After our stay in Tokyo is was time to head out west to Yokohama to visit our good friend Yoshi. It turns out that Yokohama is the second biggest city in Japan which surprised me as I always thought that title belonged to Osaka but alas. Based on population size Yokohama is bigger but I…
Tag: Temples
Tokyo: Our Tourist Edition
During our time in Japan, we spent plenty of time visiting the tourist spots of Tokyo but but more as a tour guide to our friends and family rather than a tourist. We loved this because when life in Japan became more ‘normal’ seeing the magic of this crazy country through their eyes made it…
8 Amazing Side Trips from Tokyo
When we lived in Japan, we used to get a lot of visitors. Some used to visit for long periods of time, around two or three weeks. This would give us time to see the more popular sites further a field like Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, etc… which are highly recommended if you have the…
Sengakuji Temple
Sengakuji Temple is rarely on the top 10 places to visit in Tokyo but it is not somewhere that should be so quickly overlooked. If you like your Japanese history, then you will be very interested to know that it is the burial home of the 47 Ronin. The story goes, in summary, that there…
The Quirky Side of Japan…
As stated in my very first post, this blog is designed to be a diary of my time in Japan. A way of remembering every little detail no matter how small. Flicking through some old photos, I have realised that there are many things I have encountered or experienced that for some reason just never…
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,…
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…
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…
The Travelling Holts 