Gardens, Yokohama and my first shinkansen

Date: 20 March 2023Weather: clear, 17°CLocation: Tokyo > Yokohama Another friend N took me to two Japanese gardens: Rikugien and Fuku Furukawa Teien. The first had a beautiful 70-year old giant sakura tree, for which most people were there of course. We had to wait in line for 30 minutes just to get in, and … Continue reading

‘Take it easy’ days

Date: 18 March 2023Weather: rain, 10°CLocation: Tokyo It was raining all day, so I stayed in to rest and update my blog. I tried very hard to sleep but my bed was right next to the toilet and the fan has to stay on at all times, so not the best place for me to … Continue reading

Arrival, Narita, Asakusa

Date: 16 March 2023Weather: no idea, dark and warmishLocation: Narita Within 5 minutes on the plane, even before take-off, I’d already made a Japanese friend. I got to practice my Japanese and by the time we got to Japan, I was almost back to my level of 5 years ago (hadn’t spoken Japanese since!). After … Continue reading

Last preparations and a bit on expenses

As for preparations: I’ve been cleared for quarantine because I’ve been vaccinated 3 times (5 times really, but Japan only needed 3). So I don’t have to quarantine when I arrive. I’d already counted on this but I’m glad it’s out of the way.  Taiwan also dropped most of their covid measures, which is great … Continue reading

3 weeks to go!

Since my last post, I’ve booked my stay in Nagahama (Shiga prefecture) after Kyoto, so I can do a tour around Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest freshwater lake. After that I’ll be revisiting a few places in the Kansai area, such as Nara, Osaka, Kobe and Himeji, and from there I might take another shinkansen (bullet … Continue reading

Here I go again!

Hello world, and welcome once again. It’s been 10 years since I went to Japan for the first time (always fun to read/tell people about that one again lol) and I’m finally going back in March. I’ll even be arriving the day after the day I arrived 10 years ago, haha! (flight plans didn’t make … Continue reading

30 before 30 – update

I had my 30th birthday last week, so it’s time for an update on my 30 before 30 goals. Due to Covid-19 wrecking havoc around the world for half a year now (I know it started earlier, but I think most of the trouble started in Feb-March, so half a year), so I thought it … Continue reading

It’s oh so quiet

Well, that blog for my working holiday in New Zealand didn’t work out well (neither did the actual working holiday). I returned in April because of the pandemic, after spending a month quarantined in Australia. I had planned to go to Japan for 2 months but cancelled that because of the lockdown. Anyway, I want … Continue reading

New blog

Hello dear readers, I’ve decided to start a new blog due to uh circumstances. It’s about my working holiday in New Zealand, where I have been since two weeks. Due to said circumstances I won’t share the link to this new blog here, so if you’re interested, please comment or use the contact form. This … Continue reading

Winter bucket list: update

It’s time for another update of my winter bucket list! Back in January, I posted my winter bucket list and posted an update of it as well. Now we’re 2/3 through winter, it’s time for a new update. Here’s an overview of my winter goals: Make homemade hot chocolate.   Start a scrapbook. Bake cookies. Keep … Continue reading