Kyoto, formerly Japan’s capital city, is known for being the cultural heart of Japan. Whereas Tokyo is the epitome of modern Japanese life, Kyoto represents the country’s history and tradition. It’s also an extremely popular tourist destination, especially during cherry blossom season. There’s a funny impulse among tourists, while photographing[…]
On our third and final Nakasendo hiking day, we covered the 8km from Tsumago to Magome. This is the most well-advertised section of the trail, covering the distance between these two historic, well-preserved villages. No need for trains, as you can hike directly from one village to the other, staying[…]
Typical daytime temperatures on the Nakasendo trail in mid-March are around 8 degrees. So, we were quite surprised to wake up on the second day of our hike to this! Day 2 was originally going to be an 18km hiking day. But, given the weather plus the unexpectedly long hike[…]
After a simple, hearty breakfast buffet in Matsumoto, we shipped our luggage to Kyoto, donned our warmest clothing, and set out for (what we thought was) the Nakasendo trail. In theory, the historic Nakasendo trail goes all the way from Tokyo to Kyoto. However, in practice, the trail has been[…]
We spent only one full day in Matsumoto, on route to our Nakasendo Trail hike. Luckily, it was a beautiful early spring day, and the perfect amount of time to explore this pretty historical town. We started the day off with a visit to Matsumoto Castle: a 430 year old[…]
During our time in Tokyo, I found myself exceedingly drawn to all of the colorful, tiny, and otherwise adorable things that are part of Japan’s “kawaii” culture. Starting with: this poodle cafe! That’s right. It’s a cafe in which you can spend time with sweet, fluffy poodles. And not, like,[…]
One of the main reasons we decided to visit Japan this year is because we had the rare opportunity to travel during the spring. And that means cherry blossom season! Japan takes their cherry blossoms, or sakura, very seriously. These beautiful flowers hold a lot of cultural significance, representing themes[…]
Like CDMX, Tokyo is one of those cities that’s impossible to fully explore in a single visit. But, after six weeks of solo travel, reuniting with James gave me a second wind for exploration. We were both determined to experience as much of Tokyo as we could in the few[…]