Europe is covered in March snow but in Japan (or at least in Tokyo…) spring has sprung! Now, besides the early bloomers, the ume (plum) flowers, you can admire early sakura (cherry) blossoms in several places in Tokyo. One of those places is Shinjuku Gyoen, a beautiful park located in the busy Shinjuku, a perfect…
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Let’s continue the story about 梅 ume and spring in Tokyo. Over the last weekend, Tokyo was blessed with wonderful weather that couldn’t keep me inside. So, Saturday, I headed to this shrine I have heard of as being famous for its beautiful plum flowers (ume) and for Tenjin, the kami (god, spirit in Shinto)…
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It is getting warmer and warmer, birds are singing, trees started to bloom, winter is almost gone and spring is ready to take its place. Many argue that spring is the best season to visit Japan and the reason for that are of course the country’s famous sakura or cherry blossoms. But before hanami or…
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Happy New Year! (Can I still say it even though it has been 1 month since the new year started? oh well…) The first month of 2018 was very busy for me, as I had finals and lots of work to do in general. But that didn’t stop me from daydreaming about some places I…
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Since now, at the end of yet another year, most of us look back and try to see what we did good or what we did bad throughout the year that is just about to pass, I decided to write a last blog post for 2017 about how this year went for me, especially in…
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One of my Japan travel goals is to see all of its prefectures, 47 in total, and I am almost halfway to this goal, yaay. For Christmas, I wanted to go on a short getaway, preferably to a destination with snow, that is why I chose Gunma prefecture, which is not so far away from…
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It’s the most wonderful time of the year… Not really when you are 8,878 kilometers away from home 🙁 . In the culture I grew up, Christmas is a family holiday, a special day when you enjoy spending time with your dear ones, feel the warmth of home, sing Christmas carols, go to church, eat…
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Hakone, the onsen (hot springs) town, located less than one hundred kilometers from Tokyo, is one of those must-see places that most tourists have on their Japan travel list. It is a popular day trip destination from Tokyo for both foreigners and Japanese alike. However, last time I was in Japan, I somehow managed to…
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According to the calendar, we already entered the beautiful month of December! So yay for the month of Christmas and presents and pretty decorations everywhere and carols and so on. But the weather in Tokyo is still on the autumn side, the autumn leaves still being at their peak, so here comes another post about…
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Long time no post! And long time no hike for that matter (maybe since hiking around Santorini?) … Lately, my Grad school has been keeping me busy with all kinds of presentations, papers and so on, but I still managed to keep my goal of visiting a new place in Japan at least once a…
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