We have now finished our last session in the garden for this week. We have had a great time exploring Itoshima on our bikes. The local people have been very friendly, everyone saying hello either in English or saying Kon'nichiwa, hello in Japanese. Last Sunday was my birthday, so we had lunch at a small Japanese Restaurant overlooking the bay watching the surfboarders. I had baked squid in soy sauce, rice, soup and a sweet made of coffee jelly with cream o...

We have now been here a week and the results are amazing. But it is not just about the garden the surrounding area is beautiful. After spending the morning clearing a terrace 'jungle' of weeds, vines and bushes, we decided to make use of the bikes provided to explore the area.We also had a parcel of clothes that we needed to post back to England. The padded jackets, hats and gloves were needed for Siberia but Japan's climate at this time of year, late October, ha...

We left Vladivostok for Japan on a very windy day. We enjoyed the short time we had there exploring the city. We were blessed with good weather and it was quite warm for the time of year. The flight out was a bit bumpy due to the wind but we had separate window seats for a change so it was nice for us both to see our arrival in Japan with the sun glinting off the rice fields. We had a quick stop in Tokyo and transfered down to Fukuaka arriving about 8.15 pm....

We left Vladivostok this morning for Japan. After arriving in Tokyo we have a domestic flight to Fukuoka. Very tight security here. I laughed when they searched Chris' bag on the way through customs, but poetic justice and all, when we checked in our bags and started exploring the departure lounge I heard the name Christopher over the tannoy and realised that there couldn't be that many in Terminal 3 so headed back to the bag drop off to find they needed to op...