Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26

Our biggest trip yet at 26nights. Heading through the Tohoku region, with a week skiing, then Himeji, Kinosaki Onsen Kyoto and home. もっと詳しく

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旅行の開始
2025年12月17日
Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Departure Day
2025年12月17日〜18日, オーストラリア ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
A text at 4:45am let us know our 11:45am flight had been delayed 3hours and was set to depart at 2:55pm. So we were all geared up and hit with a delay.

Instead of leaving home at 7am we left at 10am, arriving at the airport at 11:30am after dropping the car off and being shuttled to the terminal. In the terminal the board showed check in closed. Eek, but once at the service desk were we informed all was fine, they just couldn't adjust the automated board times. Bags dropped, oversized skis send and we were through security and waiting at the gates by 12:30.

At 1:45 a plane appeared, stress levels reduced a bit. By 3:15 we were in the air. Landed about 11pm, cleared customs by 11:20, ski bags were out, but had to wait for our other bag.

We headed for a taxi as taqubin was already closed and fit the 2 ski bags, our bag, plus the 4 of us and carry-on into the van like taxi. At $47 it was an expensive ride, but the best option at midnight. Arriving at the hotel we sorted the sending of the ski bags, so 3 bags lighter we were in bed at 12:45 to sleep. 4:30am alarm ready for the morning.もっと詳しく
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Oh my! What a crazy start to your holiday. Glad you made it, so have a wonderful holiday. ❤️ [Symone]
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Nothing like the lack of sleep and stress to start your adventures 💕 have a fantastic time [Kat and Alexis]
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Dec18 - to Sendai
2025年12月18日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
The morning alarm went off at 4:30 and again at 4:35am. So after a restful 4 hours sleep we left our brief hotel stay and went downstairs to catch the 5:10am hotel shuttle. We had to head to terminal 1 as we needed to exchange our train passes at a JR West machine to use later in our trip. At least there was no line at 5:30am.

From here we headed to the terminal2 shuttle and hopped straight onto a bus to T2. Check-in and bag drop were no lines and done quickly. Lawsons was our breakfast stop with the usual convience store food. Just after 6am we went through security (all had to take off our hiking boots) and went straight through. At 6:30am we were sitting at the gate for our 7am flight to Sendai.

8:1am we landed, grabbed our checked bag pretty quickly. Then walked to the train station, we stopped and took a few photos, then passed through the gate, only to miss the train by seconds. A half hour wait was needed for the next train at 9:07am.

We then headed to our hotel to drop off our bags. It was very cool in Sendai, the wind was brisk to say the least. After this it was back to the station to the tourism office to find out about the bus we want to take on Saturday. Then on our walk to the bus station we stopped at the Pokemon store to get a Japan exclusive pikachu, and also a snack at the place we first had Taiyaki. Then Jason hit up the 7-11 to find food he could eat, then we headed back to the hotel to stop somewhere warm.

After this we headed back out to go to daiso to get some things for Dale. Then killed some time looking in Loft, before grabbing a snack and heading back to the hotel at 2pm. We sat around resting until 3pm check-in where the girls rested/napped, while the boys had their room. At 5pm we dressed warmly and headed out to dinner at CoCo curry where Jason could get a gluten free curry.

After dinner we walked along the covered shopping streets, stopping here and there, then arriving at the Sendai pageant of starlight. We had to wait 15mins before the lights were turned on. It did look spectacular. Then we headed back to the hotel for a well deserved soak in the tub and a good sleep.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Dec19 Sendai exploring
2025年12月19日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
We had a nice sleep in until 7am, then headed off for a convience store breakfast at 8am. By 10am we had walked to the station and purchased loople bus tickets for an all day bus that hits up Sendai's highlights. We boarded the 10:20am bus and got off at stop 4 the Zuihoden Mausoleum to have a look. At 11:30am we headed back to the bus stop.

We had to wait until 11:53 for the next bus. We rode to the next stop which was the Sendai Ryokusaikan visitor centre for a quick look at the float and festival lanterns. Then we went to the Sendai city museum to see the history of Sendai. By this time is was near 2pm, and we were hungry. So we rode the loop bus to the Sendai Mediatheque building for a quick look and had a late lunch at Matsuya.

We then rode the loop bus back to the station to collect all the tickets we had purchased, as we ride the very special yellow train tomorrow. Tickets collected we hit up Daiso and Don Quixote for some snacks, the walked back to the hotel as the sun was setting at 4:30pm.

After having a late lunch, we just grabbed some convience store food for dinner. Baths were had for some relaxation. Big travel day tomorrow.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Dec20 - Kesennuma
2025年12月20日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
I was awake before the 6am alarm. At 6:30am we walked to the combini for breakfast foods and headed back to the hotel to eat. By 7:15am we had checked out and walked the 15mins to the bus station where we got tickets to Kesennuma for the 8:15am bus. The kids enjoyed some wifi and seats while waiting for our bus.

At 8:15am we departed Sendai, scoring the front seat for our 2:20min journey to Kesennuma. We arrived shortly before 11am, and headed into the 7-11 for an early lunch as we were dropped off right outside the store. We then walked the 1.9km to Kesennuma station. Across from the station the tourist office sold tickets to the Kesennuma City Memorial Museum (Ruins of Koyo High School) with discount Taxi. We caught the taxi for the 11km journey (4,000yen) to the memorial arriving at 12.

Tickets here were only 600y and we walked through the ruins of the high school devestated by the tsunami in 2011. It was amazing to see. After 90mins, our taxi had waited for us, so at 1:30pm we caught the taxi (3700) yen back to Kesennuma station at 1:50pm. Ice cream was eaten and luggage collected from the lockers.

At 2:40 the Pokemon with You train arrived and we let Oscar know what we were going on. He was excited and we got on and found our seat in the one car of the train. The other car was a playroom full of pokemon of all sizes. They also gave us a stamp card that we got stamped at most stations we stopped at. It was fun to play in the playroom, and Oscar made a friend with an American girl. At 4:40pm we got off.

Our next destination was Morioka, our choice was $40, 40min Shinkansen or $17 1 and half hour local train. So we decided to get shinkasen tickets for our ride to Morioka. We got tickets for the 17:15pm Shinkasen and went and waited on the platform at 5pm for our train.

We were off the Shinkansen in Morioka just before 6pm. Then we walked the 800m to our hotel, where we had rooms on separate floors, as there was only 1 of that type room on each floor. A search for food lead us to Gusto Cafe where we had ordered by 7:30pm. I had an awesome omurice. On the way home we stopped by a supermarket that had a large array of ice-creams at low cost, so we grabbed dessert.

That ends a very long day.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Dec21 Morioka
2025年12月21日, 日本 ⋅ 🌧 12 °C
We woke up around bit later at 6am, and made a slow move to get our convience store breakfast. We then headed off at 8:30am strolling back to the station to visit the tourist information office.

Here we learned that a car would be the best way to visit Rysendo caves tomorrow. So we spent a bit of time figuring out the best option and ended up booking through klook. With that set up for tomorrow we headed to the 20th floor of the Malios building to view Morioka from the observation floor. Following this we headed for Seria and then a sports store for a look. At the supermarket Jason got a sweet potato, then the kids and I went to Gusto for lunch at 12:30.

After lunch we walked down to the site of the castle and walked the grounds, then crossed the river and went to the old Bank of Iwate Red Brick building and explored this old building dating before 1911. There was a small market inside where the kids made their own keyring at a stall. Then we continued to walk a bit further, but then headed back to the hotel, in slightly spitting rain at around 2:40pm for a rest.

At 5pm we did the whole what should we eat for dinner - a task now with added complexity due to Jason being coeliac. We found a Nepalese restaurant called Nirvana. We arrived there at 6pm. Here the kids had huge nan bread and a massive plate of rice. Jason had a 3 curry set meal, and I had a chicken curry set meal. It was delicious, and there was more food than we could eat - all for $43aud. On the walk home Jason and Dale got ice cream, then boy and I were too full.もっと詳しく
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Dec22 - Morioka drive to Sanriki Coast a
2025年12月22日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C
We were up at 6am and then hit up the convience stores for breakfast by 6:30, we had to visit 5 to find one that actually had food in the hot box. By 7:30am we walking to the car hire in the 3degree weather.

Arriving just before 8am we waited for them to open, and then picked up our hire car. We set off at 8:30am on our way via the 106 expressway for most of the 76km (1:46hr) journey. The 106 has an extrodinate amount of tunnels, before we turned off heading to the 45 along the coast to visit Kumanohara observatory. Arriving at 10:30am, this stop was a quick jump out into the freezing wind and take a few photos.

We then headed about 30mins up the coast and out to Kitayamahara Cape, stopping at a roadside station just beforehand at 11am. Arriving at Kitayamahara at 11:30am, we had fabulous views, but discovered how unfit Dale and I are on the 360 stairs up and down to the Cape. We left the Cape at 12:30pm and headed for our actual destination for the day - Rysendo caves.

It took about 30mins to get to Rysendo caves. We pulled into the first parking lot we saw following gps at 1pm. It was big and pretty empty, and then out of nowhere a guy appears in a kei car and says to follow him to the caves. So we disregarded everything we've ever been taught about following strangers and followed along in our car as he led us about 200m and the pulled into the close carpark right in front of the caves - it had an entrance we would have never found. We thanked the guy and off he drove. Got to love Japanese friendly helpfulness.

We paid the entrance fee and enjoyed exploring the caves that have waters over 98m deep and we climbed over 155 stairs up into the heights of the caves. Oscar was not too happy with the heights, nor the bats that were along the walls very close at one point. The caves were amazing to see and we left about 2:20pm.

We then decided to forgo lunch, or finding food and headed straight back to Morioka, this time via the 455, which went up and over the mountains, a lot of it with snow on the sides of the road. We arrived back in Morioka at 4pm, fueled up the car, and returned it. After this we walked back to the hotel to warm up and rest. At 5:30 it was food time.

We split up for dinner. The kids went to Gusto for pizza and pasta. Hubby and I went back to Nirvana for Nepalese. We enjoyed it just as much the second time around. After dinner we let the kids loose in suraguya where they tried to restrain themselves as we are travelling only with carry-on until we meet our bags at Shiga Kogen, yet we still came out with 3 large plush toys. Off to Aomori at 8am tomorrow.もっと詳しく
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Dec23 - Aomori
2025年12月23日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C
We were up at 6am and had checked out of the hotel at 7:15am. We then walked in the -5 degree weather to the station and grabbed breakfast from the 7-11 on the way. Using the under passes we arrived at the station shortly after and made our way to the platform where we only had to wait a few minutes before the Shinkansen arrived.

Our train departed at 7:59am, arriving at Shin-Aomori at 9:02am. We made the same mistake we did at Sendai and had a look around the station before going to the platform, only to discover we missed the connecting train, and had to wait another 30mins for the next train. So at 9:45am we rode the train for about 5 mins to Aomori.

Here we visited the tourist info, stashed our carry-on luggage in a locker and hit the sites. First up was A-Factory, for all things apple, the kids each had an apple ice cream, one a gelato, the other an soft serve milk/apple combo.

After this we went to the Hakkoda-maru museum which was a huge ship that used to ferry people and train cars. It was pretty big, with the highlight being the lower deck with the train cars. We also walked out to the point where the ship was housed for a nice view of the harbour.

After this it was 12 noon and we decided to get some lunch. We went to our fallback option Saizeriya, where Jason was able to get some GF options. Daiso was above so of course the kids wanted to go there. Snacks and trinkets acquired we headed to the Nebuta Museum.

Arriving at 1:10pm we just missed the live performance, so after looking at the amazing floats and watching the video Dale really wanted to see the performance, so we hung around for the hour and half. We got to have a go at Taiko drumming which was fun.

We then walked the 1km to our hotel where we are all together in a large quad room on the top floor. We rested until 6pm doing the 'where are we going for dinner' fun. We settled on Haroka, a soba noodle place. Dessert was gathered from 7-11 on the way back to the hotel. Where we arrived back just before 8pm.もっと詳しく
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Dec24 - Aomori
2025年12月24日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
We had a slow start to our morning with just about everyone waking at 6am. We didn't head out to breakfast until after 7:30am, only hubby and I went and got combini food to bring back.

At 10 we headed out of the hotel and went for a walk to the shore, and visited the ASPAM building and then we walked to Seria. Dale had the great idea that we each go and buy Christmas presents for each other at the 100yen store. We armed the kids with $10, so they could get each person 3 gifts. This was a load of fun and we spent a while walking the aisles deciding on what to get. And then we decided to try it again at Daiso, but only 1 gift. This was harder due to Daiso's price ranging. The variety of items was also better at the Seria. So Christmas shopping done we headed across the road to have lunch at Gusto at 1pm.

Here we had a lovely lunch of steak, pasta, udon, tonkatsu and fries all for $40. Crazy the good value. We then let the kids go back to the hotel, and Jason and I went to check something out at a shop. On the way out we passed a outdoor store outlet that had a lovely Helly Hansen down jacket for 40% off. So we got it for Jason, and with tax free was about $200, instead of the $380 ticket price.

We then rested up back at the hotel for a few hours. At about 5:30pm we walked to the Christmas market at ASPAM, here we had some food from the food trucks and looked at the Christmas tree. We heard music over the speakers and after a while else we discovered it was a girl pop group singing live inside the building. So we watched a few songs of that and had some more food. At 7pm they had a short round of fireworks. So that ended our Christmas eve.

Back at the hotel we got our bags ready for our morning move.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Dec25 - Christmas moving day
2025年12月25日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C
We woke at 6am with the kids excited to do our present exchange. We set up our Christmas tree ( and image and carols on the ipad) and proceeded to exchange gifts. It was a fun way to have Christmas with a mix of gag gifts and practical things.

At 7:30 we went and got combini breakfast and we were checking out of the hotel at 8:40am. We walked to the station and we were there in time to jump on the limited express at 9:04am instead of the 9:52 local train.

After arrival it was raining enough to get wet. Our hotel was right at the station, but check-in wasn't till 3pm. So we stashed the bags at the hotel. Visited the tourist office and got a map. Then went to Mister Donut, where the boy and I had a donut while working out what to do given the weather. We decided to walk into town and escaped the cold and rain by visiting some shopping centres. By 12 we were done with that, so we went back to the station and sat there for a bit listening to random people play the piano.

At 1pm the troops were hungry, so we walked back to the shopping centre and hit up Saizeriya for some favourites - namely the corn pizzas and cheese doria.
After lunch we still had an hour or so to kill, it was still wet and cold outside, so we sort forget at a rest area in the shopping centre. Just before 3pm we high-tailed it to our hotel to check in.

We got room next to each other and enjoyed the brief separation for a rest. At 5pm we left and worked out which bus to catch to go to the illuminations near the castle. The tourist info centre helped out. So we caught the bus for the 10mins to outside the castle. Here it was snow, but very wet and we got very cold and wet on our walk around the castle grounds. At 6:15pm we made our way to a very Christmas dinner destination - Bikiri Donkey. It was the family's first time here. A Christmas meal was had - they have an allergy free meal too.

It had stopped raining by the time we exited and made our way to the closest bus stop, only to decide not to wait for a bus but to walk the 1.5km back to the hotel instead. Walking was brisk, but better than the castle trudge in the rain/snow we did before dinner. The obligatory evening ice-cream was purchased at Family Mart for a change. And thus ends our Christmas day as we retire to our rooms for some nice hot baths. Merry Christmas all.

Edit. At bedtime I checked the train service notices and saw that they had cancelled the Resort Shirakami (the train journeys this trip was planned around). So at 10pm we were scrambling to come up with our solution. We ended up scrapping the Akita/Niigata leg (as more bad weather could cancel our train for 27th) and booked 3 nights in Tokyo.もっと詳しく
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Dec 26 - The Scramble - Hirosaki-Tokyo
2025年12月26日, 日本 ⋅ 🌬 8 °C
I woke just before 4am, checked the JR service schedule and saw that our plan B train was still running as the plan A Resort Shirakami was cancelled leading us to cancel the Akita/Niigata leg of the trip and replace with a Tokyo option. We were up and out by 5am. Sitting on the local train ready for a 5:26am departure back to Shin-Aomori.

Arriving at 6:02am we went to a ticket machine and bought tickets for the 6:49am Shinkansen to Tokyo, rather than the 6:18am one, so we could slow down and grab some breakfast. We departed Shin-Aomori at 6:49am bound for Tokyo.

Arriving at 10:33am to a sunny Tokyo we went to the ticket office and got refunds for the 2 journeys we could not take. We did purchase tickets to Nagano, however every reserved seat is booked out for the say we want to travel, so we will join the throng at the station for non-reserved seats. We also grabbed a 72hr metro card as I have found them to be great value.

With the business taken care of the kids wanted to go to character street, so we did that and managed to kill some time. I must say Tokyo station was packed, the platform and shinkansen area, plus the other areas as well. We then headed for a 7-11 as we needed a hit of food. After this we walked towards ginza to see some shops. By 3pm we headed out to the suburb where our bnb style accommodation is. As we could not check in until 4pm, we walked the neighbourhood and checked out the local supermarkets.

Tokyo has had some mega gusty winds and been cool with the wind roaring through. We could only imagine what the wind was like at the coast. At 4pm we checked-in and rested up for about an hour when the hunger took over. Luckily for us, just across the road is a local bento shop selling delicious pork cutlet bentos for 600yen! So dinner was sorted, the local supermarket took care of dessert purchases. We retired to our Tokyo studio apartment for a well deserved rest. Its been a big day.もっと詳しく
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Dec 27 - Tokyo
2025年12月27日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C
We had a well deserved rest and sleep in, arising after 8am. We grabbed breakfast from the local supermarket and combini around 9am. We then walked to Nishi-nippori station, activating our metro cards, and rode the 2 stops to Nezu shrine. After this hubby wanted to see the statue of Hachiko's reunion at Tokyo University. From here it was back to Nezu station to continue riding the Chiyoda line to Akasaka.

We visited Akasaka as hubby and the kids had not seen the Harry Potter station and surrounds. The Christmas tree was still up. We walked from here along the street to Bingo Sports where they have an Apollo Hypercar, one of 10 in the world. By now the troops were hungry.

We headed further along the train line to Harajuku. At 1:30 we were seated at Teddy's Bigger Burgers Hawaii, for you guessed it, a burger. They had a GF burger. After this we walked Harajuku with the kids who did some shopping. This place was packed solid with people.

From Harajuku we decided to head to Shinjuku to take the kids up the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. We went up at 5pm and waited longer in the line down than we spent up there looking. We missed the first 10mins of the projections on the side of the building, but watched some. Hubby and kids wanted to watch the start, so we waited the 15mins for the next show. After watching it we headed for the Yamanote line and rode the 18mins back to our digs.

For ease we grabbed bentos from the place across the street and dessert from the supermarket. And that ended our day.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Dec 28 - Tokyo
2025年12月28日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
We had another restful morning that saw us not leave our accommodation until 9:30am. We made our way to Nishi-nippori station and rode the metro to Naka-meguro. Here we saw what would be a nice cherry blossom view with the canal, but in winter it was a bit lacklustre.

As it was such a beautiful day we walked to Ebisu - not this place had a cool vibe. We saw so many nice cars parked around. We then walked to the Yebisu Garden Tower area. This was a great place with a real mix of architecture. We went up the Top of Yebisu to the 38 and 39th floors for the free observatory. Here you could clearly see Mt Fuji.

After this it was after 1pm , so we made our way to Shibuya for a late lunch. Here we split up and met back at Miyashita park. Jason grabbed food from a GF shop, and Dale stayed with him, while the boy and I went for udon at Maragame udon. It was interesting to see them feed the dough into the noodle machine and then straight into the boiling water.

After meeting up at Miyashita park we headed for home, via a taiyaki place. We arrive home about 4:30pm and bit beat. We walked around a lot today.もっと詳しく
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Dec 29 - Tokyo to Nagano
2025年12月29日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C
We had a bit of a sleep in waking after 6am. We had already bought breakfast so we were able to eat, pack up and check out of our accommodation at 8:50am. We were on a train and in Tokyo by 9:15am.

We made our way to the Shinkansen gates and found it was not the sea of people we experienced when we came to Tokyo on the 26th. So we were pleasantly suprised at the low crowd. Being the 29th we were expecting it to be far more crowded.

At the gate we asked about tapping off our suica cards (forgot to use the Shinkansen ticket at Tabata st) and were told to tap suica and insert shinkasen ticket. When Oscar went to do that his errored, as he has a child suice for this trip, but we got him an adult Shinkansen ticket. We had to change the Shinkansen ticket to child, then meet up with the others who had already passed through the gate.

We lined up on track 23, and headed for car 2 (most un-reserved seats) and waited at the end of the line sign. We were about 20 people deep for the 9:44am Asama.

We easily got seats for the 4 of us, there was even spare seats until we got to Ueno. Arriving at 11:33am we walked to our hotel and dropped of the bags, before crossing over the station side to grab some lunch just before 1pm.

The kids and I went to Saizariya while hubby found some GF options. Then we walked around the shops a bit having a look until it was close enough to check in time to head to the hotel. Our room was a large triple, this was bigger than expected.

At about 5:30 we headed out for dinner. The kids weren't really hungry after our late lunch, so we got them combini dinner. Hubby and I went to a gluten free soba noodle place. After this we hit up Donki for dessert. Then headed back to the hotel for the night.もっと詳しく
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Dec 30 - Nagano
2025年12月30日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C
We had a bit of a sleep in until 6:45am, then continued to laze around until it was 8am and we remembered we get a free breakfast here. So we quickly got dressed and went to the very busy breakfast room for some food.

After this we split up as hubby and I went to look at some skis, the shops were 2.5km away, about 30min walk. So we set off. The kids stayed in a bit until they went on a Pokémon go adventure. We hit up 2nd street that didn't really have any modern skis, but we did get a jacket and pants for the boy for $20.

After this we had a look at the huge store Super sports xebio. They had a large range of skis. We crossed over to the mega donki for a look, and found the pens we were after. By the time we returned it was nearly 2pm. We all met up and headed to Saizariya for an easy lunch.

After this we had another look at the skis at ichii sports, but they didn't quiet have the length we needed for Oscar. So at 4:30pm we decided to walk back to Super sports with the boy. We narrowed it down to a few model, but ended up selecting the best length for him at $300. We walked back to the hotel, dropped off the skis and then we all went to dinner. Hubby went back to the aoba place and the kids and I went to Saizariya again.

We were beat by the time we got back. Hubby and I walked approx 12km today. We packed up, ready to check out in the morning.もっと詳しく
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Dec 31 Nagano to Shiga Kogen
2025年12月31日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C
We had a small sleep in until 6:30 am and went up to a quieter breakfast at 7:30. No photos again but was a repeat of yesterday except with a croissant.
We then packed up and checked out of the hotel shortly after 9:30am.

Once at Nagano station we purchased return bus tickets between nagano station and Shiga Kogen. After this we went to the shinkansen ticket office and booked our post ski week ticket to Joetsu-myoko, from here our JR West passes will take over and take us to Toyama. At Toyama we will need to reserve seats for the ride to Kyoto/Osaka. Then onto Himeji where we will stay.

With all the business sorted we hit up Donki to grab snacks for our ski week. We then lined up early for the 1:10pm bus, we were 3rd in line at 12pm. While we waited we chatted to a few Aussies and did a lunch run. At 1:10pm the bus departed and we headed up the mountain. We noticed it was a lot busier than February, the car parks seem full and there were people around.

Arriving just before 3pm we checked in, it did not go quite as smoothly as usual, we had to ask for the lift passes, then they wanted to charge us, then we said we had already paid. Then for the first time they wanted to put a hold/guarantee on a card. They wanted a credit card, but did not accept wise, did accept Macquarie debit card. With that done we took our bags up and then came down to get the ski bags and luggage that had been sent here 14 days ago when we arrived in Japan.

Skis went into the locker and we came upstairs and unpacked. At 4:50 we headed to Ramen corner to wait for them to open. As we were the first and only customers in the restaurant, Hubby was able to ask what he could have that was ok for coeliac, he was told edemame, rice, fried rice without the meat. We ordered fried rice, gyoza, karaage and edemame.

Oh and there is no Coolish in the ice-cream vending machine! Anyway once back in our room we opened our Fukubukuro bags that we got from Don Quixote for 100yen. It turns out each bag has a 100yen voucher in it, and some lucky ones have 1,000yen voucher. So you essentially get your money back and some free stuff. We each ended up with a toothbrush, hand cream, and a bath bomb. The boys also got a keyring, and Jason got masks as well. Dale got a fun bath foam spray, and I got aluminium foil patty cake cases. And I was one of the lucky ones and got a 1,000yen voucher! So I just made 9 times my money back.

At about 6:30pm we headed for our first onsen. Then just chilled in the room until NYE time. At 11pm we got dressed in our snow gear and walked to Ichinose Family. Here we joined a few other people who visited the small shrine on the slopes, as it neared 11:30 the crowd grew, and at midnight fireworks were let off. We were freezing during the wait, but it was worth it. Then we walked back to the hotel and had a well deserved sleep.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 1 - Shiga Kogen
1月1日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 2 °C
After our freezing New Year Shrine visit we stayed in bed and didn't go to breakfast until 8am. After this it was getting back into the swing of skiing. We geared up and headed to our locker to gear up some more. We stepped out into a lovely day at -5 degrees and little wind. Some clouds were sporadically rolling in but no snow.

We rode the quad chair up and did C3 before heading over to the hooded quad and doing the D1 run. Then after that we did D2 to Price East for a vending machine can of hot choc and corn soup. Then we rode the gondola up and skied down B3 to Prince west. Then we rode the quad chair to the top and did E3, to hooded quad before doing the D2 run and back to the gondola. From here it was 12, so we headed back to Prince West, where we stashed our skis and headed to Ramen corner for lunch. I had the butter corn ramen.

The kids and I had a rest and a warm up while hubby kept skiing. At 2:20 we headed back dow to meet hubby, except I forgot my gloves, so I had to take my ski boots off again, then go up to the room and get them, before putting my ski boots on for the third time. While I was doing that the kids and Jason did one run of C1. I then met up with them and we did another lap, then headed over to D1, did a lap there, then headed to the gondola and came back to the hotel via C3.

At 5pm we were going to go for an onsen, but it was packed, so Dale and I came back up to the room while the boys onsened. AT 6pm we had success at a much quieter onsen, and a free washing machine. After bathing and laundry was done we decided that none of us were really hungry, so we had cup noodle for dinner. They were really nice.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 2 - Shiga Kogen - All Mountain
1月2日, 日本 ⋅ 🌨 -1 °C
After an old phone alarm woke us a 4:45am, we slept in till 7:30am. We were breakfasted and geared up by 9am. It was snowing lightly, and is continuing.

We skiied up the pair chair to Diamond and over to Family for a green and red run. They were icy in places with a bit of dust on top. After this it was near 11am, the kids were cold, so we made way to the eatery at the bottom of Takamagahara. Here we had hot choc and cake. We warmed up until 11:25am.

From here we went to my favourite area of Shiga Kogen Nishidateyama. We skied the green and red runs here for a few laps until about 1pm. Then we stopped in a the food place at the road near the bridge for a pizza and some of the best fries on the mountain. Hubby was able to get a gluten free curry and rice at the other food place i side. Plus the prices were really reasonable the pizza was 1,600yen, fries only 350yen, and the curry and rice was 1,000yen. At 1:30pm we made a move back out into the snow.

We headed over the road to Tanne no mori for some short fun runs. There was powder stashes everywhere and it was loads of fun for a few runs. From here we headed home via Diamond. Then we did one run of C1 to place us back at the hotel nicely. The conditions were; some powder, some ice with powder covered or scrapped, and the light snow did not stop all day.

Arriving back about 3:30pm we headed for an onsen to warm up. At 4pm it was snack time in the room. At 6pm we headed to Ramen Corner for dinner even though none of us was particularly hungry.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 3 - Shiga Kogen - All Mountain
1月3日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 2 °C
It was a rinse repeat of the past few days, breakfast, gear up and go. This time however there was about 25cm of powder.

We did a run of C1 first up and the connection chair to Diamond was not open. Here we got to experience some boot deep powder. It was awesome. Hubby fell twice. After this we rode the connection chair to Diamond.

Here we experienced what it was like to get stuck in powder. My skis and ability are not cut out for this. We made it to the bottom of Diamond and did a run of the green run that goes off toward the Prince hotel. After this we went up and across the road to Family, doing the green run there. Following this was a ride up the pair chair to the Tanne no mori crossing. Tanbe was awesome for the one run we did, then up the chair and across to Takamagahara - my least favourite spot, as I had my first fall in the powdery moguls, hubby also fell again. At the bottom we had a rest and a warm up at 11am. Feeling bloody exhausted.

After our short rest we crossed the road and skied Nishidateyama, it was a bit more lumpy here and wind blown, making it not as enjoyable. We did a couple of runs before heading to Tanne no mori and we did a run or two here before heading over to the Prince via Family and Diamond, finishing up with a lumpy C1 run. At the Prince we grabbed lunch as it was 2pm. They cooked hubby as salt and pepper steak with no sauce, S12 had the pork cutlet curry and D15 and myself had the spaghetti bolognaise, then we decided to call it a day as we were all exhausted.

We retired to our room for some screens and snacks through the afternoon. I meet up with an old colleague who is here with their family and had a catch up.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 4 - Shiga Kogen - all mountain
1月4日〜11日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C
This morning after our rise , gear up and breakfast we went straight to the Diamond connection chair. We then skied down and across the bridge going up Family. From here we went over into Terakoya and skied to the Hoppo Bunadaira access track. The family loved the bit down at Hoppo, so we rode the tiny egg gondola back up for another run of it. At the bottom we then headed for the gondola up to Yamanoeki. We had a quick drink break.

We rode the 11:15am bus from Yamanoeki to Yokoteyama. From here we rode the 3 chairs to the very top of Mt Yokote at 2,307m. Hubby and I went up to the balcony to take a few pics, the kids chose to stay down. The bakery was not selling any of their filled bakery items, only the soup combos, so we headed back out and skied our way down still marvelling at the view.

At 1:30pm we were sitting on the bus waiting for its 1:40pm departure back to Yamanoeki. Arriving at Yamenoeki just before 2pm we made a beeline for the gondola and to Aspen Shiga, but we missed last order at 2pm by 3mins. So we headed for the chair to Nishidateyama. From here we scooted down to the pizza place and they were still taking orders. So at 2:15 we ordered. Had another fabulous pizza and fries - the best on the mountain. Hubby was able to get the gluten free curry again. We were finished with food by 2:45pm.

From here we crossed the road to Takamagahara and went up and traversed across to Tanne no mori, up and traversing to Family, across the bridge and over to Diamond, heading up there and down to Prince, then up the quad to C1 to finish our skiing. At 4pm it was onsen time. Followed by some ice-cream.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 5 - Shiga Kogen - all mountain
1月5日, 日本 ⋅ 🌨 5 °C
Our usual wake, breakfast and geared up is now routine. We went up the quad chair and down E1 to D1 headed for Gondola 1. After we rode this up we did the impossible traverse (how is it up hill both ways?) to Okushiga kogen. From here we skied down past the top lifts to the forest trail and then down through the wooded run beside the lower pair chair that the kids love. We did a few laps of this until about 11:30am. After this we rode all the lifts back up and traversed unto Yakebitaiyama again.

This time we down E1 to gondola 2. From the top of gondola 2 we headed down C2 to the Diamond connection chair. From Diamond we went down, then over the bridge to Family. After a run on the green, we rode chair B back up to the traverse to Tanne no mori, we skied to the chair and continued to traverse across Takamagahara and the crossed the road to the pizza eatery for lunch at 12:30. The temperature had dropped noticeably, and when we were inside eating we noticed it had started snowing. I had a pork tonkatsu with rice, Dale had the mushroom pizza, Oscar had spaghetti bolognaise and Jason had the gluten free curry.

At about 1:20 we here and headed to Tanne no mori. This has been one of our favourite spots for some cool short runs, powder stashes and tree runs. We did about 5-6 runs here until we headed off at 2:45pm and the snow was really coming down with low visibility, we did the green run at Family, before making tracks over the bridge, up Diamond and back to Prince with a final C1 run to finish us off for the day at 3:30pm. Very cold, and a tad wet.

Then it was a lazy evening in the hotel and a much needed onsen.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 6 - Shiga Kogen - Yakebitaiyama
1月6日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C
Today was our last day skiing, and we had Yakebitaiyama only lift passes. So we had had breakfast and were geared up before they opened the lifts. We joined the 50 or so people waiting the 5 mins until lifts opened at 8:30am.

From here we did a C1 run and rode the lift up again. It was noticeably colder today at -10, and there was a small bit of wind in places. C1 was groomed corduroy, not very soft, I was expecting a bit of powderon top, there was none. After this run we headed to our favourite spot the D runs off the hooded quad.

We rode this area a bit, doing many runs through the powder and trees that hubby and the kids enjoyed - while I filmed from a safe distance. We took a hot choc break at Prince West vendo to warm up at about 10:30am. A 11am we decided to ride gondola 2 up and skied over to C2, it was very wind exposed here, and these runs have been effected by the cold and wind. It was not a nice run, and frozen us.

As it was only 11:30, we headed back to the sanctuary of the D runs and had a run or 2 more before heading once again to gondola 2 and then down B2 to C1 to take us back to the Prince. Once here we had promised the kids a play at the snow play park, so a few runs were had here on the snow bikes and toboggans until about 12.

Then it was time to pack up all the ski gear and ship it off to the airport, at luggage delivery counter closes at 3pm. Once we had re-packed, and sent the 2x ski bags, and a large rolling duffle for $140. After this we had about 10mins until last orders for lunch, so we just went the to eat at Prince West. By 3pm, we had retired to our room for some rest.

At 5pm we went for an onsen, at 6:30pm we decided to skip dinner and just do dessert.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 7 - Shiga Kogen to Himeji
1月7日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
We were up at 6, lined up for breakfast opening at 6:45am and checked out and lined up with about 15 people at 7:40am to get on the 7:57am bus to Nagano station. At 8:45am we were near the snow monkey park to remove the chains from the bus. We arrived a bit earlier into Nagano at 9:40am.

From here we did a quick walk to Donki and bought a few things using the vouchers we got in to Fukubukuro bags. We had this completed before 10am and were waiting on the platform at 10:05am for the 10:17am train to Toyama.

Off the train in Toyama we joined the line at the ticket office and got reserved seats for the next part of our journey to Kyoto, charging to the Thunderbird at Tsuruga. We were 5th in line at 11:25, we had the tickets and were seated on the train at 11:37am, the train left at 11:40am.

We arrived at Tsuruga at 1:02pm and joined the throng going to the transfer gate to get on the 1:14pm Thunderbird. The car was packed and we were seated in front of each other on the aisles B seats. We made the transfer with a few mins to spare. Arriving at Kyoto at 2:09pm.

We made our way to the west exit and headed to the Avanti building to eat a late lunch at Gusto. On our way there we contemplated a locker, but would only get rid of the suitcases for $10. We decided against it and Gusto had a luggage space section, so bonus. After our late lunch we went to catch the shinkansen onto Himeji.

However, back at the station we were told ny the ticket office that we needed JR West to reserve seats. So we thought just go non-reserved. But our passes were denied at the shinkansen gate, we were told to go to the next gate. We were then told to go through the JR line gate, so we did, but this was the limited express local train that would take 1.5hrs rather than the 40 odd min shink. So as we were riding the local train I looked up the pass coverage and saw that just the section between Kyoto and Shin-osaka was not covered for Shinkansen, so I quickly looked up the trains and told the family to get off at the next stop - shin-osaka.

The pass had shinkansen coverage from Shin-osaka onwards. So when the train arrived at 4pm, we headed for the shinkansen platform at Shin-osaka and waited for the 4:17pm Nozomi for Himeji.
We easily got seats in the 2nd carriage and rode the 28mins to Himeji. Arriving 15mins before the local train we were on would have.

We headed to our hotel, our first real dodgy hotel of the trip. Yes it was cheap, the reviews were mostly fine and we decided that it should be ok for our 2 nights. The rooms are ok sized, it's clean, it has a lovely nice lobby, then once you are out of the elevator it kind of looks like a jail. The 2 rooms we were given were next to each other, however the girls room smelled badly of smoke. The hotel staff did move us when requested which was great. We now have a lovely view of the shinkansen tracks. Dinner and breakfast are included, it was a tray of set food, that we ate a bit of. Afterwards we hit up the 7-11 for more food and some dessert.

Our long travel day is done. One bus (near 2hrs), train 1 (1hr), train 2 and 3 (2:20min), train 4 (20min), train 5 (30min).もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 8 - Himeji
1月8日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
We had a nice sleep in and left the room at 7:45am. We tried the breakfast, and it was a bit better than the free dinner from last night. After this we left the hotel at 8:30am and walk through the station and up the street to Himeji Castle.

Arriving at 9:15am, we purchased the castle and garden combo ticket and made our way through the castle. It was decidedly freezing this morning with a slight wind keeping you cold. Once in the castle the removing of shoes added to the freeze factor of the feet. We were done around 11am. From here we walked up the street to the Koko-en garden. We walked through the many sections and were done by 12.

Hubby knew of a gluten free curry place across the road, so we walked there and had lunch at 12:15. From here we walked to the Rice flour taiyaki shop,and gluten free taiyaki place where hubby and I had a custard taiyaki (kids were full). It was really nice. After this we wandered down the covered shopping streets, wandering into some shops. Kids got a capsule toys and I spent up on some chocolates at a cheap sweets shop.

We arrived back at the hotel at 3pm for a rest. At 6pm we headed for Napalese for dinner then walked through the shopping street taking photos with the floor art, then admiring the lovely light displays and lit up castle.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 9 - Himeji to Kinosaki Onsen
1月9日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C
We woke at 6am and had breakfast by 7am. We left our hotel at 8:20am and walked to the station to catch the Hamakaze 1 at 8:57am. This was an old diesel train that would its way to the west coast and took about 2hr arriving at 10:50am.

Kinosaki onsen is a cute little town, we dropped our bags at our hotel and walked up and down the 2 main streets. By this time is was just after 12 noon. So we decided to go to a foot bath and warm our toes. So we walked back uo the 2 streets to a Footpath and enjoyed this for a few minutes. As we had until 3pm to check in and access our room we decided at 12:50pm that we would ride the train one stop to Takeno.

We made the 1:17pm train to Takeno and walked the 1.4km to the beach. So now we have visited the west and east coasts of Japan this trip. It was a cool vibe even though we barely saw anyone out, a fair few cars. And of course we stopped for an ice-cream along the way. Our walk around the beach area toik us out along a break wall. We walked back to the station for the 3:18pm train, it arrived at 3:06pm, so we jumped on.

After a rest in the room, we decided to grab an early dinner of hot dogs at a burger place across from our hotel at 4:35pm as they shut at 5pm. After dinner we headed out to try a few of the 7 onsens in the town. We did three of the onsens Konoyu onsen that had a nice rock bath outside, then Goshonoyu onsen that also had outdoor rock baths, and lastly we tried Ichinoyu onsen that had a cave like onsen.

After this we took a stroll around town taking photographs of the beautiful surroundings, then we got some ice-cream from the supermarket for dessert.もっと詳しく
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Big Dec/Jan Trip 25/26 旅行者

Jan 10 - Kinosaki Onsen to Kyoto
1月10日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
After a restful sleep, we woke at 7am and went and got breakfast at 8am. I decided ice-cream counts as a breakfast food. Then we checked out at 9:15am, and walked the short walk to the station to catch the 9:33 train to Kyoto. At 10:43 we had to change from one limited express to another, it was across platform at fukuchiyama station as this train left at 10:44am. It was fashioned like an olden day train with a lounge section. At the next station our first car carriage coupled with another train waiting at the station. After this we continue our journey to Kyoto arriving at 12:07pm. From here we rode the subway, absolutely jam packed to Shijo station.

Walked to Hotel and were able to check in early at 1pm. So dropping the bags and settling in we had a short rest then headed out to Loco Chicken, a small 6 seat burger/taco place that is gluten free. The chicken burgers were devine! And not at all expensive at under $10.

From here we walked all over the kawaramachi area visiting various stores until near 6pm. Hubby didn't want dinner, so kids and I had Saizeriya. Cheap food where all three of us ate for $12. Then it was back to the hotel for a rest.

About 6:30 we went out for the hubby's alcohol shop, we ended up walking about 6-7km all up, visited 2 don Quixote's, a daiso and back to the hotel after 9pm. The legs have done a lot of walking today.もっと詳しく
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