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Nine and a half hours of travel and we have returned to what feels like our second home, the Prince Hotel in Shinjuku. The weather was wet all the way down, the first time we have actually needed the umbrella. We left Sapporo at 7am on the Super Hokuto. Unfortunately, we were seated on the…

There is snow around, the peak of the mountain is up ahead and I’m wearing a t-shirt. Even I feel a little cold right now but I know that a hot bath lies ahead. Or below us, as was the case right now. We were up Mt Daisetsuzan, overlooking the beautiful Sounkyo Gorge in Central…

Squid ink, sea urchin, sake, beer, wine, pumpkin, sweet potato, horseradish. Not your average dessert menu. But they were some of flavours on offer at Kita no Ice Cream Yasan in Otaru, along with the more normal lemonade, chocolate and white peach. B ordered the black squid ink and sea urchin flavours, while Alex and…

Hokkaido is the only of the four major Japanese islands that we have not yet visited and today we were destined for Sapporo, the largest city on the island. Hokkaido is not yet connected to the Shinkansen network, so it’s a fair ride by train to get up there. We raced up to Shin-Aomori, the…

There is much to see in the Tohoku region of Japan. I had multiple itineraries planned for today, all of which involved a lot of train travel, the differences being which lines we caught. But after the previous night I wasn’t feeling so enthusiastic about a whole day on the rails. I was looking over…

It has webbed feet and scaly skin. On its back is a tortoiseshell and lives in the water. It ravishes women and eats children. The only thing it likes better is cucumbers. Should you encounter one, bow low and the pool of water on its head will spill, rendering it temporarily powerless. This is the…

“Is this an Anpanman train?” “Daddy, is the the Seto Big Bridge?” As soon as we boarded the train from the airport Alex wanted to know if we were catching the Anpanman decorated train from a Japanese book we gave him on his first trip here. Anpanman is a Japanese cartoon character and Alex has…

Action required announced the email. Your flight times have changed! Clicking the link does nothing, so I phone the Jetstar call centre. The Philippino voice on the other end apologises for the time change. What’s to apologise for? We are now departing an hour later! And from the more exciting International terminal to boot. Except…

A journey begins when you step outside the ordinary and into the extraordinary. Today marks the first steps on our tenth trip to Japan, my twentieth trip overseas. You would think that it would be all too familiar now but I want to feel as excited as I did on my first trip. So much…