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  • Trip start
    December 14, 2018
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    Yokohama

    January 1, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 10 °C

    After spending New Year's Eve with Matthew and Huong and enjoying a fox-mask festival in Oji and experiencing the first temple visit of the year, aka hatsumode, at Zojoji temple, for January 1st we decided to explore Yokohama as a day trip. I went with Huong and met up with Matthew at Yokohama where our first stop was to ride a seabus across the river and sea ports. We dropped off at Chinatown, and had an all you can eat dimsum and some more Chinese street food. With our tummies full, we then took a bus going to Sankeien garden.

    The garden was huge, with a lake and surrounded by traditional Japanese houses, temples and even a pagoda. We spent the bulk of our time here just going around, admiring nature.

    At night, we went to Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, one of Yokohama's main attractions. Basically an oceanarium/aquarium, it wasn't the first time I have been to one but we did circle everything and saw some neat sea creatures. The best part of the trip was the dolphin show, but more so on that one part where a beluga whale was performing. That was something new to write home about.    Read more

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    Saitama

    April 20, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    After finding out that Huong had to leave Japan, I decided to make some last memories to send her off. I looked into beautiful nature spots near Tokyo and came across a place called Totoro no Mori, located in Sayama Hills.

    We arrived at the train station to find that it was quite a busy day, crowded by baseball fans as there was a game going on near the stadium. We had some of the fast-food they were selling before heading away from the area, it was a beautiful walk as we were apparently in the countryside area, also known as inaka in Japanese. It was a very long walk but we managed to find the forest. It’s called the way it is because the movie, My Neighbor Totoro, took a lot of inspiration from this forest. Studio Ghibli also bought the land here to preserve it. The house where the family lived in Totoro can also be seen and visited. We walked around the forest from end to end, to end up back on the roads. The forests were separated into three zones, and to get to the second zone was also quite a bit of walk, we passed by some quaint neighborhoods, a hillside temple, some farms and natural walking trails. The journey was actually very fun, albeit tiring. Once we got to the second forest however, the fatigue quickly dissipated as we zigzagged through trees and roots, looking at all the interesting flora and fauna. The third forest was undoubtedly the biggest and the densest. There was a wooden walkway that took us above the grasslands, a bunch of flower fields and just the prettiest trees. We got lost several times inside the forests but all was well as that was part of the fun. Eventually, it was getting dark, we ended the day having sushi at a nearby conveyor belt sushi restaurant before heading back home.    Read more

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    Ashikaga

    April 27, 2019 in Japan

    Huong and I woke up early to head to the flower park in Ashikaga. It was spring, cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Entering the park, we were barraged with an array of colors as the whole park was filled with all kinds of flowers and plants, it smelled wonderful. Cherry blossom petals were flowing in the air and the ground was laden in pink. There was a stream that flowed around the park with petals cruising on top of it, it was really Zen. In the center of the park were giant wisteria trees, from its long branches dripped purple flowers all the way to the ground and the soil beneath was covered in violet petals. They were more than a hundred years old. We went around and took a lot of photos.

    Afterwards, we boarded the train to head for an onsen. It was a perfect way to end the day, I got out feeling a bit lightheaded and very hungry, a common effect of bathing in an onsen. So we decided to have dinner at a shabu-shabu hotpot restaurant. It was amazing and we went home very satisfied with how the day panned out.    Read more

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    Nagano

    April 29, 2019 in Japan

    I woke up very early around 5AM to help Huong with her luggage. She was going to leave Japan for good today, it was a sad day though I was very sleepy. We pushed the luggage towards Senkawa station in silence, the sun was barely rising and it was very chilly. I also had plans to go to Nagano for Golden Week that same morning to visit one of my only other friends in Japan at that time, Miki. Huong and I got on the train to Ikebukuro and made a switch to Ueno. Things got a bit hectic as she couldn’t find her ticket even though she had bought it the day before. We ended up doing a lot of backtracking and got lost a few times too, wasting a lot of precious time. In a panic, she decided to just buy another ticket and got on her train. We said our goodbyes, and I went back to Ikebukuro, where my bus was going to be. I had some ramen at Ichiran for breakfast while waiting for my bus.

    The bus ride was very long and took so much time just because it was Golden Week and everyone was heading the same direction: outside Tokyo. It took more than 3 hours just to get to Saku. Miki picked me up and she took me to a place a bit outside the city, I think it was in a mountainous area. Here, we walked around the town’s shopping district and had some Indian food, Miki’s treat in exchange for the times I’ve treated her food in the Philippines. We rode a bicycle around the forest paths, surrendering to the crazy uphills and enjoying the downward slopes. We headed back to Saku after returning the bike.

    It was a crazy coincidence but the hotel I was staying was the same hotel where Miki’s mom worked. It was her family’s restaurant, passed down from generation to generation. I ordered ramen and ice cream and got both of them for free, thanks to Miki’s mom, Sumire. After eating, we spoke for a bit before I headed to the onsen. Miki’s uncle, whom I had the chance to meet in the restaurant, was also here. Later, Sumire drove us to a family restaurant where we were able to speak a lot more. She later dropped us back at the hotel where I retired for the day.    Read more

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    Nagano II

    April 30, 2019 in Japan

    Miki and I grabbed some onigiri and went to a park to just chill out for a bit while waiting for her mom to pick us up. Sumire arrived with her car along with Miki's little brother. It was his first time meeting a foreigner, so he was quite excited. We went to the farmer's market where I was able to get a 1 on 1 with Sumire and just talk about life. She took treated us to lunch and then brought us to a park with a spaceship. You could climb to the top and get a nice aerial view and then you we slid down on these metal belts to get to the edge of the park, it was quite exhilarating.

    We went to a temple next where Kimi no Na wa drew inspiration from and then to a lake. Miki and I circled the lake, it started to snow around halfway. Sumire dropped us off both near Aeon where we passed the rest of the day while I waited for my bus back to Tokyo.    Read more

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    Mt. Mitake

    June 8, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 23 °C

    I took this hiking trip with Evie, a good friend from Germany whom I met at the Couchsurfing bar while I attended a Couchsurfing meet up. We went to Mitake from Tokyo and opted not to use the cable car. The hike was gruesome as it was my first time to hike a mountain, I was easily out of breath and my legs felt tired but I pushed on. It was an amazing feeling to reach the top. We had some noodles for lunch as I forgot to bring snacks, I had to do the hike on an empty stomach. Mt. Mitake started slow with concrete grounds, then the scenery started to turn lush with greenery. There was a temple at the summit.Read more

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    Mt. Hinode

    June 8, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 18 °C

    We then continued on to do another mountain, Mt. Hinode, it was quieter there with more vegetation and less people. We stopped by a house with the weirdest antiques and ornaments and a cemetery. Evie had to pee in the great outdoors, that was funny. We made it all the way up to Mt. Hinode and chilled. Afterwards, we started to head down while singing random songs, we were planning on going to Tsuru-tsuru onsen. We did make it and an onsen after a hike is just the perfect way to end the day.Read more

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    Mt. Fuji

    August 11, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 33 °C

    One of the most memorable day in Japan. This was a full-on expedition. I had a couple of couch surfers staying with me at that time. Divya and Sahil, from India. Ellie also stayed the night over to come with us. Jacob and Anders, two guys from Denmark that I hosted from before came back to climb with us as well but unfortunately they decided to do it on another day. Our group met up with Nikita's group. One of my best friends from Russia. With him were 3 other Russians from his language school. We later met up with Miki and Keina, Keina who I met before through Miki. All in all our group was 10 people. Pretty insane, it was a holiday, Mountain Day. We were able to catch our bus all together and we set off towards the Subashiri trail head.

    I always knew Mt. Fuji was huge, but it's only when you're actually being taken straight to the trailheads, can you see how badass big it actually is. Mt. Fuji was so imposing, it straight up made us start second-guessing our decision if this was actually a good idea seeing as how none of us prepared for this at all. The Japanese girls came super prepared however, they had the full gear, rented them all from hiking poles, the bag and boots as well as the clothes. Meanwhile, us foreigners were literally just in our jeans and sneakers. When we arrived at the trailhead entrance, we took some time to acclimatize a bit, around 30 minutes or so before starting the hike. We planned to do it all in one day to avoid staying overnight and paying the exorbitant prices of the mountain huts. Mt. Fuji was usually completed in two days, so we were quite ambitious for a bunch of amateurs.

    The hike was very fun at first, the trail I chose led us through a forest so we had some shade for a bit and enjoyed seeing some green. The views were awesome and the pictures were fabulous. Just getting to the next station took a lot from us and we still had so much more to go. As we went higher, clouds started to pass by and the views kept getting grander, though we really had to focus on climbing up. A few stations later, we had our first casualty. One of the Russian girls ended up getting a blister on her ankle. Even before, she tried to cover them with extra socks, but she bought new hiking shoes and proceeded to do this hike without even bothering to break them in. It was a recipe for disaster, and she had to go back. One of the other guys went with her, so this brings us from 10 to 8 and we weren't even half way there.

    After a couple more stations, the altitude sickness really started to take its toll. Breaths became shorter, oxygen thinner, heart rate faster, and the body extremely fatigued. The terrain did not help at all, it was barren with just a lot of volcanic gravel. My shoes didn't help at all as every step I took would slide me back down, it seemed like I wasn't making any progress at all. My motivation was dwindling. I really started to doubt if I could make it, that I was way over my head thinking I could do Mt. Fuji. My friends really encouraged me, and I did to them and we made it from one station to the next.

    The final problem was time. It didn't look like we were going to make it back to our bus at the rate we were going and our group was split to just give up and go back or finish it through and risk not having transportation. Divya and Sahil decided to call it off and go back, and to be honest I was with them as well but the others wanted to finish it. Seeing both Miki and Keina with determination made me realize how much I wanted to finish it too, so we said fuck it and went for it.

    Ellie was seriously lagging behind as the altitude sickness was hitting her the most, her ears were hurting and she could barely breathe, I stayed behind to help her get through not that I was well-off. This took a long long time as the paths zigzagged infinitely. The summit was quite visible but it seemed to be getting further and further away as we climbed up, the distance didn't look like it was shortening at all. Eventually, we finally made it up and at that moment it was pure euphoria. All the fatigue disappeared and we all celebrated, from 10 people, only 6 made it to the top and I was extremely proud to be one of them.

    We did not have much time to spare but we tried to savor what rest we could and started to head back down. We had to sprint a lot and it was quite easy on this trail, Sunabashiri, meaning sand running. We ran and ran this endless path full of nothingness. We were blessed with a nice sunset seeing the shadow of Mt. Fuji cast down the plains below. Aside from that it was just a winding downhill which really put a lot of pressure on our knees. This continued on for several hours. It had gotten dark, and we couldn't see much anymore. We brought out our cellphones to function as a flashlight but I still ended up tripping on a root.

    Finally, we got back to the base and were just in time for the last bus. We actually cut in line in the middle, and when the bus came we barely fit through. If we lined up at the end of the line, we would have had no way to come home. I was quite guilty to see the people who were probably supposed to have gotten on the bus be left behind as we took their place but at the same time, I took this well-deserved victory as well.

    It was a long way back, and I had to walk my way home still, finding both Divya and Sahil still awake. They celebrated the successful hike and I pretty much crashed.    Read more

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    Tokyo

    September 22, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 23 °C

    Now I don’t usually record days spent in Tokyo just because I treat it as my home base but our adventures in TeamLabs, located in Odaiba, was a really dope one. I went with Sarah, a friend from Canada, to have some lunch and chill at the beach for a bit. We both dropped some tabs and were planning on tripping in Teamlabs, later to be joined by Wiktor and Karolina, two of my couch surfers from Poland.

    Sarah had a pretty good time but I was quite disappointed just because the tabs were so weak. Still, I still had some fun since it was a cool place. I would later come back several more times just to trip and have fun at TeamLabs Borderless. Wiktor seemed to be having a lot of fun too as he also took a tab. When we got out, it was pouring. All four of us decided to get some sushi at my favorite sushi place and buy some stuff at Don Quijote. We had a lot of fun here too. We ended the day by smoking at my place, had some laughs while Sarah and I watched Spongebob on Youtube until the 3AM or so before heading to bed.    Read more

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    Tokyo II

    October 5, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 29 °C

    Round 2 of tripping at TeamLabs, this time it was a different one called TeamLabs Planets. This place was more geared towards the five senses. Sarah was with me again, I had another surfer, Frida who came with us. It was her first day in Tokyo and she was now being dragged to TeamLabs with two people on acid, must have been fun. The tabs this time worked well, it was stronger and I was definitely feeling it. There were fewer rooms here but each room was very special, the first one was a room that was similar to a black hole. We sank were we stepped, and we ended up just sinking on these cushioned floor and talk for a long time, getting to know Frida. We totally forgot that there were other rooms. The next room was similar to the one in Borderless where it was a lights show, the next was even more fun because this was when I started to peak on acid, we were submerged in water and there were fish lights and flowers and everything, it was quite overwhelming and fun. We also ran into Jaime and his friend Jonas a couple of times in the various rooms. It was truly a fun day with a lot of laughter and deep conversations. We smoked one more time with Frida when we got home and ended the day quite satisfied.Read more

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    Mt. Takao

    November 16, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 17 °C

    Today was another fun little excursion I planned for myself and some friends. We were going to do a multi-mountain hike in one day to view some autumn foliage. Libby and Pacho were staying with me at that time, Libby from Australia and Pacho from Mexico. Also coming with us were Nikita and Lisa, Mariam from Kyrgyzstan and Veda from India. We arrived quite early, it was still very foggy and cold but we went straight for it. The starting hike from Takao was the steepest part, but as we reached higher heights, the path started to flatten a bit until it started to become more fun as we left the worst behind. We were able to see a lot of the red maple leaves of Mt. Takao. There were a lot of people doing the hike as well, it is a surprisingly popular mountain since it is so close to Tokyo. We reached the top and took our photos, the views were spectacular as it was peak autumn. We saw the map and planned our route on which mountains to hit and where to go next and we went on our way.Read more

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    Mt. Kobotoke-shiroyama

    November 16, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 15 °C

    The next mountain, Mt. Kobotoke-shiroyama provided us with a much more quiet space, with less people we were able to enjoy the mountain a bit more. The concrete roads of Mt. Takao paved way to dirt and soil, just the way I like it. There was a viewing point with an amazing view of Mt. Fuji and the lake, we had a short picnic here before continuing on towards the deciduous forest.Read more

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    Mt. Kagenobu

    November 16, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 15 °C

    We pushed on from one mountain to the next, taking a commemorative photo on each summit. Mt. Kagenobu gave us an amazing view of the Kanto plains, even Tokyo Skytree was visible from way over here just because the weather was amazingly clear. The last mountain was going to be the one furthest away from here, also at a higher elevation. It was going to be the last hurdle and everyone still had enough energy to go for it.Read more

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    Mt. Jimba

    November 16, 2019 in Japan ⋅ 13 °C

    The hike to Mt. Jimba was definitely the longest one, it is also where we started to feel a bit fatigued. The hike itself was awesome, with giant roots as stairs and some boulders to climb, we were totally alone for quite a long time. We found an abandoned shack and played around for a bit. We also met another hiking pair and I was asking them about the bus but they had no idea. Actually, it turns out the bus station on the other side of Jimba was closed due to the typhoon so we were left to come up with a plan B on the spot on how to go home. Still, we decided to go on ahead and finish the hike. We went up the final steps and saw this weird horse statue at the top. We also saw a wild tanuki which was super rare apparently. We chilled and snacked here for a bit before starting to long way down. Rushing a bit as the sun started to set, but still blessed with beautiful sceneries all the way. We saw an honor-system shop for fruits where people can just take and put money. While we were able to reach the base, our legs were aching from all the downhill but we still had to walk a couple more kilometers to the nearest train station. The walk took us through a rural neighborhood, not even street lights were present. It was dark and even a bit eerie, accompanied by the sounds of the night. We went through a tunnel as well before finally arriving at the train station and starting the long journey back home.Read more

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    Odawara

    December 14, 2019 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    I met up with Kara in Odawara to start off our Hakone trip. We went through a park to see the castle and had our breakfast here. Some onigiri for me. We went inside the castle and went all the way up to the roof. It was actually pretty small and cramped inside, Japanese castles are built so differently from Western ones. It was only a short side trip and afterwards we headed to Hakone.Read more

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    Hakone

    December 14, 2019 in Japan

    Our first stop was the Open-air museum in Hakone, one of the sculptures was particularly captivating. A head of a woman with tears flowing into a pool and leaves for hair. It was definitely a unique museum featuring a lot of avant-garde and interactive art. We had some vegan curry while we traded life stories and went off to our next stop.

    We went to Owakudani, a volcano with sulfur mines, the smell was quite strong. Here, the black boiled eggs are very famous souvenirs. Unfortunately, I couldn't be bothered to try it out. The wind here was sharp and icey, we couldn't stay too long outside being exposed to nature.

    Lastly, we went to an onsen to end the day. It was my first time having an onsen all to myself as there was nobody at all at that time. I swam around like a child and stayed extra long just to savor the moment. Afterwards, we headed back to meet with our Couchsurfing host, Eliska. Eliska is from Slovakia, and she is just about the kindest person I have ever met. She was very cheerful and friendly from the get-go. We had some more vegetarian Indian food and talked for a longtime before she took us back to her place so that we could rest.    Read more

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    Hakone II

    December 15, 2019 in Japan

    We woke up early to catch the train and then a bus to a lake area. We ate our breakfast in front of Lake Ashinoko, and took the walking trail around towards Hakone Shrine, with a torii gate overlooking the lake, it made for an excellent photo. Kara and I somehow found our way into some sort of mansion on top of a hill, providing excellent views below. We passed through a checkpoint that was used so long ago to end up near the port.

    We rode a ferry across the lake that took us to the other side, it was a very relaxing ride, seeing the shrine from the other side was interesting and we also had clear views of Mt. Fuji. I found out that Kara was into games and we talked about games for quite a while before arriving. We got on a bus that took us to the pampas grass fields, one of the highlights for me. I have never seen anything like it and I thoroughly enjoyed going through and taking some memorable photos.

    Going back we were a bit pressed for time as Kara had another place to be and we were also both quite hungry. The lines for the ferry were long and we also had to take a long bus ride back, I also didn't want to keep Eliska waiting for too long as I had other plans with her. In the end, we made it fine and I said goodbye to Kara and waited for Eliska for a bit. We wanted to go to the illumination festival in one of the areas in Hakone but it was too late already as we couldn't come back but one of the clerks suggested another illumination event happening that was much nearer to our area so we decided to go there instead.

    The journey took us through an almost ghost town, seems like nobody was out but we followed the route that was going up and up, turns out it was now a full blown hike. It took us a while to get to the top but it was well worth it as the sun started to go down, the summit's lights started to turn on, turning the place into some sort of illuminated wonderland. We had a look around and stayed here for a bit. We had some more conversations about life and decided to go back.

    It was a bit last minute but we decided to hit the onsen before I went back to Tokyo, we shared plenty of laughs along the way from the stupidest jokes including an orange peel. The onsen itself was, as always, extremely refreshing and nourishing. I left the place feeling awesome. We went back and it was a bit risky with the time but I took Eliska to a tsukemen restaurant for the first time and she absolutely loved it. We rushed and I was able to make it to the last train going to Tokyo just by a few minutes. Extremely lucky and a good day all in all!    Read more

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    Kawaguchiko

    February 1, 2020 in Japan

    A spontaneous trip with my parents, we got on a bus at Tokyo station and headed to Kawaguchiko. The snow was already quite deep and it's always fun to see snow. I tried my hand at snowboarding without a teacher and could barely move a few meters, though I did have some successful runs but nothing to write home about except my aching butt. It seriously hurt so bad after sustaining so much fall damage. It was still a very fun day, my parents and I enjoyed going through the woods and taking photos and ended the day back at their AirBnB.Read more

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    Sapporo

    February 7, 2020 in Japan ⋅ 3 °C

    Another spontaneous trip with Jesse, whom I met at the Couchsurfing bar. Turns out she also wanted to go to Sapporo's Snow Festival and I had already planned on going as well so she went with me. We had a couchsurfing host in Sapporo, someone who hosted both Jacob and Anders, my two Danish couchsurfers from way back, Jacob put us in touch.

    Jesse went to Hokkaido first and I arrived a bit later. As I got out of the mainstation, excitement started to hit, seeing the snow covered city was definitely something new. The roads were icey and a bit slippery but I pushed on til I arrived at the main plaza where giant snow sculpures towered above everything else, the long park was subdivided into several sections and each zone had its own giant snow sculpture. It also started to snow heavily at this point as we went around half of the plaza before deciding to head back to not keep our host waiting.

    He picked us up near a snow covered parking lot, his name being Yuji or Uz for short. His house was a bit of a ways from the main city but dang, he had one of the biggest houses I have ever seen. A giant wooden cabin, with a fireplace and a couple of floors and even an attic. He had a dog, Shiro and we got along immediately. I usually only get a couch or a bed if I am lucky but this time around we had the whole floor all to ourselves, I felt like royalty. He prepared a bath for us as well with essential oils and everything. It was awesome. I talked with him throughout the night while Jesse went ahead to take a bath, then I went after while she got to know him more before we retired to our beds for the next day.    Read more

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    Asahikawa

    February 8, 2020 in Japan ⋅ 9 °C

    We woke up the next day to head to Asahikawa, we had to brave the snow so early in the morning. It was both magical and brutal as the walk towards the train station was quite a way. We had to make a quick pitstop at one of the supermarkets to get some breakfast. Eventually, we made it to the main bus terminal back in Sapporo station where we got our tickets and got ready for the long bus ride to Asahikawa.

    Jesse played Pokemon Mystery Dungeons on her 3DS while I enjoyed watching the scenery unfolding before me as our bus headed into the city outskirts where you could see nothing but white all the way, trees were covered almost all the way in snow and at times blizzards would come in obstructing absolutely everything.

    After a long bus ride, we finally made it to Asahikawa. We took a bus going towards the river where Asahikawa's own Snow Festival was being held. They had their own snow sculptures, the largest one being quite reminiscent of a giant snow fortress. There were a lot more activities in this snow festival, we slid down an ice slide, rode on a banana boat that drifted on the slippery icey snow and enjoyed going in and out of the various snow houses that were used by ethnic people.

    We went back to the station afterwards and had some buttercorn ramen, one of Hokkaido's specialty foods. I wanted to go to another Snow Festival but it didn't seem like we had the time therefore we opted to go to the famous Asahikawa Zoo instead. Which proved to be a wise choice, as I absolutely adore animals, and we were able to see a lot of animals that were native to this part of Japan including wolves, tanuki, penguins and bears. As the sunset, the cold became increasingly sharp, my hands and cheeks was becoming quite unbearably uncomfortable. We finally got on our bus to Asahikawa and switched to another one going back to Sapporo where we were able to rest.

    Yuji was waiting for us back in Sapporo and he took us to a curry soup restaurant, another of Sapporo's interesting delicacies. We treated him as thanks for hosting us as we shared some lively and fun conversations. He took us back to his place where we were able to get another awesome night routine with his wonderful bath and comfy futons.    Read more

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    Sapporo II

    February 9, 2020 in Japan ⋅ -9 °C

    Today was a bit more chill as we didn't have to catch another bus to a far away place. We walked Shiro with Yuji around the snow covered parks and back. He gave us a ride to the train stations which saved us a lot of time and we said our goodbyes then and there as we probably would not be able to see each other again for the rest of the day.

    In Sapporo, we first went to a Pokemon center and then back to the Odori Park, to finish the rest of the Sapporo's snow festival. It took a good chunk of time to go around the whole park, seeing all the unique snow sculptures, some were really good, some were funny and some were just plain weird but all were cool nevertheless.

    We grabbed something to eat and took a train to Susukino next, here another part of the snow festival was happening with an emphasis on ice sculptures and ice craftsmanship. They were extremely detailed and well done.    Read more

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    Otaru

    February 9, 2020 in Japan ⋅ -9 °C

    After this Susukino, we got on a train going to Otaru. The train ride was one of the most beautiful rides in Japan that really reminded me of Spirited Away as our train coasted next to the ocean and the otherside were mountains, it was absolutely enchanting.

    Otaru was already snowing when we got there, we took a bus going to an onsen first. Jesse was already feeling quite tired and I was hoping the onsen would help, and it certainly did as afterwards she regained much of her composure. It was already dark when we got out and we stumbled our way around the dimy lit streets of Otaru, looking for the snow festival. We went inside a shop and asked where it was and were pointed to the right direction. We finally caught sight of the Otaru canals, and on point as we started to see candles. Otaru's snow festival focused a lot on the romanticism of its canals and candle-lit snowladen street beside it. We walked along the path and saw a lot of small snow sculptures with candles inside. This continued all around Otaru but we were also running out of time as our flight was in a few hours. We started to rush back to the station and caught one train going to Sapporo. We rushed to the lockers to get our stuff only to realize we didn't have the keys with us, this caused a lot of panic and some heightened emotions and the guy standing near the lockers just watched it all happen despite knowing having the key in question. Kinda annoying as we missed another train and this set us back a lot of minutes, this made Jesse really anxious but I was still confident we would make it. We got on our train and made it just fine at the airport. I met a guy on the airplane and we talked for a bit while I played Pokemon on my Switch.    Read more

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    Kamakura

    March 15, 2020 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    A daytrip planned by me and Maike, a couchsurfer from Germany. There were a bunch of people with us at that time, just people Maike invited, an old professor, some Japanese dude that was half Nepalese, a girl from the UK and another Asian girl, the more the merrier?

    We met up at the station early in the morning and got on our train to Kamakura. We hit up the main temple that overlooked the main road. There was a long flight of stairs leading to it. We had a quick lunch and went to the temple where the Great Buddha was housed, we were too stingy with our money and decided to just look at it from the outside without paying the temple fees which sort of became a theme of Kamakura`s temples, I did want to go and take a look but people were too frivolous. We had a quick lunch of noodles and stopped by Yuigahama beach. It wasn`t anything special for me, it`s always nice to be near to ocean but the winds were cold and there were a lot of trash too, quite unsightly. To end the day, we hopped on a wooden train going towards Enoshima.    Read more

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    Enoshima Island

    March 15, 2020 in Japan ⋅ 5 °C

    Enoshima was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. We had to cross a bridge to get to the island. The island itself was quite crowded especially the main shopping strip, we pushed our way onwards and decided to circle the entire island. This route took us through a lot of stairs up and down, it was like a maze sometimes but the views were constantly breath taking. We ended up in some coastal rocky area a bit above sea level and spent a lot of time here just admiring the amazing seascape before us.Read more

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    Okinawa

    April 23, 2020 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Taking advantage of the Covid situation, I went to Naha, Okinawa. From the airport, the bus took me through some US military bases and dropped me off Kokusaidori. The place was a ghost town, pretty much all the shops were closed except for this one ramen restaurant where I had my late lunch. Definitely a different Okinawa all together. I went to my hotel, a pretty good one that was extremely cheap just because of the pandemic, but it was still closed for check-in so I went to a nearby temple garden tourist spot only to find out it was closed. Looks like the day was not going to be too eventful. I was able to check-in and unwind for a while playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons on my Switch until night came. I went out to meet with Eliska, again! She was also in Okinawa so we decided to go grab something to eat which ended up being ramen (again!). We caught up with what was happening so far in our lives and planned what to do tomorrow before I went back to my place.Read more