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 […]
Rain continued from yesterday. It didn’t get better after morning, so we headed out anyway around noon. Furano is almost a synonym for lavender, and there are many lavender fields in the area. Without a car our options were somewhat […]
Common impression of Hokkaido is this endless countryside with forever blue sky. But of course, the reality can be poor weather. It turned out spending some time in the city wasn’t so bad after all, when encountering weather like this. […]
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 […]
Tsumago-juku (妻籠宿) After an , we departed in the morning to explore the area. The village streets were all lined with traditional wooden houses, and just like the guesthouse we stayed at, they are not just for display and people […]
Most travellers in Japan would’ve heard of Tokaido (東海道), as the name of the major Shinkansen train line linking Tokyo to western Japan cities like Osaka and Kyoto. Literally meaning “east sea route”, it runs along the east coast of […]
My 3rd time skiing, and my 2nd time to GALA Yuzawa ski resort (ガーラ湯沢スキー場) in Niigata Prefecture (新潟県). Access to GALA from Tokyo is so easy it’s almost ridculous – with the direct Shinkansen train from Tokyo station, in just […]