Where Globe-Trotting meets Beach-Combing
January always seems a little dismal no matter what. Family time is over and it’s back to the old routine with no warm weather in sight. The dread of cold is mostly alleviated with heaters and nice warm coats, and of course it’s nice to see everyone again and get back to normal, but I…
The title of the google map’s directions to our B&B in Hakuba was “unknown road to Hakuba House” — so very appropriate for January. Now that Chris is on his last vacation day…ever…and our visitors have left, what do we have to look forward to this year? I know it will be another year of…
Red lanterns, tasty food and Chinese temples on a crisp January evening made Chinatown a fun spot for Hannie and Justin’s last evening in Japan. We wandered the streets looking at panda souvenirs before stopping into the same place we always go for the fried rice or sweet and sour shrimp with wanton sets Chris…
Shin-san’s sushi bar seemed like the perfect way to celebrate Hannie’s 24th birthday! Hannie was born in the Year of the Tiger and now it’s the Year of the Tiger again!! Perfect timing for a Japan 2010 birthday. We started the evening with some Japanese beer and Kobe beef—the kind massaged, fed beer and loved…
We drove the 2.5 hours from Hakuba through Nagano City to Nakano in hopes of seeing some snow monkeys at Jigokudani Yaen Koen. Some people rave about it; some people say it’s over-rated. Most Japanese people I know said the monkeys aren’t even always around. What kind of monkey luck would we have? Would it…
The directions to Hakuba House took us along expressways, tiny streets, black wing-tipped castles, snow-dusted valleys, all the way along known and unknown roads to Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture. We bisected the five-hour drive with a stopover at Matsumoto Castle in Matsumoto City. It’s the second-oldest castle in Japan and is more than 500 years…
The raw squid I ate in Nagasaki was completely by accident—I’d ordered it because the picture on the menu looked like a delicious tender white fish. Not in fact the case. I gagged in the restaurant and Chris laughed. So I cautioned Justin when he chose the raw, tentacled squid from the sushi go-round to…
