Hannah in Japan

Hello again from Tokyo! I've been busy working a bit of overtime, and there have been a few birthday celebrations amongst coworkers and zumba friends lately, so I've been socialising a bit recently. My birthday is also just around the corner, and it's time to reveal where I'm going and what I'm doing for my special day. I'm going to...Universal Studios Japan in Osaka! I'm catching the night bus on Wednesday night after work to Kyoto, arriving at around 6.35am Thursday morning. I'll be meeting friends there and then heading to Universal from their place as Osaka and Kyoto are pretty close. I'll catch the train back to Tokyo on Friday morning to be back in time for work at 5.30pm. My birthday isn't till Sunday, but with the way my days off are, this was the best way to do it. It's going to be busy, but I'm so excited! I'm a massive Harry Potter fan, so USJ has been on my list since I arrived in Japan. I'll be buying all the souvenir...

Hello again from Tokyo! I've been just ticking along and planning a short trip away just before my birthday (location to be kept secret for now, but I'm super excited for it). I can't believe I'll be 23 soon! Not feeling 22 anymore... :P We also have our shinnenkai, or New Year's party, tomorrow night, so that should be a fun night. I recently came to the realisation that I haven't really delved into talking a lot about Japanese culture and traditions, so I thought it may be interesting to discuss that in this post. I'll cover a few different holidays and how Japan celebrates, as well as a few other traditions. Before I get into the holidays, I thought I'd give an insight into the general culture and religion of Japan. Japan was very closed off to the rest of the world for a long time and only opened it's doors to foreign trade and influence in 1845. This means that it was, and still is, a largely homogenous culture, with the majority of residents ...

Hello again from a chilly Japan! I've been slowly acclimatising to the cold again after returning from a hot New Zealand, and getting back into routine at work as well as catching up with friends. Today is a special day because it's one year since I landed in Japan to start a new life here! On the 11th of January 2018, I arrived in Japan, full of excitement and nerves. I didn't really know what to expect, how everything worked or how I would cope living in a foreign country for a year. Fast-forward 365 days and my first year here has come and gone! I've had a lot of help along the way and I've met some great people, and I can't thank everyone who's helped me navigate life here enough. I thought I'd compile a list of things I've done, places I've been and experiences I've had in my first year in Japan. I'm hoping for many more in 2019, my second year here. Enjoy! 1) Ate a lot of sushi, ramen, okonomiyaki, takoyaki... I could go on and on...

Hello again, long time no blog! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years holiday season. Hopefully you all ate plenty and spent some time with loved ones. I've just returned from New Zealand, where I spent Christmas and New Year's Eve, before flying back to Japan on New Year's Day. I'll recap what I did during my short visit home, and talk about some of the reverse culture shocks I experienced. I arrived on the 23rd, and my parents, brother, aunt, uncle and cousins were waiting to greet me at Queenstown airport. It was really awesome to have a welcoming committee, and they had even made signs saying "Konnichiwa Hannah", which was a nice touch. Then my parents, brother and I began the one hour drive back to Wanaka. We stopped by my grandparent's house on the way home, and celebrated with champagne and snacked on my grandmother's famous belgium biscuits and Christmas cake. We arrived home at about 7.30pm, and I was reunited with my two c...