Hannah in Japan

Hello again from Tokyo, where the rainy season is finally letting up. It's been pretty miserable and grey recently, but we should be seeing the sun more soon. With that comes the heat though, which I'm not looking forward to at all. Hopefully when I head up north next month it will be a bit cooler there. Today I wanted to cover something that I don't think has been talked about a lot online before, and that is being eco-friendly in Japan. Some of these will only apply to people living here, some apply even if you're just visiting too, so hopefully this is somewhat informative for all reading. It's really tough to be eco-friendly in a place that wraps bananas individually and hands out plastic covers for umbrellas on rainy days, and there have been a lot of those recently, so you can imagine the amount of plastic that's generated by this alone. Combine that with vending machines on every corner filled with plastic bottles, and you have an environmental disaster....

Hello again from Tokyo, where the humidity has been stifling (although this week has actually been really pleasant), and the temperatures will soon begin to rise. The rainy season is hanging around for a lot longer than I anticipated, which means it's been really difficult to get out and do things due to terrible weather. It has kept things cool though, which is really nice. I've been busy working a bit of overtime, and I recently visited a traditional Japanese garden in Komagome. I have just booked accommodation in Aomori for Obon in August with a friend, so I'm very excited to finally be heading up to the north of Honshu where it will be a touch cooler hopefully, and there is some beautiful scenery to see too. I also went to a Trick Art Museum in Odaiba, which was actually really cool and provided some great photo opportunities. Today I wanted to delve into something that doesn't get a lot of coverage, and that is how to avoid getting caught in typical tourist traps,...