Miyajima Island and Itsukushima Shrine are two of my favourite places to visit in Japan. Miyajima is located in the beautiful Seto Inland Sea close to the city of Hiroshima. The most famous landmark on the island is the large red torii gate which appears to “float” at high tide. (more…)

Visiting Japan for the first time can seem to be a daunting and overwhelming experience when planning your trip. Everything seems so new, so confusing and so different to what you’re used to and it feels like there is a lot of information to take in. However I am here to tell you that just by doing a little research before your trip and knowing some cultural differences, you will have an amazing time. (more…)

Abeno Harukas located in the Tennoji area of Osaka is the tallest building in Japan – only the Tokyo Skytree and Tokyo Tower are taller. It is a 300 metre high skyscraper containing a hotel, the largest department store in Japan, an art museum as well as the Harukas 300 Observatory located on the 58th, 59th and 60th floors. From the observation deck, you can get an unobstructed 360 degree view of the city of Osaka and further afield towards Kyoto, Nara and Kobe. (more…)

The one thing I had never managed to do in Japan despite numerous attempts over the years and many visits is to see Mount Fuji. On our recent two week trip when the weather was beautiful every day, I was so hopeful of seeing Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka for the first time ever (the weather had always been bad every other time) but I failed yet again. (more…)

Back in 2012 on my last major trip to Japan, I wrote a blog post called How to Exchange Your Japan Rail Pass at Narita Airport which became one of my most popular and searched for posts on this blog. So it seemed only right on my recent trip to Japan in October 2018 when we flew into Haneda Airport in Tokyo, to write another post with all the latest information. (more…)

One of my favourite things from our trip to Japan in October was that we flew into Haneda Airport in Tokyo for the first time ever instead of Narita Airport. Haneda Airport is located less than ten miles from Tokyo Station in the centre of the city making the journey incredibly easy, quick and very cheap and affordable. It was a welcome contrast to landing into Narita Airport which is located forty miles outside of the city and then having to take a less frequent, much longer and more expensive train or bus ride into Tokyo. (more…)

I had always wanted to stay at the beautiful Tokyo Disneyland Hotel since I first saw it being built and always wondered what it would be like to stay there.  Fast forward to this year when we visited Tokyo Disney Resort for four nights for my birthday and decided to not only book the Hotel MiraCosta for two nights but also the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel for the rest of our stay. (more…)

It had been a dream of mine to stay at the beautiful Hotel MiraCosta at Tokyo DisneySea since the very first time I visited the park back in 2008. Who would not want to stay at a hotel that is located entirely inside the best Disney park in the world? When we visited Japan last month and spent four days at Tokyo Disney Resort, we decided to book a Harbor View room at the Hotel MiraCosta for two nights of our stay. Yes it was expensive and more than I’ve ever paid for a hotel room in my life, but if you cannot treat yourself for your birthday, when can you? (more…)

I remember the very first time I watched Lost in Translation. It was on a flight to New York and I just remember falling completely head over heels in love with the movie. I had already visited Japan several times at that point and for some reason, everything in the film just made complete sense to me and I knew that I would have to visit the Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo myself and have a drink (or two) in the New York Bar. (more…)

Last week I happened to be in Japan for a couple of nights for work. I had one full day free on Friday so I decided to go to Tokyo Disneyland. Normally I would avoid the Japanese Disney parks on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday as they get incredibly busy but when I looked at the online calendar I saw that the Friday (the only day I could go) was going to be the first day for all the Christmas celebrations, I knew I had to go. (more…)