Mt Yotei near the town of Niseko in Hokkaido looks strikingly similar to Mt Fuji, and can be hiked as an 9-hour out-and-back.

Mt Poroshiri is a 2-day hike including a long river-crossing, made difficult by the amount of logistics planning required.

A whirlwind of a month, featuring hiking in Hokkaido and lots of coffee.

A neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood guide to my favourite coffee spots in Tokyo.

I hiked Mt Warusawa and Mt Akaishi as a 3-day loop in Japan's Southern Alps, staying at campsites and mountain huts along the way.

Making new friends, drawing boxes and doing some knitting.

A lovely long day hike with alpine views, with option to turn into an overnight hike at the mountain hut near the summit.

Hiking Mt Takatsuma in the Myoko-Togakushi Renzan National Park, with course options via loop, out-and-back, or combined with Mt Togakushi or Mt Otozuma.

Exploring new coffee shops, getting to enjoy my cherry tomato plants and trying my hand at art.

I recently ventured out to Asakusa to visit Leaves Coffee Roasters. Along with Glitch and Koffee Mameya, these three shops seem to be the trifecta of Tokyo pour over coffee shops commonly recommended on the internet.

Mt Houou is one of the major peaks in the Southern Alps of Japan. I chose to take it via the Dondoko-sawa course as an overnight tent hike.

At the end of May, my husband and I took a 3-day road trip down to Izu. It's a peninsula directly south of Mt Fuji in Shizuoka prefecture, and the main road runs right alongside the coastline, so you can enjoy some great seaside views, not to mention all the little caves and beaches you can check ou…

Hiking Mt Omuro on the Izu Peninsula, a grassy volcanic peak. Take a chairlift up to the peak and enjoy some great views of Mt Fuji and the sea.

Cape Manazuru in Kanagawa prefecture is a scenic spot that juts out from the coastline and is home to the Mitsuishi ("three rocks"). The two largest are joined together with Shinto ropes and there is a tiny little torii gate jutting out of the top of the rock as well.

Happy June! I spent the last couple days of May on a little road trip around the Izu Peninsula. The latter half of May had been looking rath

A guide to hiking Mt Asama, an active volcano near Karuizawa. With its alert level reduced to level 1, you can now climb it again! I took the Takamine Kogen route.

If you've ever visited a Japanese coffee shop and found yourself confused by their bean roast levels, me too! I'm still relatively new to th

Towards the end of April, my husband and I went for a walk between Ueno and Nippori stations. After going on a walk between Shibuya and Hara

April was my first full month of being unemployed after I was laid off in March. With all this free time, I wasn't sure if I maybe wouldn't

Hiking Mt Iwadono from Otsuki station, featuring cherry blossom and Mt Fuji views, a chain-climbing section, and a thrilling walk along a rounded cliff.

Bears are rare on Japan's hiking trails, so statistically speaking you will be fine. A first-hand guide to bear safety and my personal philosophy on hiking in Japan.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter post, March was quite a busy month for me. I had a quick trip down to Sydney to help my mum move houses

Mt Nokogiri is the most famous hike in Chiba prefecture - not that there's much competition as it's not really known as a hiking destination

Mt Miura-fuji is a low-elevation mountain located in Yokosuka, Kanagawa. If you time your hike for mid-to-late February, you can also swing

February was a good balance of outside and inside for me. I got some hiking, snowboarding and birding in, and I also spent time at home knit

As part of my life list at 30, I mentioned how I wanted to get into some sort of arts and crafts. Recently I was watching this fashion YouTu

Akabokko (赤ぼっこ, akabokko) is a 410m elevation peak overlooking the town of Ome on the western edge of Tokyo. Thanks to its low elevation, it

A log of birds I've spotted.

Hello everyone! Welcome to the first edition of my newsletter for 2026. Hope you've all been doing well. If you're reading this in your emai

Up until now, I have stored all of the images I use on this Astro blog inside of the blog's GitHub repository. But as I continue to write ne

Mt Jinba (陣馬山, jinba-san) is an 855m peak on the borders of Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures. Although it can be climbed by itself, it's also

Over the past week, I've been spamming you all with a lot of little notes about my time in Shimane. I'm not usually much of a travel blogger

I turned 30 last year and got married as well - both pretty big milestones which got me reflecting on the rest of my life. What do I want to

I've started consuming more blogs via RSS feeds recently (Manu's yearly reminder was a good push) and so fixing my own feed had been on my t