Having devoted the last two posts to travel, why not follow up with a little pottery post. Arita is an town in Saga-prefecture, Kyushu, famous for its porcelain. The tradition of porcelain dates back to the 17th century and the Arita ware, particularly the blue and white porcelain, is a well known export product of […]
Picking up where the last post left off, on the second day of our little Oita week-end trip. After the first day’s hot springs and harmony, we embarked on a day with hot springs and hell. In Beppu, a town famous for its many onsen, there is a collection of seven hot springs called Beppu
April in Japan is just wonderful. Beautiful trees. No air conditioning necessary. Longer days and lukewarm winds. There is no better time for a small weekend outing, especially so when dear family members come to visit. So before the new school year started, we headed towards Oita prefecture in Kyushu. Oita is famous for many
Not that it is often, but every time I fly to or from Tokyo, I try to book seats on the side of the plane that offer views of Mount Fuji. Seeing this mountain is always something special, and even more so seeing it from up high. Returning from Sweden both last year and this,
The final day of our recent trip to Oita prefecture in Kyushu, I got the chance to go and experience what I have come to really love in Japan – nature, culture, religion blended in beauty and harmony. The history of buddhism and shintoism in this particular corner of Japan is so interesting, I had
One thing I love about Japan are the many public holidays that are scattered around the year. That there is very little proper vacation I am not so fond of however, so when there was a chance in September to have a long weekend, we thought it was a good idea to do a little
It has been four years since the mask wearing days started, and thus time for a pandemic year review. Or maybe I should call it a post-pandemic review. The pandemic is supposed to be over, the covid cases are still sometimes reported but little by little life has started to go back to the way
With no wife there with us, my son and I still managed to leave Sweden and get back to Japan safe and sound. He was sleeping a lot, so I was having a lot of time admiring the ceiling of the airplane. All those little LED lights in the bluely lit up roof that made
In the last post I lamented the shock of coming to Copenhagen airport and being met by tightly packed crowds of non-mask-wearing people. Going from Copenhagen airport to Sweden by train, I could not see anyone else wearing a mask. Having been living with masks every day for two and a half years, not actually
Sometimes it is difficult to like crowds of people. I really try, I do, but sometimes it is just not possible, especially when you are tired after an almost 40-hour-journey with a two-year-old who did not let you sleep, and you arrive at an airport where social distancing is unheard of and the sport seems
All week I have been searching for a few moments to write a few lines, and I have not until now found that chance. In reality I would have liked to have a lot of time to write story after story – it has been that kind of a week – but for now a
Finally, after almost five months, our son could meet his Japanese grandparents. We thought it would be a very stressful experience to travel from Tokyo to Kyushu with a small baby during a pandemic, but when we arrived in Fukuoka we felt like it had been smoother and safer than going to the supermarket in