It’s almost a week since we arrived home from Japan, and I’m taking my time to get back to everything. It’s been six years since we visited Japan, and this was our fourth visit.

We were chaperoning Damian’s mum in our first week in Tokyo. We did a couple of arts & crafts classes, Laquer-Makie painting and making Hanako stamps. Carol also undertook a master class with a Sumie master painter.

We wined and dined and had amazing food in Tokyo, we even took Carol to Karaoke! Carol has been once before to Japan many years ago, she said she saw a different side to Japan through our lens 🙂

I also visited Walnut, the Amirisu yarn store on our ‘shopping day’. I had a lovely time whilst Damian and Carol had a cool drink at a cafe around the corner.

After the week, we farewelled Carol and boarded a Shinkansen to Hokkaido. Our first stop was Sapporo for 4 days, and then we backtracked Hakodate for a further 4 days.

We visited the morning (5:50am) fish market with our hotel’s chef in Hakodate, and ate a delicious breakfast from the fish we purchased (cooked and sashimi-ed by the chef of course!). We made friends with the locals and ate delicious food. The hospitality in Hakodate was outstanding.

The thing that has stayed with me from this trip though, is the incredible kindness and helpfulness we received from complete strangers. On a rainy day in Sapporo, we alighted from our streetcar and took shelter at the tram stop, just for a moment so we could work out which direction we were meant to be going in. An older woman who had been on the streetcar with us had got off at the same stop. She had begun to go on her way, but then came back, and offered us her umbrella, the one that she was holding open over herself. Shocked, we of course couldn’t and didn’t accept her offer, she would get wet! and it was too nice an umbrella to give to complete strangers from Australia! I’ll never forget her, she wore a beautiful green hand-knitted beret with a sparkly brooch. I might have been admiring it on the tram. I profusely thanked her as she went on her way again. I don’t think I’ve said ‘thank you’ so often as I have while visiting Japan, everyone is so polite…

For the final five days of our trip we returned to Tokyo. We ate more amazing food, found our favourite Yakitori place in Shimbashi, we tried our hand at Glass-etching and Leather sandal making!

On the day before flying home, we went to the WB Harry Potter Studio Tour. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. It was my first taste of Butterbeer, and I much prefer it to real beer.

Now to start dreaming of our next overseas travel and rest.