While my in-laws were visiting this holiday season we had them partake in a Japanese New Year's tradition, watching the first sunrise of the year. We did it back in 2015 at Nakagusuku Castle, tried to in 2017 but our alarms didn't wake us, so of course we had to do it one last time with our family. This year we decided on Katsuren Castle, because it's relati[...]
My in-laws came to visit us this past holiday season from Puerto Rico!! We met them in Tokyo for a few days (will blog about this later) and then we flew down together to show them around Okinawa. After living here for 5 years, it was amazing to have them in our home and to drive them around the island. Of course we took them to all the touristy spots, but h[...]
After 6 years of living our best life in Okinawa... the time has come to say sayōnara to Japan, although I'd prefer to say matane which means "see you later". I am 100% sure we will be moving back at some point (we love it that much), so it feels better to not say goodbye, but instead say see you soon. Back to our news, we are going back to where it all[...]
We have lived in Okinawa for almost 6 years now and honestly I thought we'd seen most of what the island has to offer, but boy was I wrong. Things have changed so much in the last year or two thanks to the power of social media. Now there are Facebook groups for sharing pins and cafes, people are exploring more and sharing all of the details on Instagram. Th[...]
After exploring Fushimi Inari Shrine, we set off to Arashiyama to see the famous bamboo forest. Once at the train station we decided to rent bikes for the afternoon. The forest is a bit of a walk and we didn't have anymore plans for the day, so bikes were the perfect way to see as much of the area as we could. We parked our bikes close to the entrance and[...]
So let's start with this... no visit to Kyoto is complete without a trip to Fushimi Inari Shrine. It is simply the most amazing shrine in all of Japan, definitely #1 on my list. I visited Fushimi Inari Shrine back in 2013, on our first trip to Mainland Japan. This time around I told myself before arriving "there's no need to take tons of photos... you alrea[...]