Cool friends, Hot baths, and Delicious sake There’s something special/sweet about meeting up with old friends in a foreign land. It’s like getting lost and then getting found. It kinda feels like we’ve gone home. We were en route to meet a group of ultra-running friends who had just […]
Into the Mountains, In Search of the Hidden Villages They are not so hidden now, being conferred UNESCO World Heritage Site status since 1995. But many hundred years ago, deep in these mountains, the residents of Shirakawa, Suganuma and Ainokura led very carefree lives. They built their Gassho […]
How To Sneak A ski Trip Into Your Holiday Everyone should ski at least once in their lifetime. Don’t laugh. People who live in temperate countries take it for granted but for some of us who live at the equator and are blessed with sunny days all year […]
When Winter Turns Up In Spring It is supposed to be spring, isn’t it, a friendly auntie stopped to tell us. No sooner have you removed your jacket, and you have to put it on again. And then it becomes hot and makes you want to remove it […]
First Trek! Making the Acquaintance of an Old World Road I have the sakuras to thank for this. Because they bloomed much earlier (3 weeks early) than anticipated, Takato castle 高遠城 had to be dropped from the plan. So what then? What could I fill that empty day with? […]
the last word 