Depending where you are, when you read this, the new year may be upon you and if so, happy 2022! If you're reading this post as it comes out on 2022 New Years Day, my husband and I maybe preparing 出汁 (Dashi or broth) from scratch for the first time as our first meal of … Continue reading Nozawa Onsen Part2: Onsen, Food and Ski
Merry White Christmas from Nozawa Onsen! 🎄🎄I was dreaming of spending Christmas with my family who lives in Australia and Germany but it wasn't much of an option to be together, again.Nevertheless, my husband and I decided to make the most of spending the holiday season in this beautiful (and so far relatively Covid-19 safe) … Continue reading White Christmas in Nozawa Onsen
After a relaxing onsen trip in Wakayama prefecture to celebrate my husband's birthday, we wanted another onsen trip quick. Luckily, Tokyo's got onsen covered too! Quality outdoor onsen within Tokyo: Sayano Yudokoro Under an hour from our place on Mita train line, we arrived at 前野原温泉 さやの湯処 (Maenohara Onsen Sayano Yudokoro) in Itabashi ward. Sayano … Continue reading Onsen experience in Tokyo
November 23rd is a labor thanksgiving day in Japan which is the last public holiday of the year. As the following day is my husband's birthday, we ventured out on a birthday celebration trip to 三重 (Mie) and to 和歌山 (Wakayama) prefectures in Kinki region in Japan.The main reason I decided to visit these two … Continue reading Getaway to Wakayama and Mie coastline
November 3 in Japan is a public holiday called 文化の日 (Culture Day) (I've explained what Culture Day is in my previous post if you're interested) and to make the most of the day, we visited Hakone in Kanagawa prefecture for some workation and sightseeing. Monday November 1 - Arriving in Hakone We wrapped up work … Continue reading Midweek getaway to Hakone
Last weekend, I visited Yokohama, where we moved as a family to be closer to the international school my sister and I attended for 6 years before moving to Australia. I dreamt of walking down the high school corridors and graduating from my school called St Joseph International School (or SJIS for short) when I … Continue reading Walking down the memory lane
In last week’s post, I shared our silver week’s trip from Ehime to Chugoku region (western part of the main island in Japan) where we hiked up to see Matsuyama castle in Ehime prefecture, cycled the famous Shimanami Kaido, drove on Tsunoshima Ohashi which is a 3km long bridge that connects the main island and … Continue reading Silver Week 2021 Part 3 – Shimane, Tottori, Hyogo
I have arrived in Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture! We caught the bus into Matsuyma city (cash only and suica/ IC cards are not accepted) and we explored the town on foot. Although many key attractions were closed to reduce the spread of covid-19, we managed to explore and get the feel of Matsuyama city. Sunday Sept … Continue reading Silver Week 2021 Part 2 – Ehime, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi
Hooray to Silver Week! I've mentioned previously that in in September there are two public holidays, 敬老の日 (Respect for the aged day) 👵🏻 and 秋分の日 (Autumnal Equinox Day) 🍁 which fall on 20th and 23rd respectively this year. By adding a few annual leaves, I have 9 days off work to explore this beautiful country, Japan. Although many of … Continue reading Silver Week 2021 Part 1 – Ehime
In the last post, I shared that we visited a river in Saitama and previously, I have mentioned about Okutama river in Tokyo. There are many other rivers flowing in Japan which are scenic and especially cooling in summer. However, the urbanisation of areas 20-40km near Tokyo have dramatically increased to over 50% in the last 20 years … Continue reading Why the greater Tokyo area doesn’t get flooded
Native Expat 