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Back to Tokyo, throwback to my days living in Odaiba. I would spend every weekend wandering around the city trying out new cafes. I like this one, the Parkside Cafe in Ueno because it has a nice outdoor terrace looking onto the park which is unusual for Tokyo. You can’t take the British girl out of me though, here I am pouring myself a cup of English breakfast tea!

In the small town of Itako in Ibaraki you can take these traditional boat rides around the old canal system. It was here where I met Setsuko-san, our driver and guide and one of the funniest and most charismatic ladies I have met in Japan. She was so hilarious, telling us stories the whole ride about vegetables falling off the trees into the boat and hitting her customers on the head, and fish jumping into the boat and scaring the passengers. I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time, it’s only when you get off the beaten track you meet the most interesting people!

I can’t sleep at all right now so thought I would edit some photos! Last November I went to this small senbei shop in the town of Itako in Ibaraki prefecture and they let me have a go at hand baking the senbei! What this photo doesn’t tell you is that the amount of heat that comes off one of these grills is overwhelming. I thought I was going to melt after 5 minutes! Much respect to the ladies who sit there for hours on end during the summer! By the way the senbei tasted great freshly baked!

With March around the corner I could do with some spring vibes about now. I remember one spring sitting by the river at this cafe in Tennozu Isle in Tokyo with a coffee and dessert when this little visitor stopped by! Actually that whole area is really nice to explore when the weather is good and you won’t see any tourists as it’s well off the beaten track. Pro tip: You can also take boat rides from here during cherry blossom season to Naka Meguro!

Have you been to the world’s biggest Starbucks Reserve in Naka Meguro? I was really looking forward to visiting but when I got there it was just way too crowded for me, even in the middle of the week. My advice would be to visit as soon as it opens in the morning so you can find somewhere to sit! Hopefully next time I visit it won’t be so stressful!!

Tokyo views from the new Shibuya Sky building that opened towards the end of last year. I went on a weekday morning shortly after it opened and it wasn’t crowded at all so was able to enjoy the space without lots of people getting in the way! Tickets cost 1,800 yen for entry, and you have to put all your stuff like bags, scarves etc in one of the lockers inside to stop it blowing away in the wind!

Spent some time this month back in Tokyo and got to see these beautiful Christmas lights in Shibuya. I arrived back in London last week and have been reflecting on 2018. It certainly has been an unpredictable year and things didn’t quite plan out the way that I expected them to. Although my time in Japan may have come to an end for now, I’m certain that there will be a day in the not too distant future when I’ll be back, next time without the challenges and drama that I dealt with this year in Tokyo. In the meantime I’m going to work hard on my plans to make big changes in my life over the next few months!

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