[If I have timed this right we will currently be halfway across the Pacific, enjoy this blog post while we enjoy the seemingly endless ocean!] 1: Book ahead We have tried where ever possible to let this trip develop […]
Getting around Japan
We arrived in Japan by ferry from Busan in South Korea and disembarked in the city of Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu. Knowing most of our travel in Japan would be by train, rail passes had already been purchased […]
Last Stop: Osaka
Our stay in Osaka came at a weird point in the trip. Because our ferry to Shanghai departed from Osaka we had decided to leave it out of our initial tour and see it at the end of our time […]
A month in Ehime-ken
The original idea for this trip was to spend several months in Japan to learn what it’s like to live and work somewhere very different to the UK and Japan is supposed to be one of the most opposite countries. […]
Sayounara Japan
Mixed feelings on this warm September morning. We leave Japan shortly and it represents a significant change in our journey. For the first time we are heading back west, returning to a country we already visited. Japan was the goal […]
The Thousand Year Capital
Kyoto literally means capital city. From 764 until 1868 it was the capital city of Japan and much of the historical significance of this city is still on display. Kyoto was spared from the worst of the bombing during WW2 […]
The Gardens of Japan
Kanazawa is a little off the beaten track but now recently the terminal of a new shinkansen line bringing in more international tourists, including us for a brief two night stay. The city is home to one of the top […]
Zao Onsen
We finalised the plans for our 21 day whirlwind shinkansen tour of Japan at our workaway in Busan. It took us two very stressful hours to work out the best way to navigate this elongated nation and see as much […]
Tokyo 2: Electric Boogaloo
Akihabara Our first taste of the futuristic side of Tokyo was the district of Akihabara. Known colloquially as Electric Town, Akihabara was originally an area full of shops selling white goods and electronics but it has since evolved into a […]
Hokkaido: the north island
Japan consists of four main islands: Honshu (the largest containing Tokyo), Kyushu (the westernmost closest to South Korea), Shikuko (the smallest and most rural underneath Honshu) and finally Hokkaido in the north. From this northern island it is possible to […]