We decided to have a day out seeing some Japanese history. Over at nearby Shinagawa station we bought our tickets from a machine and caught the JR Yamanote line to Ikebukuro. We changed there and caught the Tobu Toju line all the way to Kawagoe where we hoped to find the historic area known by many as Little Edo. This is because the townscape resembles that which could be seen during the Edo era and the streets lined with old, warehouse-style buildings, temples a...

Once again we come to the end of our week in the snow, it passes more quickly every year! We've had a wonderful time and it's sad to say goodbye, but I'm sure we will be back!! Meanwhile, we are on our way to Tokyo for a few days downtime before returning to Hong Kong. It was lovely to enjoy our last views of the snowy countryside on our journey to the airport. On arrival at New Chitose we checked in for our domestic flight to Tokyo, Haneda. The lady at check-i...

The snow had stopped and the pistes were groomed, making it an excellent day for skiing. We went up the mountain on the gondola and came down South Street, hardly saw a soul. Once down we did several more runs before heading home and back to the bar. Another successful day at the office!

It snowed all last night and heavily all today. Absolutely beautiful! It was wonderful for skiing, so soft and pure. Really enjoyed ourselves and great to be out in a wonderful world of white on slopes so empty it could have been our own, private mountain. It was snowing so hard that we were covered in it and looked like white monsters after sitting on the chair lift for a few minutes. Very cold but we were wrapped up warm, what a glorious day!

Time to leave Osaka, we have really enjoyed it here! We left the hotel early to catch our limited Express RapiT train for Kansei airport and checked in for our flight to Sapporo. A short time in the lounge and we were on our way. Snow, here we come! After a comfortable flight during which they fed us copious amounts of consommé soup we landed in Hokkaido. It was so easy to arrive as a domestic passenger, no queuing up for visas, just collect your luggage an...