15.10.2016 Our first stop was Toki (on the way to Nagano). Driving took us the whole morning and a bit of early afternoon. We chose the station pretty randomly, but it turned out to be a good decision. The building itself was very impressive (Chris liked the concrete walls mixed with wooden structures) and it was home to a lovely Japanese pottery centre! If I could, I would have bought the whole shop worth of beautiful tea sets, bowles and plates! Strolling arou...

We spent the following days in the mountains and near the rivers. Had some lovely walks in the woods (thinking: Any bears here?) and were freezing at nights. (Magda slept in her fleece with the hood up on her head!) Some of the michi-no-ekis (road stations) had a really nice feel, as they were the base for some "fellow trekkers." In one spot, we even managed to go for a dip in the river, which we felt we weren't allowed to do! The water was quite shallow and fast...

07.10.2016 So the next day we decided to do the most of our way to Kyoto which was around 7 hours. The driving itself wasn't that bad, as we took the motorway and had a stop for lunch. Our night station was meant to be near the biggest lake in Japan, the Kyoto area. Unfortunately, when we arrived there it was already dark and we didn't have a good feel about the station. There weren't many people there and the facilities could have been much better. We cooked a ...

04.10.2016 Meet Troy Dais***su. He's probably the smallest campervan in the world and he doesn't like going up the hill. - But he gives us room to sleep and he's already taken us to some lovely places so we quite like him. ;) Picking up this little fellow was quite a funny experience, as it turned out the hire company is run by two Polish men. After a brief lesson how to drive in Japan and a nice chat with an older Dutch couple who has just dropped their van off...

It needed some time to sink in, but yes! we're in Japan! After a long plane journey with a stopover in Beijing, we arrived in Tokyo in their late evening. We decided to catch a bus closer to our hotel and then walk. Well... technically. It was around midnight and we were exhausted so there came a taxi to our rescue. Next morning we were clearly victims of the jetlag. (Chris says: not me, Magda was! - pff, soldier!) Luckily, we managed to get ourselves out of bed ...