This year’s vacation has been secured, we’re going back to Japan! Last year we went on a three-week trip where we first visited Kyoto and then Tokyo. We had so much fun last year that we wanted to go back and this time, we’re staying for 1 month! Last time, we managed to arrive during the peak of the typhoon season. Despite what you might think, this actually has some perks. The tourist attractions weren’t especially crowded (even Disneyland was ok!). I’ve also read somewhere that the weather usually turns great right after the typhoon. This was probably the case for us when we were in Kyoto. Completely unaware of the weather, we met the landlady outside the house we rented. She gave us a warm greeting and said that she was “so happy to see us” and that she “didn’t know if we would arrive on time”. Then she said, with a big smile on her face, “oh and by the way, your house is still here!”. She was dead serious.

If you disregard the risk of getting caught in a typhoon, the weather was pretty awesome after we got used to the temperature. This year we hope to repeat the success and thus we booked almost the same dates, middle of September to October.

We haven’t booked any houses/hotels or ryokans yet so if anyone’s got any tip on nice places to visit, please share! We fly to and from Tokyo so we will probably spend a couple of days there. We seriously fell in love with Kyoto so we might go back for a few days. Perhaps a day-trip to Osaka is a good idea? As of now, I’ve got three things on my want-to-do-list.

• A visit to Hakone Ginyu. This looks like a lovely ryokan were each room is equipped with a private onsen. Onsens are usually public and men and women bath separately. Soaking in the onsen water is a great way of relaxing, and this time I would like to share the experience with my husband.
• A trip to Kōya-san and Oku-no-in. I imagine this Buddhist graveyard is quite beautiful and peaceful.
• The Tsumago-Magome hike. A mountain path with traditional wooden inns which hosted travelling samurai lords. Need I say more?