The beaches of Iki island are true paradise! Two of them are in Japan’s top one hundred beaches, and it’s not hard to see why. Tsutsukihama is a 500m beach of white sand with a glorious turquoise sea, not tarnished in anyway. Behind the beach is a pretty pond and stretch of green parkland. Backing…
Category: Travel around Japan
Monkeys and Gun-Houses
Iki island is reasonably rural and unknown. It has a past they would rather not talk about (which involved dolphin slaughter, but there is now a dolphin reserve on the island) and currently there is ample nature but little in terms of the convenience Japan is famous for. For us, this was just perfect as…
The Quidditch World Cup
Our golden time 2017 was spent on the delightful Iki island, my new favourite place in Japan. It really was heavenly with clear skies, blue seas, ample wildlife and lush mountains and rice paddies. We needed to keep the costs down on our holiday at a traditional time of higher rates. So, we decided to…
It’s a Twenty Minute Drive Away
For Golden Week this May we spent our time camping on the very beautiful Iki island, Nagasaki prefecture. Golden Week really is golden. The name was coined by the Japanese film industry for the high ticket sales, and the Golden Week consists of four bank holidays. Combine this with a little annual leave and you…
Wisteria Garden Part 1
We recently had a relaxing weekend of no plans combined with a casual trip to a wisteria garden and onsen. Kawachi Fuji-en is very famous and the pictures show a stunning wisteria display! Following the advice on the website, we decided near the end of April was best. After the hour long trip, we arrived…
Hanami!
Spring in Japan is a time to celebrate the change of seasons as the weather gets warmer, the bugs are born again, and the flowers bloom. Most people connect Japan with the Cherry Blossom flower, or Sakura. It features in pretty much all of Japan’s advertising and is a of national importance! Sakura trees can…
Mount Koya
During our time in Osaka, we took a day trip to the very spiritual Mount Koya in Wakayama prefecture. This came the day after our time at Universal Studios Japan and could not have been more different! At Mount Koya we walked the 2km path to the very spiritual and important mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, where…
Cafe Hoots
On our ‘spring break’ this year we visited the second largest city in Japan, Osaka. In this buzzing metropolis, we engaged in the most touristy かわいい(cute) cultural activity possible: animal cafe visiting! Our first stop was the owl cafe, Owl Family Cafe Osaka. With a hoot hoot here and a hoot hoot there, we enjoyed…
Osaka and Kyoto
Osaka and Kyoto are a mere 15-minute Japanese bullet train apart. Osaka is a wild and wonderful metropolis of skyscrapers and bars. We enjoyed the views across the urban jungle from the Umeda Sky Tree building and sampled the delights of local nightlife by getting our portraits painted by an artist in a local bar….
Cirque du Soleil
In our adult lives, we have never witnessed the skill of the circus. I have vague memories as a child seeing jugglers and clowns and maybe a little trapeze, but the performances we enjoyed at Cirque du Soleil makes those clowns look like fools. We didn’t really know what at expect as the reviews for…