November REcaps - Family Visits and Life in General in Japan

SO it’s been a long time since I’ve made a post and I have to apologize for that as I have been dealing with family visits, puppies and honestly focusing on all of our other social media projects.  But the time has come for an UPDATE!

The last few months has been jammed packed with birthdays, family visits and holiday season starting. 

In September our parents and a few family friends visited to celebrate our birthdays and of course explore Japan.  The trip started off with my brother meeting them in Osaka and Kyoto to tour around there.   They visited all the big name places and stopped for the day in Nara to feed the famous bowing deer.   Our cousin from Yamaguchi also visited them on this trip.

They spent a total of 5 days visiting destinations spots in Kyoto and Osaka, while eating all the food they could find.   As it was a first visit for some of our group, it was an experience they needed to try.  Our parents are quickly becoming professionals on how to handle Japan.

Following their Kyoto and Osaka adventures they made their way to Hokkaido to meet up with me and start this exploration here.  We went to eat amazing chocolates, try Sapporo only beer, saw the Sea of Japan, visited an Olympic museum and ate some of the best foods we could find.   We also for the first time visited a ramen alley hidden in Sapporo. 

While here we also took a day trip out to Tomakomai, to visit the Ainu Museum, the Ainu people are an indigenous people of Japan (well all Japanese are indigenous) but these are the most Northern Tribes. The museum did an excellent job at preserving their cultures and traditions while sharing it with visitors who arrive.  It was a nice place to visit and perhaps someplace I would visit again.

As our trip in Hokkaido came to an end it was off to Tokyo for the final leg of the journey.  I accompanied them this time as Tokyo is one of my favorite locations.   So much food, lots of life both day and night and just a general feel of drive.

This was the first time I rented a car in Japan and it was great to have one in Tokyo.  While driving was a little intimidating in the beginning it quickly became fluid. With the ability to control our travel time and stops, we decided to take a day trip out to Mt. Fuji to see the famous mountain in person. This trip took us a total of 3 hours and it was honestly well, well worth it.

While it was not the iconic snow capped mountain that everyone photographs, just seeing it in person and that close was beyond words.

It’s a trip I’ll hopefully always remember and will try to replicate again soon.

After our parents left the preparations for winter needed to start.  As the forecasts stated that in November the snow would arrive and boy…. Did it.

It’s now November 30th and so far in Otaru about 3 feet of snow has fallen, not consecutively but through the course of a few weeks.  The ground is now covered in white, white snow and the average temperature in Otaru is about 30. 

We have started most but not all of our winter prep.  We still have a few things to catch up on as soon as possible but will get them done soon.

On the visitor front our sister and her family will be traveling to Japan for the first time this December.  In about 23 days they will be here and I am SO excited for this.   It’s now been almost two years since I saw our nieces and I can’t wait to get the opportunity to travel with them through Hokkaido. 

It’s also going to be the first Christmas and New Year that they get to experience falling snow.  Something us Hawaii people only can dream about. 

Our plan currently is to visit Tokyo or at least my brother is going to meet them there.  Spend Christmas in the big city, take a look at the bright lights and Christmas displays, while they meet our cousin from Yamaguchi and a friend from Saitama.

After a few days they will travel to Hokkaido to meet up with me!   Here we have plans to go Skiing, possibly ice fishing and some other winter type activities.  I’m also working on securing a place to eat during New Years Eve but it has so far been difficult to do.

Needless to say I’m excited about this visit.

I of course will be posting about it once It happens and on the days leading up to their arrival.

A few weeks after our sisters family leave our mom will be coming up with her friends to explore the Yuki Matsuri, or the Snow Festival.  It’s a first for our mom and she is beyond excited to experience it.   They will be spending the bulk of their trip in Hokkaido but ending in in Tokyo and me driving them around the town and to of course Mt. Fuji, perhaps this time it’ll be snow covered.

The next couple of weeks and months is going to be busy for us.  Getting things ready for family, planning visits and dealing with the wintery weather.  But we can do it for sure! 

I’ll try my best to keep up with the blogs, I know I say this all the time.  But I really will.  But being honest I get caught up in the visit so much that my focus shifts to who is here.

But until the next one!