WE'RE GOING TO JAPAN!

Darren and I just booked flights to go to Japan in September and I'm starting to get unbelievably excited! I was a little hesitant at first - we would have to save a lot of money to go and really do all of the things that we want to do, and I was being grumpy thinking of the beach holiday we could be enjoying for half the price. I have a slightly strange relationship with Japan, having lived in Tokyo for 4 years, and it wasn't somewhere I was jumping to visit again, but after getting a great deal on flights (shout out to Turkish Airlines!) and finding some really nice, reasonably-priced Airbnb apartments, I've definitely warmed to the idea and all it takes to get super excited is to think about all the amazing food we're going to eat because, let's face it, my holiday choices are always driven by my appetite.

The trip feels extra special because I have a couple of friends living over there - I don't get to see them very often (obviously) and they'll be great tour guides so we can properly experience things like locals. One of the weekends we are there is a public holiday so we might even rent a beach house for a few days - can you believe that picture above is only a few hours from Tokyo?

Have you been to Japan before? We are pretty sorted in terms of things we want to do in Tokyo, where we'll probably spend most of our time, but we will be away for 2 1/2 weeks in total which gives us plenty of time to explore a little bit further afield as well. We're hoping to spend a few days in Kyoto and also a night in a traditional ryokan, but I'd love to know if anyone has any more suggestions for towns and cities to visit. Please link if you have any blog posts to share!

{images via Pinterest}