Can I just start this post by saying I adore Kurashiki (倉敷)! Kurashiki is somewhere I had wanted to go for quite a long time, and I was so please to have the chance to squeeze it in to my holiday last year. I visited as a day trip between a night in Okayama and … Continue reading
It was Tuesday 15th December when I found myself getting spirited away once more and having a real adventure. After taking the ferry from Miyajima to Miyajima-guchi, the train to Hiroshima, and a bullet train to Fukuyama, I then took a bus in to what felt like the middle of nowhere, to Tomonoura (鞆の浦). Tomonoura … Continue reading
It may be the end of April, and the cherry blossom has been and gone in most parts of Japan, but I’m still thinking about last autumn! On 10th December I continued my journey in Shikoku and travelled to Kotohira (琴平), where I would spend one night. Kotohira is a small town in Kagawa Prefecture … Continue reading
Wednesday 9th December was to be one of the absolute highlights of my trip to Japan. Naoshima (直島), the ‘art island’ in the Seto Inland Sea (瀬戸内海) is now one of my favourite places in Japan, without a doubt. It’s gorgeous. I arrived on the island fairly early having taken the ferry from Takamatsu, and took … Continue reading
And so my journey continued! On Monday 7th December, working now rather than holidaying, I took the bus from Kobe across Awaji Island (淡路島) to Tokushima (徳島). This was my first time to visit any part of Shikoku (四国), and I have to say I was pretty excited! The journey across Awaji Island was stunning! … Continue reading
My first ever trip to Japan in 2006 was created around an article I had read in the Independent about a place called Mount Koya (高野山), or Koya-san as it is known in Japanese. I was determined to go and stay on this mountain in a temple and eat tofu with the monks who lived … Continue reading
Geisha (芸者) and maiko (舞妓), apprentice geisha, are one of the symbols of Japan, and especially of Kyoto. I’ve always been fascinated by them, and by the extreme discipline involved in training to become a geisha, and have wanted for a long time to have the opportunity to meet one of these artisans. Many people … Continue reading
When I left you last I was settling in for the night in Yunomine Onsen, listening to the rain as I laid my head on the futon, praying for a brighter day tomorrow. Fortunately, I woke the following day, Tuesday 26th November, to find the rain had stopped. It was a dull start to the … Continue reading
It’s been a while since I wrote. As predicted, real life is getting in the way of me writing about my great adventures. But I have so many stories to tell – I mustn’t let time pass too quickly. So, in my last post I had just begun my Kumano Kodo (熊野古道) adventure and had … Continue reading
My trip originally started out as just a holiday with no work element, and one of the main focusses of the holiday was always doing the Kumano Kodo (熊野古道). The Kumano Kodo is a series of pilgrimage trails that criss-cross the Kii Peninsula (紀伊半島), and the routes have collectively been designated a World Heritage Site. … Continue reading
Haikugirl's Japan 