To fight those January blues we have been trip planning. It is certain death for the savings, but for the life experience, totally worth it! Before we depart Yamaguchi Prefecture in July, we have decided to check out some of its hot tourist destinations. The first on the list…Akiyoshidi Plateau and Cave. We decided on…
Category: Travel around Japan
Shrooms and Typhoons: “The Earth without art is just Eh”
In September, we were lucky enough to visit Naoshima Island, Japan’s infamous ‘Art Island’. The island is home to an extensive collection of artwork owned by the Benesse Group. The collection includes six of Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’, David Hockney pieces, striking architecture from Tadao Ando, and unique mushroom sculptures from Yamoi Kusama. The long weekend…
J&J visit the Inaka!
At the end of August we were lucky enough to host our first oversees guests as James and Jade visited us from the U.K. On Thursday we took a day at the beach and relaxed the hell out of that. The sea was like bath water, but alas, it is quite the temptress! After a…
Another Beer Festival!
In our weekend at Kumamoto we enjoyed ANOTHER beer festival! Oktoberfest is not dedicated to only October in Japan…so, in the savage 35 degree sun in July, we enjoyed another Oktoberfest festival. The beer was delicious and they even sold sauerkraut, yum. We managed to whittle away several hours enjoying good beer, good company, and…
Kumamoto Castle
On our trip to Kumamoto we visited the castle. The castle is famous across Japan as 300 hundred years old and mostly original. However, it was badly damaged during the 2016 earthquake. It is going to take generations to re-build, and now stands as a sad and poignant reminder of the impact of natural disasters….
Kumamoto City Break
We recently enjoyed a weekend city break to Kumamoto. Kumamoto is on the island of Kyushyu and is the second largest city. It hit international news just over a year ago as there was a large earthquake, which caused a lot of damage. The city was nice, with some good bars and excellent places to…
Hiroshima Weekender
Another fabulous contractual requirement gave me two extra days in June on top of a weekend. We decided to make the most out of the time and head to Hiroshima for a few days. It was a brilliant choice as we enjoyed trips down memory lane and the best zoo ever. When we came to…
スペースワールド
We recently visited the now infamous Space World スペースワールド in Kitakyushu. Space World made global news in December 2016 when it controversially used frozen fish in its ice skate rink to make people feel like they were skating on the ocean. A few days later it was back in the news again announcing its closure…
Rusty Baths and Dolphins
Iki island has an onsen town full to the brim of public bathhouses. On our recent holiday, we got to enjoy them all! We enjoyed an indulgent week of lounging in onsen baths full of rusty coloured water. They were extremely relaxing and cheap! It was much better than using the cold showers at our…