When our 1 year in Japan was just about coming to an end we decided to do one last trip down south before we left. We had already traveled through all of Hokkaido, visited Kyoto and Tokyo (a few times), so we decided that it was time to see Hiroshima, and revisit the Kansai area.
We booked a tour package through JAL tour which is operated by JAL (Japan Airlines) ((beware, the website requires mad Japanese skills)). It may have been called a tour, but essentially it just meant …

We spent 10 days in South Korea visiting with our good friends Song & Joe, from Vancouver. It was a short 3-hour flight from Chitose airport to Incheon, in Seoul. We met happily in the airport, and spent our first night together in Seoul. We hopped a taxi from the airport to the love-hotel district in Seoul and dragged our luggage around in the pouring rain trying to find a love-hotel that wasn’t booked on a Friday night (not easy!). Our first night in Seoul was …

Eastern Hokkaido Roadtrip - Akanko, Kussharoko, Abashiri, Shiretoko
We took a camping/onsening/feasting roadtrip through eastern Hokkaido- known to have absolutely nothing to offer but breathtakingly beautiful scenery.
We took along with us our friend Michael Tripp who also is a former Hokkaidoite. Our final destination was Shiretoko but we planned on stopping in at many other places along the way.

Furano

We left bright and early on Friday morning. Our first stop was Furano. Hokkaido people live for Furano in the summer. It’s something that you hear over and over for a few weeks …

Along with our camping trip to Toya Lake last month, we also visited Hakodate.
We enjoyed the freshest (wiggling on our plate) squid that was perfectly clear in color and tasted like heaven. We also had uni (sea urchin) for breakfast. Such a luxury!

It was a gourmet trip. We ate and ate and ate.
During our 3 day stay in Hakodate we managed to visit all the places we wanted to. We also had a little romantic afternoon boat rowing around the Goryokakukoen moat.

We fully enjoyed Hakodate. Being Vancouverites, …

….Oh yea!
In case you hadn’t picked up on the dwindling frequency of our blog updates, we completely forgot to mention our recent trip down to Kyoto, Osaka & Tokyo AS WELL AS our recent Vietnam trip!!
Kevin’s parents, Barb & Harry came to visit us in Takikawa for a few days. We showed them around some of the major attractions of the area, and introduced them to our students, our guarantors and our friends. After Takikawa, we all headed down to Kyoto & Osaka for a few days, exploring …