Posts

One month on.

Hello from Wanaka, New Zealand this time! Long time, no blog.  I thought I’d write a bit of a life update on what I've been up to since I left Japan, what I miss about Japan and what my next move is going to be. So, I arrived back in Auckland on January 18 th , and instantly I noticed a huge amount of diversity in ethnicities and sizes of people. Japan is such a homogenous culture, and there’s also the pressure for people (especially women) to stay thin, so a lot of people have similar builds, and the majority are of Japanese descent (including half Japanese). New Zealand is a multicultural society with people of all nationalities, religions and backgrounds calling our shores home, so it was definitely a bit eye-opening to be hit with that straight off the plane. After clearing customs and immigration, I inserted my New Zealand sim card back into my phone, expecting it to work straight away. However, my screen displayed the words No Service, so I was reliant on airport wifi ...
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Goodbye Japan.

Hello from Japan, where I've just celebrated my first winter Christmas, and it was...underwhelming to be perfectly honest with you. Christmas Day is not a holiday here, so it was very strange to see shops open as normal, and people heading to work in suits and carrying briefcases. It didn't feel like Christmas, and not just because the seasons were opposite to what I'm used to. New Year is a far more traditional and important day here, so I'm quite looking forward to experiencing that. As you may have guessed from the title of this blog, I'm leaving Japan after 2 years living and working in this wonderful and beautiful, but also at times incredibly isolating and confusing place. For some people reading, this may come as a bit of a shock, but it's something I've considered for a while, and there were a few more pros to leaving than cons. Today's post is a bit of reflection on my time here and what the future might hold. I've dealt with problems that...
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Solo travel tips

Hello again from Tokyo, where things are slowly starting to cool down, and winter will be on it's way way soon. I've been out enjoying some beautiful autumn days and some colourful parks and gardens while the leaves turn different shades of yellow, orange and red. I also caught up with an old coworker and good friend who was back in Japan for a holiday, so that was really good too. After my trip to Seoul, I thought I'd compile a list of some helpful solo travel tips. Travelling alone internationally can be daunting, especially if you don't speak the language, but once you've done it once, it really does give you a sense of achievement. Here are some practical pieces of advice should you find yourself travelling alone. 1) Act confident. Even if you don't feel confident or don't know 100% where you're going, acting like you know where you're going will help you blend in and you won't look like a potential target for thieves and scammers. This real...
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Seoul, South Korea. What I did, saw, and ate, and how it compares to Tokyo.

Hello again from Tokyo! I've been running low on writing inspiration as of late, and have been a bit MIA on the blog, but I'm back and ready to get into the swing of writing again. I've just returned from a great trip over to South Korea, and it has reignited my passion for exploring other cultures and exploring new places. I arrived into Incheon airport at around 5pm, and after completing the tedious immigration and customs process, I caught the AREX train directly to Hongik University Station (Hongdae area) which is near the hostel I stayed at. Right off the bat, I noticed that both the airport and trains were extremely clean and well organised. Incheon has shot up my list of nicest airports I've ever been to (Changi in Singapore still holds the number one spot though). The journey into the city took approximately an hour, not dissimilar in time to the journey from my apartment in Tokyo to Narita Airport. Seoul is like Tokyo in that there are two airports (Incheon a...
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An intermediate guide to Tokyo.

Hello again from Tokyo. The Rugby World Cup is now in full swing here in Japan and everyone is getting into it, especially as the Japanese team is doing so well. I went to the Fan Zone for the first New Zealand pool match against South Africa, but the rest of our pool matches were not that exciting. I'll definitely be going back to watch the finals though. We have also just experienced one of the worst typhoons to hit Japan in 60 years, which was a bit terrifying to say the least. I was one of the fortunate ones who didn't even lose power, but I was well stocked up on food and water in case the power went out and water was cut off. Some areas of Nagano and Shizuoka prefectures were hit hard, and it could take a while for those areas to return to normality. My thoughts go out to those who were badly affected, and the families of those who lost their lives. Hopefully it won't take long for these areas to recover. Last year I wrote a post titled 'A beginners guide to Toky...
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Best places to go during autumn.

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Hello again from Tokyo, where things are starting to cool off a bit, and soon it will really feel like autumn. Personally I really love autumn as a transitional season because it hits that sweet spot of not being to hot or too cold. You can start rugging up in cute sweaters and scarves, and not melt when you leave the house which is a welcome change from the stifling summer months. For all the pumpkin and sweet potato fans out there, there's also the added bonus of these vegetables being in season. In Japan they incorporate this in every possible way, particularly at Starbucks with their frappuccinos. The current flavour is gold sweet potato, even though we're still in September and it still kind of feels like summer some days. However, with the change of seasons fast approaching, I thought I'd give you all some inspiration for some of the best places to go near Tokyo during this wonderful time of year. 1) Okutama. This region has some great hiking, a lake, and even some l...
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Sendai trip.

Hello again from Tokyo, where typhoon season is in full swing. Sunday night and into Monday morning was rough for many people in Tokyo as flights were cancelled, trains were delayed, and power was out for many. Luckily for me, I was in Sendai, about 2 hours north of Tokyo, and the only sign of a typhoon was some heavy rain in the morning, which did eventually clear in the afternoon. I was concerned about damage to my apartment while I was gone, but nothing was damaged, which was a relief. The past week has been super busy hosting a friend from New Zealand, and we covered a lot of ground! We visited Ueno, The Imperial Palace and Tokyo Tower, and we did a day trip down to Kamakura and Enoshima as well as soaking in the craziness that is Shibuya and Harajuku. That was all before spending two nights in Sendai! So now let's get into a recap of what we got up to in Sendai, also known as the city of trees. We arrived on Sunday (September 8th), and the weather was perfect, so we decided t...
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