We went to Oku-Hida in Gifu prefecture last weekend. Oku-Hida is at high altitude and located in the northern part of Gifu. There are so many hot springs near the volcano Mt.Yakedake. It is a nice place to stay, because you can enjoy a nic…

Last weekend we took our first ski trip of the season. On Saturday, we went to Shirakaba 2in1 Ski resort in the central area of Nagano prefecture. There was very little snow, but thanks to the cold weather they could make artificial snow. …

We were planning to go to Nagano prefecture for our first ski trip last weekend, but we had to postpone it. Most of the ski resorts were closed due to the lack of snow. There was no snowfall and it was too warm last week. Some ski resorts …

At the end of November, we went to Hiroshima prefecture for sightseeing. We stayed one night and enjoyed Hirosima-Yaki. It’s very similar to Kansai style Okonomi-yaki, which is a kind of Japanese omelet. The Kansai style doesn’t contain no…

We are planning to go to Nagano prefecture for our first ski trip this season next weekend. However, it’s warm today and I think that autumn will still hang on Japan. Some ski resorts already announced opening day will be postponed for a w…

We went to Sayo town last weekend. It is located in the western part of the Hyogo prefecture. It took about two hours from Kyoto station to get there by JR train. We arrived at Sayo station around noon and had lunch there. We ordered fried…

Last weekend, we visited Miyazaki prefecture and enjoyed baseball games and the local food. Our trip started aboard the ferry boat from Kobe port. It is an overnight ferry and we arrived at the port of Miyazaki on Saturday morning. We head…

I went to Kochi prefecture on business last week. Kochi is located in the southern part of Shikoku Island and it take about 4 or 5 hours by train. So, I used FDA airlines from Kobe to Kochi and it took just 45 minutes. I think it’s the bes…

We went to Hongu in Wakayama prefecture last weekend. Hongu is located in the southern part of Wakayama and surrounded by deep mountains. We stayed there one night and enjoyed nice riverside viewing, shopping and hot springs. We bought soy…

The regular season of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league has finished and we enjoyed it this year too. The NPB has two leagues and ORIX Buffaloes won the championship in the Pacific league on the final game. The Buffaloes, the H…

Last Saturday, we went to Sapporo Dome Stadium and watched a baseball game, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters versus the Seibu Lions. It was last time for us to visit there, because the Fighters will move to a new home stadium in Kita-Hiros…

We stayed at Sapporo in central Hokkaido last weekend and visited Shiraoi town south of Sapporo. It takes one hour by JR train to get there. In the town, there is the UPOPOY a kind of theme park where you can learn about the Ainu people an…

I have visited the Oku-Aizu area in Fukusima prefecture many times on business and as a tourist. This region is located in the mountainous area 250km north of Tokyo. I sometimes went to there by the Tadami railway line. This line is origin…

My wife, my friends and I went to Minami-Sanriku and Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on the 20th and 21st August. We stayed one night and enjoyed the local food around the seaside. On Sunday, we visited the Great east Japan Earthquake memo…

Last weekend was very comfortable, because it was cooler and dryer than in the middle of August. I think the summer is almost over and the autumn is coming soon. The weather in this summer was so strange. We often had heavy rains and very …

We had an amazing time in Hokkaido during our summer vacation. We spent almost one week there and enjoyed watching a baseball game, the hot springs, the local food, beer, Japanese sake, the nice weather and the beautiful natural scenery. T…

We went to Tsugaike Nature Garden in Otari on 17th July. Otari village is located in the north of Nagano prefecture and close to the Japan Northern Alps. There’re so many ski resorts and we often go skiing there in winter. It was the first…

Japan has rainy season between spring and summer. It usually starts June first and finishes at the end of July in the Kansai area. This year, it started around 14th/June until 28th/June according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. So, the…

Wearing a mask is a necessary to prevent the sprade of COVID-19. Now, the number of infected people is small and going down not only in Japan, but also around the world. Nobody wears masks in the US when I watched baseball games on TV. The…

Last weekend, we visited Fukuoka prefecture for sightseeing and had a great time there. Our trip started a board the bullet train from Shin-Osaka station. After two hours and half, we arrived at Hakata terminal in Fukuoka. There’re so many…

The rainy season started about two weeks ago and it’s getting hot and humid day by day in Shiga. The summer in Japan is hot and also very humid. This is uncomfortable for us, because it’s easy to get sweaty. I hope that we can stay and rel…

Last Sunday, we went to Ishii Sports shop in Osaka, because there was a ski Exhibition. We looked at a lot of skis and other equipment there and finally I ordered new skis made by the BlueMoris ski maker. Many skiers are using foreign skis…

We visited Sapporo city in Hokkaido last weekend. We watched a pair of Interleague games, the Nippon Ham Fighters versus the Chunichi Dragons. I thought that both games were exciting and we enjoyed them very much. Last Sunday, we went to t…

We had an amazing weekend in Tohoku. This is a beautiful region in northeast Japan. It’s famous for high mountains, good local food, very nice Japanese Sake and the unique Japanese culture. The spring is almost over and in some areas are s…

Before the corona pandemic, we visited the US every summer vacation to watch Major League baseball games. However, we couldn’t visit the US in the last two years. We were originally planning to stay in Los Angeles this year, because the co…

I bought a JR train commuter pass to go to work last month. It was the first time in two years, because I went to work by car during the pandemic. Back then, they said, “Avoid crowded spaces” and I stopped taking the rush hour train. Now, …

We stayed home for the last two weeks in a row, because she was feeling under the weather. She got the booster vaccine for the COVID-19 two weeks ago. After that she had fever and felt tired for a while. Now, she is fully recovered from th…

Last Saturday, my wife and I got the booster vaccine for the COVID-19. Right now, I’m fine, but she has had a reaction to the shot. She has a high fever and is feeling terribly bad. So, she stayed home on Sunday and left work, early on Mon…

Golden Week (GW) is a week-long holiday from late April to the first week of May. Most Japanese workers can take about 5days off. We stayed in Hokkaido during our GW vacation. First, we visited Niseko to ski and enjoyed the beautiful lands…

Last Sunday, we went to Kyocera Dome Osaka to watch the NPB, Orix Buffaloes and Chiba Lotte Marines. I wanted to see the right-hander Roki Sasaki who pitches for the Marines. He was picked in the first round of the draft in 2019 and pitche…