So today was a trip up the mountains to a little place called Miyagi Fox Village! It's exactly as the name sounds. Foxes everywhere! Very cold though. But you could feed them (from a safe place) and walk around in their area! Quite cool!

Lucky timing! Here in Nagano, there's a temple called Zenkjoji Temple. It's easy to think it's your typical temple. But it's not. You see, one day, every 7 years, part of the shrine is opened to the public so they can pray directly. And it doesn't happen for long either. Only on that day. Only for a few hours. Just so happened, I was there on that day. At the temple, in those few hours. One of the few people in the world that got to see the hidden part of the s...

MOHNKEHS So off into the mountains I went! After some uphill walking, the ground evened out so I take in my surrounding more. Great pine trees loomed around, snow that had almost turned to ice was around in clumps under the trees. A little river ran along the side of the path and that was the only sound you could hear. There was some more uphill climb to get to the monkey sanctuary but it gave you good views. There was monkeys around before you even went into ...

Not much to say except I got the train to Sendai. Then met some awesome people at the hostel. Had good ramen. Found a bar which was 'all you can drink' for ¥400 per half hour. I seem to see this as 'how much can you drink in half an hour?' Turns out. A lot. And they had everything I love. Sake, rum, vodka, peach liquor, strawberry liquor, all kinds. One of the guys was able to drink a pint in about a second. It was insane. His mates made the mistake of try...

So today I made the short trip out to Himeji as I'd heard the Himeji castle is one of the most beautiful. So I did. And my word, it was worth it. The Sakura were in full bloom there, so as soon as you were out the station doors you could see the Sakura trees and the straight road meant you just just about see the castle. But it wasn't until you got closer you could really appreciate it. There's only a few places I've seen Sakura like that. Rows and rows of pi...