This time we were a bit more prepared for the cold weather by using heat pads that you can stick under your socks. Not that they really helped. They become warm when your feet are warm but stay cold when your feet are cold. How is that supposed to help? We went by the Odori again but this time in daylight. Better light but it looks more impressive by night. From there we walked to the Susukino area for the ice sculptures. Most were really big and with much detai...

The weekend before we would go to Sapporo's Snow Festival (the first week of Februari) it was 19 degrees in Tokyo. The next day it was snowing. It doesn't get much weirder weather-wise but at least it 'prepared' us for what was to come, we thought. Boy, were we wrong. The Yuki Matsuri in February is a huge deal for Sapporo. More than two million people come to see it and hotels are full almost as soon as they can be booked. We looked for a flight and hotel aroun...

Before we had to check out of our cottage we wanted to take a look at the nearby Bat cave (alas we didn't see Batman, except plastic ones, but we couldn't resist humming the tune regularly!). We took our breakfast at the main building this time and ordered the 'big pancake' four times. He asked twice if we were sure since it was intended for two persons, but we insisted. As the curry rice they served in the evening was already huge, we were wondering what to ...

The morning view from our cottage was splendid. A huge tree-ridden mountain range with a large crystal clear lake in front of it, reflecting the mountains perfectly. Walking our dog Tora along the lake was a treat in itself. As it was a holiday, we took our time to get up. Breakfast consisted of what we had bought yesterday at the convenience store and was good enough, even without plates and knifes. Tomorrow we'll take it at the restaurant. Our first stop was...

For our first holiday with Tora, Micha and Bart, we had booked a cottage at one of the five lakes surrounding mount Fuji for four persons that allowed pets. Luckily for us, Tora behaved very well during the two and a half hour long train ride to Kawaguchiko. We took him in his special backpack and were a little worried about how the train conductor would react. But when he came to check our tickets there was no reaction at all. It seemed he didn't even see him....