Author: Snuva

Japan 2015 Day 16: exploring Kobe

Weather: sunny 20°C, high 27°C Accommodation: Kobe Portopia Hotel. We enjoyed a slow start to the day. When we eventually left, we took the hotel’s shuttlebus to Shin Kobe station rather than the monorail as we had seen a playground…

Japan 2015 Day 15: Kanazawa to Kobe

Weather: sunny 21°C, high 27°C Accommodation: woke up at Hotel Pacific Kanazawa; went to bed at Kobe Portopia Hotel. Trains: Kanazawa 10:56 –> Shin-Osaka 13:32 (Thunderbird 18) Shin-Osaka 13:59 –> Shin-Kobe 14:12 (Sakura 559) The next morning we got coffee…

Japan 2015 Day 14: exploring Kanazawa

Weather: sunny and HUMID 19°C, high 28°C Accommodation: Hotel Pacific Kanazawa. As we’d had a big day the day before and had nowhere we needed to be by a certain time today, we had a bit of a relaxing start…

Japan 2015 Day 13: into the alps to Shirakawa-go and Takayama

Weather: overcast (and atmospheric!) with afternoon patches of rain 17°C, high 20°C Accommodation: Hotel Pacific Kanazawa. Eskil woke up at 7 am – a sleep in! We were dressed and walked to the train station before 8 am. The day…

Japan 2015 Day 12: travel from Matsumoto to Kanazawa

Weather: overcast with afternoon patches of rain 13°C, high 24°C Accommodation: woke up at Ryokan Matsukaze; went to sleep at Hotel Pacific Kanazawa. Trains: Matsumoto 10:07 –> Nagano 10:58 Nagano 11:25 –> Kanazawa 12:55 In the morning we packed up…

Japan 2015 Day 11: Kamikochi

Weather: sunny with puffy clouds 13°C, high 27°C Accommodation: Ryokan Matsukaze. Why does Eskil always have to wake up at 6:30!! It makes it hard when you’re in accommodation and don’t want him to wake other guests. A TV showing…

Japan 2015 Day 10: Off to Matsumoto

Weather: sunny with puffy clouds (especially designed to obscure Mt Fuji) 20°C, high 28°C Accommodation: Woke up at Kawaguchiko Station Inn; went to sleep at Ryokan Matsukaze. Trains: Kawaguchiko 10:06 am –> Otsuki 11:15 am Otsuku 11:31 –> Korfu 12:05…

Japan 2015 Day 09: Leaving Tokyo for Kawaguchiko

Weather: sunny morning; overcast afternoon (just in time to obscure Fuji-san!) 20°C, high 28°C Accommodation: Woke up at Kimi Ryokan; went to sleep at Kawaguchiko Station Inn. Train: Shinjuku 10:47 am –> Kawaguchiko 12:41 pm. I went downstairs with Eskil…

Japan 2015 Day 08: Yanaka, Ueno (last day in Tokyo)

Weather: sunny and hot low 20°C, high 29°C Accommodation: Kimi Ryokan We wanted to get all our laundry clean before leaving Tokyo, so we got laundry washing at 9 am (the earliest you can start). While it was washing Eskil…

Japan 2015 Day 07: Bus Tours

Weather: sunny and hot low 20°C, high 29°C Accommodation: Kimi Ryokan The day before we’d seen a hop-on/hop-off bus, and as we’d had good experiences with them in the UK we decided to try it (and hopefully it would give…