The Travelling Holts

Nara and Himeji Castle

We have been in Japan for over two years now and I have noticed (more so this year) that our daily experiences have started to change. We have been very fortunate to have had even more visitors this year and it is only when we see Japan through their eyes that I start to notice,…

The in laws and Okinawa

It isn’t until new people arrive that you realise how much you have done and how much you still have left to do! With the arrival of my new teaching partner, I suddenly realised how long I have actually been in Japan. Since arriving two years ago, there have only been four new international members…

Hosting in Japan.

After our two adventures to Guam and Shimoda, we spent the second part of the summer preparing for the arrival of our next visitors but not without sneaking one last small night away in Tokyo first and this time we chose Odaiba. We found an amazing deal at the Hilton hotel and took no time at…

Guam and Shimoda

Since moving to Japan pretty much all of our holidays have been spent enjoying the company of guests as all my previous blogs will attest too. However, this summer we found ourselves with a considerable amount of guest free time so we decide to use it wisely and catch up on some of our own travelling…

Living in Japan

Since making my diary (now blog) much more public, I had a request from a relative to share more of our day-to-day experiences here in Japan so here it goes… Well the best place to start is probably with out apartment. We live in a town called Makuhari, in a relatively new part called Baytown….

Hong Kong and our third visitor!

March 2016 saw our first holiday outside of Japan and the arrival of our third visitor. We had decided to go to Hong Kong mainly because it’s only a 4/5 hour flight and reasonably priced. The fact that it had a Disneyland had nothing to do with it…honest! When we arrived, we took the airport…

Our First Year in Japan

Well 2015 turned out to be another year of firsts!! We finally managed to see Fuji-san (The dream is complete!). We visited a Shinnyo Buddhist temple and shared in the Festival of Oneness, celebrated Obon with the local people and taken up a new love for Japanese baseball! It all started in February where I…

Kyoto and Koyasan

In March our first visitor from home arrived – Lisa. She is a good friend of ours from my husband’s university days. We decided to use her visit as a perfect opportunity to visit Kyoto, the traditional capital of Japan, with a side trip to Koyasan- and what a great idea it was!!! By the…

Being in Japan – First impressions!

When I first started writing this blog, I envisioned a sort of travel blog where I would post where I wanted to travel and then record all of my adventures during my time here in Japan. However now I have been here 4 months that has completely changed. I have realised that I am not…

Count down until we go… 4 months!!

4 months!! 4 months until we go to Japan and there is still so much to do!! My notice has been handed in and we are in our 8th week of Japanese lessons. However, apart from all the issues natural to moving to the other side of the world, it has yet to impinge on…