Cycling in Kyoto

Date: 22 March 2023Weather: clear, 25 CLocation: Kyoto The hotel provides breakfast vouchers for set meals at Yayoiken next door. There are 3 options: fried egg and rice, fish and rice, fried egg and bread. I chose the fried egg and rice set the first day and did so the next mornings as well.  While … Continue reading →

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 →

It’s back!

Since I came back from my half-year abroad, my interest in Japan had disappeared completely. No kanji reviews, no Detective Conan episodes, no Japanese cooking, no reviews on Memrise, no Japanese drama, no speaking Japanese. Gone, all of it. I didn’t understand why, and I never told anyone. Even when others were enthusiastically talking about … Continue reading →

Here we go again!

Whew, it’s been a while but I’m back (I hope!). 😅 Guess why? Adventure time! 😎 As I’m posting this, I should be on a plane somewhere between Brussels and Helsinki. 🛫 Just a short layover there, and I’m off to Seoul! For my family and friends in Belgium (or elsewhere in that timezone), BRU … Continue reading →

On my way to Japan!

Though my date of departure has been right here on the right side of my blog all along, I’m quite sure not too many people have noticed. Usually when I’m going to Japan, I can’t wait to tell everyone and announce it in capital letters on facebook and all that, this time I told myself: “Don’t … Continue reading →