There aren’t many countries I visit armed with a list of things to buy. Shopping is never near the top of my things to do, even in cities or countries that are famous for it. Japan is the one exception to this, which is exactly why we didn’t visit on our larger Asia trip years …
Our flights to Japan with Air China meant that we had the option to do a 9 hour layover in Shanghai on the way back from Tokyo. China isn’t somewhere I have any immediate plans to visit, so it seemed like a good way to get our feet on the ground of a new country …
Without a doubt, one of our highlights of Japan was staying in a hotel where the “receptionists” are robot dinosaurs! One of the biggest draws to Japan for me is the absolutely insane inventions they come up with, the wacky tech and anime, the nuts TV shows, and the fun things they always seem to …
From Osaka, we headed west to visit a castle, an island, and a memorial. This was one of the most ambitious parts of the trip, and I’m here to tell you that everything in the blog post title worked perfectly. The additional plan of also going to Rabbit Island did not. We left Osaka bright-eyed …
Nara is one of the best day trips you can do from either Kyoto and Osaka. We decided to visit from Osaka, mostly because the accommodation is cheaper and therefore all our days in Kyoto would be spent in Kyoto, plus as you’ll know we absolutely fell in love with Osaka so we definitely didn’t …
One of the absolute highlights of our trip to Japan was, believe it or not, a day at a theme park! Japan has some brilliant theme parks, from DisneySea to Fuji-Q, and it goes without saying that Universal Studios Japan is one of the best they have to offer. We had always been planning to …
Osaka, I find, can be very overlooked on people’s Japan itineraries. Many people stay in Kyoto and make a day trip to Osaka, and I say that’s a damn shame. I can’t say what drew me towards Osaka so much, but it was enough that we booked a full four nights there. The main thing …
One of our absolute highlights of Tokyo was the Ghibli Museum – a haven for all things Studio Ghibli, and a must-visit for any Studio Ghibli fan. If you don’t know what Studio Ghibli is, they are a renowned Japanese animation studio, making incredible films since the mid-1980’s. They are basically the Japanese equivalent of …
Digital art museums appear to be gaining worldwide momentum in the form of events like the interactive Van Gogh exhibitions around Europe – but TeamLab have been at the forefront of digital art galleries for years, and Borderless was one place I really wanted to visit in Tokyo. TeamLab Borderless moved to a brand new …
On arrival in Japan, most people are going to be thrown straight into the biggest city in the world, Tokyo. And, despite not being a huge city fan, Tokyo immediately became one of my favourites! There is just something about this dynamic, engaging, mad city that hits all of your senses head-on in the best …
