Things have been slowly looking better for Japan and I have spent the first two months of the year busy exploring new places around Japan – virtually or not. The allure of Japan is simply endless. Today, I will be introducing a new itinerary to explore the Central Japan region.

We will be looking at 4 main prefectures: Gifu, Toyama, Ishikawa and Fukui, with Nagoya city as the base for this travel itinerary. The Central Japan Region is a year-round destination that offers an abundance of nature and delicious food every season. My favorite is still winter, though, given the inland of Central Japan gets plenty of snowfall in the colder months, making it a magical wonderland especially for tropical creatures like me! read more

Previous Tokai post: MIE PREFECTURE

I hope you enjoyed revisiting Mie prefecture virtually with me. And now, we are venturing into the deep mountains of Gifu prefecture.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are high that you’ve already heard of the hamlet known as Shirakawago located in Gifu prefecture. Outside of this now well known attraction of though, overseas visitors to Japan often don’t know much else about Gifu (or much else of Central Japan for that matter). Given that there’s a huge array of allures strewn about the prefecture, this is a real shame. From the ever-charming Hida Takayama area to the rustic hot spring town of Gero Onsen, you’re spoiled for choice in Gifu. read more

Toyama Gokayama Gassho Village

Where is Chubu Region (中部地方)? Chubu literally means “the central part” and as the name suggests it is located right in the middle of Japan’s main island.

Guess what? Even if you have not been there, chances are you have just completely sped through the whole region dozing off comfortably as the Nozomi shinkansen you were in whooshed from Tokyo Station to Shin-Osaka station. That’s right, Chubu is the area that many travellers often missed out as they shuttle between Kanto and Kansai but will make an absolutely wonderful odyssey if you are willing to spare some time exploring. read more

It’s Japan time again!

This time around I wanna bring you guys to Toyama, Nagano and Gifu area, on a self-drive trip.

We will be exploring these 3 prefectures by first flying into Toyama airport, rent a car and drive through the destinations. It will be a 5D4N trip of wonderful nature and rich culture in central Japan.

Takayama is a city in Gifu Prefecture, which I think quite a lot of you are familiar with because is recently made known to the world by anime “Your Name”. There are a few other areas name Takayama in Japan, so this traditional city is usually referred to as Hida-Takayama (飛騨高山).

As the kanji of the name suggests, this city is made of lots of… high mountains.

This is a short post on the ryokan I stayed in Gero Onsen (下呂温泉), Gifu Prefecture. Read my previous post on Seki City Swordsmith. ^^

I loooove Onsen and I was so excited to visit Gero Onsen as it is one of the top 3 famous springs in Japan (I think rated based on the quality of the hotspring), along with Kusatsu onsen (草津温泉) in Gunma Prefecture (which I visited when I was 8 months pregnant with Junya in 2014!) as well as Arima Onsen (有馬温泉) in Hyogo Prefecture.

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After our Udon making experience in Nagoya, our group departed for Seki city in Gifu prefecture to witness the craftsman skill of the world-renowned swordsmith in Japan – Hanomoya Cutler Sansyu 刃物屋三秀.