For those of you who have followed The Travelling Holts’ journey from the beginning, you will know that this blog started eight years ago when we decided to move to Japan. It has grown so much since then, currently leading us to Sweden.

However, how we left Japan never sat well with us. We always planned to leave in July 2020 but we never knew that it would be at the start of global pandemic that would sweep across the world forcing us to sneak out the back door instead of going out the front with a bang.

Since then I have been desperate to go back and finish my Japanese adventure the way I had always wanted too and luckily this Christmas break we were able to achieve just that.

We decided to split our two week trip into three parts starting in good old Makuhari, our Japanese home town, so we could meet a few people and revisit some of our favourite places that we had been missing.

Christmas Day was our first full day so we spent it doing all the small little things we used to do; walking to Aeon Mall, having a Starbucks breakfast, shopping at the Outlet, Family Mart lunch on the go, Yakiniku dinner and finishing off with karaoke.

Even though we really enjoyed Christmas Day, we realised pretty quickly that if we tried to relive the life we once had, the trip would end up being a disappointment so we actively made a point to make new memories and try new things.

First I met up with some Japanese friends and we had afternoon tea on the top floor of the New Otani Hotel with views over Tokyo bay and a clear view of Mt. Fuji. First new memory… check!

Then we decided to finally take Brian, a colleague and good friend, on his long standing invitation to Mobara which we never got to do. It was here that we stayed in his beautiful newly built home and tried ramen for the first time.

I know how that must sound… Six years and I never ate ramen. Really there is no worthy excuse other than I just wasn’t that bothered but that was all about to change. Brian decided that my first taste should be at Morbara Noodles, a gourmet style that you will not find anywhere else. It was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Two more new memories… check!

Our time in Makuhari went by so fast, so much so we only had time to meet up with two more people before heading to Tokyo as a tourist. However, it did remind us just how random Japan can be and we loved rediscovering that all over again.

Our next stop… Tokyo: The Tourist Edition.

SP x