Not knowing what a spectacular evening we had ahead of us, we thought we’d pay Okayama Castle a quick visit after we returned from our cycling tour in the Kibi Plain. As it was approaching 5 p.m. – the usual closing time of museums and castles in Japan – we didn’t even expected being able…
Tag: Photography
Hydrangea Season in Japan
Even after two years of living in Japan, it still amazes me how we casually move from one beautiful flower season to the next. Just a few weeks ago, the streets were lined with pink azaleas and before that, colourful tulips were out in a beautiful display at Yokohama Park. I didn’t realise until this…
9 Days in Kyushu: Ibusuki
With only one day left in south Kyushu’s Kagoshima, we had a hard time deciding whether to spend it on the island Sakurajima with Japan’s most active volcano; or whether to head more south to the town Ibusuki to visit a mystery island and hot sand bath. After talking to friendly locals at dinner, we…
In Search of Mount Fuji: Lake Kawaguchi
It was my second birthday celebration in Japan and once again, the weather was rainy and rather chilly. But nonetheless, we went ahead with our plan to spend the weekend in a traditional Japanese guesthouse by Lake Kawaguchi, one of the Fuji Five Lakes! Having spent my birthday on a weekend trip away to Hangzhou…
Autumn Leaves Festival at Showa Kinen Park
With this being our second year in Japan, we’re trying to catch up on as many events that we missed last year, as possible. One of them being: attending an autumn leaves festival. There are actually quite a number of parks and gardens in Tokyo that open late in the evening with the trees lit…
Autumn Foliage in Korea: Gyeongju
Gyeongju, once the capital of the 1,000-year-long Silla dynasty, is known to be a history museum without walls and often recommended for its autumn foliage. Wanting to see a bit of Korea’s countryside and smaller towns, we decided to do a day trip to Gyeongju from Busan by train. (Read about our trip to Busan…
Escaping Tokyo‘s summer heat
It‘s the beginning of our second year living in Yokohama, near Tokyo, and there are still so many places in Tokyo on our bucket list. One of them came highly recommended for hot summer days by Tokyo tourist website „Tokyo-go“: Todoroki Valley. Todoroki Valley The valley is easy to reach as it’s just a few…
Cycling in the Taiwanese Countryside
On arriving in Tainan by high speed train from Taipei, our first thought was: Another big city… How can we visit that beautiful countryside we saw on the train? After a bit of online research, we found a blog article with itinerary suggestions for cycling through the countryside north of Tainan and followed most of…
Shanghai Revisited
Just before booking our flights from Geneva to Taipei, we found a flight connection for the same price with a stopover in Shanghai. Thankfully, there is a new rule that allows a visa-free transit in Shanghai (and a few other Chinese cities) for 144 hours/6 days. Of course, we had to take this opportunity and…
Art & Architecture on Naoshima Island
About a year ago, one of our former colleagues told me about this ‘art island’ in Japan and I immediately added it to my bucket list for our travels through Japan. As it’s not too far from Hiroshima, it was a no brainer that we should go and visit. Below are some tips for you,…
Jitensha Adventure 