitting upon many of the destinations that […]
A lot of people visit the Tatayama Kurobe Alpine Route (立山黒部アルペンルート) in early spring. In the middle of the route and also the highest point (2450m) of the route, the Murodo (室堂) station, is the famous “snow corridor”, a road […]
There is an old Japanese saying commonly translated to English as “a wise man climbs Mount Fuji once, a fool climbs it twice”. Though literally, it’s rather “it would be a fool not even climbing it once, (but) it would […]
Hokkaido is the best place in Japan to escape the summer heat. This is our first trip there and with just over 3 days available, I went for the common summer favourites: Furano lavender fields and Biei countryside. Asahikawa Airport […]
It was almost Golden Week. I had made a Fuji-related trip around the same time in the past two years, so I thought might as well make it a tradition. Also same as before I based my trip on a […]