japan
The Anchor Hotel in Fukuyama: a cool hotel a train-ride away from Tokyo with a castle nearby
October 25, 2024Fukuyama would never have been on my radar if it didn’t have a Shinkansen that would take us back to Tokyo after visiting my relatives in Kochi on Shikoku Island in Japan (about 3.5 hours). The Anchor Hotel looked like a cool place to stay and Fukuyama seemed like the best place to stop at […]
Staying at the Mimaru Hotels Asakusa Station on a trip to Tokyo with teenagers
September 30, 2024We’ve traveled to Tokyo several times with our kids over the years but Japan travel has changed a ton since pre-2020. We finally made it back this August as part of a trip to see family in Singapore and the south of Japan and it turned out that this kind of trip with teenagers is […]
If you go to Japan in August you might need waterproof hiking shoes
September 20, 2024Sometimes there are things you don’t always think about needing on a trip when you go to a place with weather vastly different from where you are coming from. On a recent trip to Japan in August my family found out about the typhoon season and how summer rain there can literally come out of […]
Ultraman, an Otamatone and a trip to Japan
June 17, 2024If I talk to anyone about travel lately, it seems like they’re planning to go or have just returned from a trip to Japan. (Have you been to Japan?) And our family actually has a trip to Japan booked later this summer too and I’m excited to revisit since we haven’t been in so many […]
Four days in Okinawa on a trip to Japan with kids
June 5, 2019If you are traveling from Seattle, flying to Tokyo is usually about a nine hour flight-I like to justify a family trip to Tokyo to travelers with kids by saying it’s just a few hours more than a flight to Hawaii which is a very popular destination for families in the Pacific Northwest. And because […]
Hirome Ichiba, Nichiyo-ichi Market and a few places you want to visit in Japan but haven’t heard of yet
May 28, 2019Being from Seattle, we are very proud of our Pike Place Market. I’ve spent lot of time volunteering there and I’m always happy to tell people it’s not just a tourist attraction or a place to shop, but every single penny given to Rachel or Billie the famous market piggy banks, goes to support a […]
Japanese Souffle pancakes in the Pacific Northwest?
May 18, 2019**PS. Seattle, you can now get Souffle Pancakes at Beanfish at Uwajimaya. I’ve been told Cafe Remix who used to have them is now closed. ** Is anyone else out there obsessed about Japanese Souffle pancakes? I first saw these thick, fluffy pancakes on Instagram and put them on my bucket list of things to […]
If you love Toyota cars or visiting factories, you need at least a night in Nagoya Japan
April 4, 2019A few years ago, my husband ended up in Nagoya Japan for work to see a Toyota Factory at the Toyota Kaikan Museum and Plant Tour and he wouldn’t stop talking about it-apparently it was the most amazing factory he had ever seen. For many people this would have been a comparison of maybe one […]
Planning for a 10 day trip to Japan with kids
March 6, 2019Are you thinking of traveling to Japan? There are a few airlines that currently fly directly to Tokyo from Seattle like Delta and ANA and flying to Tokyo is only about an 11 hour flight from Seattle. In the time it takes to fly there, you can watch about 4 movies, have a quick nap, […]
A Pinterest Playground I traveled thousands of miles to see that is no more (Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan)
August 12, 2016This past year has been a whirlwind of travel and the trips I’ve planned have been done in more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants fashion where we only a pick a few must-sees in an area and then let the rest of the trip happen somewhat organically. I’ve noticed this works well for travel with my family […]
One foodie cafe in Hong Kong I’m not sure I should have brought the kids to and one in Tokyo that I’m really glad I did
July 28, 2016Family travel is always unpredictable and some of our favorite trip memories come from times when things don’t go as we expected. On a recent trip to Asia I was really excited about all the fun restaurants we’d get to see! I was really intrigued about one called Dim Sum Icon, a cafe that I saw on […]
Build your Own Tomica Cars in Tokyo Japan, a perfect stop for families on a trip to Japan
July 13, 2016In another life, the only car I could have reliably named on the road was a Volkswagon Beetle but my husband has managed to pass on his passion for vehicles down to the next generation and now if I DON’T know the cars around me, I’d be totally outnumbered in the family. So I try […]
A magical hot chocolate near a toy shop in Tokyo Japan
June 30, 2016We have been back from our trip to Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo for over a month and with the end of school and all our other summer planning, I’m only now getting to the posts. There are many amazing things to see in Tokyo with kids, but the one thing my guys have always talked about […]
A plea for icecrin on a Monday (Uwajimaya, Seattle)
October 26, 2015Sometimes you just end up somewhere for a reason. Did you have a weekend like this too? I found the most awesome elliptical trainer the other day because I use Classpass and it led me to Emerald City Athletics where I tried a Life Fitness elliptical that had an awesome ‘course’ mode that let me […]
If your kids love coin operated rides(Ueno zoo and Keio mall, Tokyo)
October 30, 2013When we first found this rooftop playground in Tokyo a couple years ago the boys’ eyes lit up like firecrackers and if we had enough 100 yen coins we could have entertained them for hours. Of course we looked for more magic of this sort when we returned. And we found a few fabulous ones. […]
Visiting Monkeys in Arashiyama Japan
October 23, 2013I’d like to think I had a calm conversation with the hubby about this one, a casual “hey did you know you can see monkeys in the snow in Japan?” But when I saw some National Geographic Pictures of the Nagano snow monkeys while figuring out our Japan trip I probably brought this on with […]
Sumo with kids in Japan
October 18, 2013It might be my fault that I’ve had to buy one of my guys a sumo costume. It started with a book we read. And then he decided that he’d like to see Sumo in real life. (And if you’re in Tokyo in January, May or September, you’re definitely in luck.) I thought we might […]
Cup Noodles Museum and the Hikawamaru (Yokohama, Japan)
October 9, 2013Yokohama is a really neat city. It feels like a big city and business center, but there were so many beautiful areas to walk and see things that it felt really peaceful too. We went there specifically to see the Hikawamaru, a ship that brought my mom, my aunt and my grandmother to Canada years […]
Two days in Kochi, Japan (On the Island of Shikoku)
October 7, 2013We’re lucky enough to have family in Kochi Japan or I might never have heard of this beautiful place which is why if you want something off the well-traveled path in Japan, Kochi is definitely a place for you and your family. Kochi is a small city in Southern Japan, and it is absolutely stunning […]
A night in Okayama
October 6, 2013I had big plans for Okayama. I really wanted to visit the Kurashiki area, and see little boats floating downstream, but when we finally arrived in Okayama, I realized we were pretty exhausted and decided I’d save those for another time. (Okayama is the 2nd stop in our Japan itinerary. It’s a perfect stop in […]