Category: Traveling

There are a lot of pictures of Hokkaido University in spring and summer, and they look gorgeously lush – what with its large university grounds with many tall elm and poplar trees. Winter is quite different, with the campus trees

We were initially planning to do our Otaru day trip on Day 07 today – but only realised the night before that we’d need to pick up the Otaru Aquarium Pass at the JR Sapporo Station Information Office. Whoops. Our

We said goodbye to Asahiyama Zoo and headed for a late lunch at the Herb Garden Furano as part of the day tour group arrangements. The buffet-styled lunch was alright, though nothing particularly special. The restaurant has a large souvenir

We descended Mt. Moiwa after I had my fill of evening shots of Sapporo city from the summit, and headed back to downtown for a quick look at part of the winter illumination at Odori Park, and also Susukino. Some

There seems to be a varying list of what makes Japan’s list of cities with the best evening and night views. The views in Mt. Moiwa, Nagasaki, and finally Hakodate seem to make the lists routinely. I’d missed the chance

Day 05 is when we finished the first segment of our 15-day trip and headed to its main event: a ten-day stay in Hokkaido. We’d initially booked an 8AM ANA flight from Haneda to New Chitose Airport. Hotel Mystays Haneda

The Hakone Ropeway brought us from Owakudani to Sounzan Station, the latter being also the terminal point of the system. The plan from earlier on was to next make our way to the popular open-air museum — famous for its

We disembarked at Togendai, and lunched at the Togendai View Restaurant. Seating was plentiful even on a fairly busy Sunday weekend, and prices of items were between ¥1000 to ¥1400 — slightly high for the general quality of food offered,

There are two popular places to get a good view of Mt. Fuji — the 12,389-feet-tall mountain of Japan — Hakone, or Lake Kawaguchi. Both places can be included in the same trip, though most people seem to choose one