If we came all the way to Japan and didn’t see a Sumo Wrestler we would be very disappointed. The day didn’t begin well as we were behind schedule for the sumo practice at Arashio Beyo. Then we stupidly bought the wrong metro pass and had to walk large distances to save buying another ticket….
Category: Japan
First day in Tokyo
Craig and I have explored lots of cities around the world but we’ve never lost each other…that was until we visited Tokyo. We went to the Asakusa area and wandered around the shrines, I told Craig I wanted to take a quick photo so did it in seconds, continued through a gate and stopped to…
Incredible views of Mount Fuji
It took seven trains to get from Osaka to Kawaguchiko which is part of the Fuji Five Lakes region. We did take one wrong train but still it would of taken six if we did it right. A bullet train took us most of the distance and we even got our first glimpse of Mount…
The wild deer of Nara and 30,000 cherry trees, Japan
It was a miserable day and totally pouring with rain but we didn’t have any spare time to kill so headed to Nara as planned. A very wet walk even in our ponchos took us to Nara Park which wasn’t a typical park and lots of roads cut through it. The park is home to…
Exploring Kyoto’s top sights
The bamboo grove of Arashayama is an image I’ve seen posted online numerous times and finally it was our chance to see it. Sadly everyone else had the same idea…it was heaving and totally impossible to take a photo without anyone else in it. The bamboo forest wasn’t as vast as I expected, just a…
Geisha, shrines and cherry blossoms in Kyoto
We wanted to stay in Kyoto but everything was way out of our price range so we ended up in a cheap hotel in Osaka where 5 nights cost the same as one in Kyoto. They managed to offer the rooms so cheaply by not cleaning the bedding. I was furious. It looked like a…
A unique village in the Japanese Alps
The bus to Shirakawa-Go in the Japanese Alps wasn’t covered by our JR pass and cost us a whopping £30 each for a return ticket. It only took 50 minutes to reach the UNESCO village along empty roads and lots of tunnels. It began raining as we arrived and wasn’t the best weather but when…
Experiencing a traditional Japanese Inn, Takayama
We arrived at Takayama’s old town on a cold, dark night but had the warmest of welcomes from our hosts at their traditional inn. The old couple that owned the place were adorable, the man who I’ll call Bob guided us through his spotless house showing us everything we needed to know and being totally…
Snow monkeys in thermal pools, Japan
We had the same problem looking for breakfast in this ghost town as we did looking for dinner. Thankfully we spotted a coffee sign so headed into what turned out to be a very old couples house. I don’t think they get many customers and the man literally threw his wife into a cupboard along…
First impressions of Japan
I can’t quite believe we decided to come to Japan. Two backpackers in Japan, what were we thinking? We randomly pointed at a map and picked it because it was en route to Alaska (it’s really not that en route) but it looked like a fascinating country. We knew it would be expensive but we…
NON STOP TRAVELLING 