Sapporo
May 14, 2025, Hokkaido, Japan. Breakfast was lovely—thick, fluffy toast topped with lettuce and prosciutto, served alongside potato soup. It hit the spot. I decided to head to Oriyama for […]
Tag Archives: Japan
Otaru
May 11, 2025, Hokkaido, Japan. I slept restlessly and woke around 6 a.m. I couldn’t get back to sleep for a couple of hours and kept turning over whether I […]
Hakodate
May 9, 2025, Hokkaido, Japan. I was sad to leave Matsumae. I could have easily spent a week there, wandering in the hills and exploring the small town. It seemed […]
Matsumae
May 7, 2025, Hokkaido, Japan. I packed quickly and barely made the train. Shawn likes cutting it close, and I honestly didn’t think he’d make it this time. I carried […]
Hirosaki
May 4, 2025, Japan. I had really enjoyed our 3 day stay in Kakunodate. Before catching the 11:05 train, I rushed back to the Nishinomiya-Memorial complex, hoping for a second […]
Kakunodate
May 1, 2025, Japan. I was sad to be leaving Tōno. We packed our bags and headed to the municipal museum, which turned out to be excellent. I stayed until […]
Tōno
April 29, 2025, Japan. I woke up bleary-eyed after another rough night. No espressos in this town, so we headed straight to the train for an early start. We arrived […]
Hiraizumi
April 27, 2025, Japan. I really liked Matsushima and wish I had more than a day. I asked Shawn if he minded leaving mid-day for Hiraizumi, and he agreed. I […]
Matsushima
April 26, 2025, Japan. We left Yamagata around 9:30 after enjoying a latte and pastry at a Starbucks in the train station. I had wanted to see the old hospital […]
On to Yamagata
April 22, 2025. We woke early, packed for the next leg of the journey, and headed back to the cute cafe we had found the day before. One of my […]
Next stop: Aizuwakamatsu
April 19, 2025. Before catching the train from Tokyo to Aizuwakamtsu, we headed to the Fukagawa Edo museum which we had visited my first time in Tokyo in November. They […]
Back to Japan – First Stop, Tokyo
April 15, 2025. This was my second trip to Japan. My first was scarcely 6 months earlier, when we spent 6 weeks traveling to many cultural, historical, and spiritual places […]
Lisa Karpinski 