Minato Mirai

Sophie and I stayed at David's house from Sunday onwards, and got up and headed over to the Returner's Conference which was held in a giant convention and meeting centre in Minato Mirai. We had a nice time at the conference, running into people who I hadn't seen in absolutely ages! It was great to see so many lovely people! Afterwards, Sophie and I visited some different places in Minato Mirai!

As close to Fuji as I'm likely to get!

On Sunday, I got up and headed out to Yamanashi. I had heard that getting anywhere near to Fuji took a lot of trains, as it is kind of inaccessible. I ended up getting there though, and got to travel on a special train too, with a lady whose job it was to point out the best views of Fuji. The whole train was made out like a library, with bookshelves and cute bench seats. Finally, after passing Fuji Q themepark, I arrived in Kawaguchi-ko station. I got a nice lunch of curry and rice, which was shaped just like Fuji and the lake! Then, I got a bus to the lake. I managed a few good photos before the clouds came in! As I have decided not to climb Fuji, this was probably as close as I was going to get!

Yokohama Chinatown

I found my hotel really easily, and then, after unpacking, I headed into Yokohama city to Chinatown. My train was slow, but eventually I made it. The Chinatown in Yokohama is the biggest in Japan. It's great, and had tons of great food! I took a lot of picture and had a great pork sandwich! It was so yummy!

Hamamatsu Castle Park

The park surrounding the Castle was really lovely, and I walked around it, in order to get to the castle. It was really lovely, and as Spring was just beginning to show, with some of the trees showing a few plum blossoms and cherry blossoms. I liked the lovely traditional Japanese bridge which was in the park too. It reminded me a little bit of Shrewsbury's Quarry Park, with lots of different levels and different paths leading places. It was always good fun hiding and running through them as a child. Here, there were lots of children running and playing hide and seek too. I often do these small trips by myself, and sometimes it can be a bit lonely, but I really enjoyed Hamamatsu, and even the lovely station, with the nice shops and good restaurants. It was just a quick trip to Shizuoka, and then I headed back on the Shinkansen to go to Yokohama!

Hamamatsu Castle

I had signed up for the Returner JET Conference, and it was at the end of February. Because it was held during the week, I went up a little early. I stayed with Josh on Friday night, and then headed out on my travels on Saturday. I had many plans to visit Shizuoka Prefecture - a kapibara park, the world's longest wooden bridge, and then I randomly decided to stop in Hamamatsu. I knew nothing about Hamamatsu, so I was quite excited to see a nice large city. I headed to Hamamatsu Castle, which was a cute little traditional castle!

Making Muffins in the Morning

Josh has an amazing cupcake machine, and I love making things in it. We decided on breakfast of cinnamon streusel muffins. They were simply amazing! Especially hot and with butter! I miss having muffins and bite sized food, it was great!

Valentine's Cake

Josh got us this amazing cake for Valentines day, from my new favourite ice cream store, Baskin Robbins. In Japan, it's called 31, and it's super popular here. The cake is so amazing and heart shaped, and the bottom flavour was Love Potion #31, filled with hearts with rasberry sauce, and the top was chopped chocolate. Josh and I happen to both love these flavours, so it was perfect for our Valentine's day dessert, after I made heart shaped pasta with a spicy sauce!