I travelled through Tohoku with friends, between autumn forests, mountain baths and quiet towns, before continuing to Sado, Kanazawa, Kyoto and Tokyo.
During six months in Kyoto, I settled into everyday life and explored further afield, from summer festivals to the islands of the Seto Inland Sea and the Japanese Alps.
A simple guide to build a heated blanket table with parts you can find here for comfy vibes like in Japan.
I began the year with five days across Tohoku, travelling by train to a castle town, a secluded mountain onsen, the Pacific coast and Morioka.
From New Year in Tokyo, I headed north to ski in Hokkaido, then explored hot spring towns and snowy villages in Chubu before returning to familiar faces in Tokyo.
Spending a minimal time in the flat, I just grabbed my camera and started exploring. The weather was perfect and the Sakura were in full bloom, probably only for a few more days.
Air travel has picked up again in the recent times, but the direct connection between Zurich and Osaka by Swiss is not restored yet. My journey therefore included a stop-over in Paris, from there it was non-stop. At the airport
As mentioned in my last post, I just left Zurich for a research exchange in Japan. Today I want to talk about how this came about.
In the beginning of April I am moving to Japan (yet again), this time for a bit longer than usual. I’m going to live in Kyoto for half a year to do research as part of my PhD.
Like yesterday I spent most of the day with shopping. In the evening I went to my fourth concert – with Aimer.
As my vacation slowly came to an end, I reduced my travel activities and focused on shopping in Osaka.
The day in Sendai started more relaxed than the one before. First, I had a quick soak in the common sento of the hotel which was 10 times more spacious than yesterday’s in Ginzan, even a rotenburo was there. Then, at the breakfast buffet I tanked energy for the day before leaving Sendai for good.
Today I woke up extra early, because I had ambitious travel plans for the day. Starting from Hiroskai in Aomori prefecture I wanted to make my way all the way down to Fukushima and then up another valley to Ginzan Onsen in Yamagata prefecture.
Today I left Tokyo for Hirosaki at the northern end of the Honshu main island. Finally I found the snow I was looking
Planning what to do this Sunday was hard. With that I don’t mean that it was hard to come up with ideas for what to do. On the contrary, there were so many events taking place simultaneously around the country, it was hard to decide what to do.
Today I traveled to Lake Kawaguchi near Mt. Fuji with two friends who are currently living in Tokyo. When travelling to see Mt. Fuji, most I assume will think of going to the Hakone area. Indeed, I also was there before since it is often mentioned as worth a visit (it is). This time I wanted to explore another side of the mountain (literally) which is also well accessible from Tokyo. Today we were going to Kawaguchiko in Yamanashi prefecture.
After touring Ginza, Toyosu and Odaiba yesterday, I planned to see central western districts, including Shinjuku and Shibuya. Of course it came all different again.
Tokyo – there are so many things to do in this enormous city. Everytime I plan a journey, I am thinking not to stay too long in the capital so I do not miss out on the many other places in Japan. But when I stop by in Tokyo, it always feels rushed and there is not enough time to do all the things I would like to do.
The journey continues to Tokyo. Leaving Osaka, I made two stops in Nagoya and Atami on the way to see plum blossoms.
Whisky, green tea and music. Today I visited the Yamazaki distillery, visited Uji and ended the day with a with a DAOKO concert.