We didn't visit many traditional museums on our Asia trip. We did visit a number that were part of a historical building or dedicated to a specific purpose (such as the Genocide Museum in Cambodia), but very few that were more general. However I mentioned in a previous blog that as part of our ticket … Continue reading Matsumoto Museum
We visited three castles while we were in Japan: Hiroshima, Himeji and Matsumoto Castle. While they were all different from one another what struck me the most is how different they are in concept from the European style castles I grew up with. To start with they are predominantly made of wood, where as European … Continue reading Castles But Not As We Know Them
Before visiting we had only really heard of Nagano as the venue for the Winter Olympics and as such we had only planned a rather short stop here, mostly as a base from which to see snow monkeys and Masumoto Castle. However we found Nagino to be a lovely city which we would quite happily … Continue reading A Brief Exploration Of Nagano
I am sure you have seen the iconic pictures of the snow monkeys in Japan sitting warming themselves in hot springs. I believe they were first made famous by Sir David Attenborough. We decided that the snow monkeys were one of the many animals we wanted to see while in Japan and if we saw … Continue reading Monkeys Next To Hot Springs
I am sure you have probably seen fox village on the internet, we had too which is why it was one of the animal places we wanted to visit while in Japan. Having visited Nara, also known as deer village and if you have read my blogs about Cat Island and The Crane Nature Park, … Continue reading Not Always As They Appear
Of all the places we went to on our travels, the crane nature park was the most out of the way and the most faff to get to. But it was worth it. We started our journey the day before from Sapporo, we got the train to Kushiro which in of itself was not a … Continue reading There And Back Again, A Crane’s Tale
We had been to Hokkaido, the north island of Japan before. We went snowboarding in Niseko in 2013 and we had even flown to the capital of the province Sapporo at that time, but we didn't actually spend any time in Sapporo. Clearly as we had been snowboarding we knew there was a lot of … Continue reading Beer, Christmas Markets And Snow… In Japan
So I think I have mentioned before how far behind I am with my blogs. We actually got home before Christmas, but I plan to fill in the gaps. I actually plan to do blogs on either end of the gap until it is filled in. So here is what we spent our last day … Continue reading Our Last Day Traveling
We have been to a few different animal places in Japan now, but the most recent and probably the one I was looking forward to the most was Cat Island. We have two adorable cats at home, who we miss very much and my in-laws are very kindly looking after for us while we are … Continue reading Cat Island Near Manga Town
One of the things we wanted to do while we were in Japan was see the villages and islands that are full of one particular animal that you hear about but aren't sure you can quite believe they exist. The first on our list was Nara, a village known for its friendly deer population. From … Continue reading Oh Deer
Quite Ready For Another Adventure 