Tokyo Hanami

I didn't have to be at training til the afternoon so I put my luggage into a locker at the train station and wandered around a few cherry blossom parks in Tokyo. They were at full bloom a day ago and only last a week so wasn't sure if I'd be able to get away during training.

There's something incredibly infectious about Hanami (flower viewing), the media, the people, advertisements, limited edition products - everything is talking about it. It's like a sport, if everyone around you is right into it, you can't help but be drawn in. They are beautiful trees in their own right, but their transience and the atmosphere they create is something more.

(15 photos)

This is it.

So. I'm about to get on an overnight sleeper bus back to Tokyo for a week of 10-hour-day fast course lectures of how-to-be-a-teacher.

This is it.

It's all coming together.

Months of travel in such a beautiful country has got me excited about living here for another year. I can't help but feel a little anxious. What if I don't like my placement, what if I don't like my students, what if I am not a good teacher? The questions like that are inevitable I think. But if there's anything that I've learned from travelling. Is that worrying about 'future' stuff like that, is futile. Whatever happens, will happen, and I can only make the best of what I'm given.

Wish me luck, wish me fun, and wish me a great start to a fantastic life-long experience. This is it. This is why I am here. Bring.It.On.

Kanazawa City

On the west coast of Japan now.  Kanazawa is a city famous for it's park and old districts for samurai lords and geisha districts still intact as they escaped bombing and fires which riddled Japan's history.

Has been warming up quite fast away from the mountains so plum blossoms are just starting to spring up.  They're not cherry blossoms but they are similar.  To those who don't know what to look for they look pretty much the same but the life of the cherry blossom is much more fleeting.  Got some great photos today I'll behave and share only a few.

One of the samurai houses you could walk around in.  It had a garden which was rated 3rd best in Japan. With waterfalls and enough tranquility to make you destress about everything.  And I wasn't even stressed!

Shinhodake Cable Car

Another day trip from Takayama the Shinhodake cable car is a double decker behemoth that takes you up to the top of the third highest peak in Japan.  Astounding views all round and I couldn't have gotten better luck with the weather visibility for miles.  Active volcanoes visible too albeit you would have just assumed they were normal mountain peaks.  Spectacular.

































At the bottom of the cable car was a hotel which had a Japan-famous outdoors onsen in the middle of the river which was one of the few remaining non-divided gender onsens.  Unfortunately it was closed so I was sitting in the lobby for a while but then the manager comes over & explains there is a smaller one down the road which no one really knows about.  And it was free.


My own private onsen

Shirakawago - Ancient farm houses

Shirakawa go is one of the aforementioned day-trips from Takayama.  It's a world-heritage listed community of old thatched-roofs styled in the 'Gassho' style which resembles buddist hands in prayer.
It's a post-card town in most seasons however I got a little unlucky with the weather.  My first overly-rainy day when sight seeing since been in Japan.  That's a pretty good run I reckon! Provided a difficult photography challenge for me handling the umbrella, the camera, the towel, avoiding wind, avoiding rain, wiping the lens clean, fog, and soo many beautiful houses to try & capture.



















Steam was actually rising from the snow with an inversion effect with the warmth of the air.