28/04/2025 - 4/05/2025 Week 7 in Japan

This week has kickstarted Japan's 'Golden Week'! It's called a week but really it's three days of national holidays spread over two weeks... but I'm not complaining, having three days off work is lovely. The first day was Tuesday 29th, Showa Day, a public holiday that honours the birthday of Emperor Shōwa! The sun was shining so Chloe, Nick, Jesus, and I decided to head to the beach. We spent the day pushing each other in the water, playing frisbee, burying Nick in the sand, and doing silly sports challenges. It's great living near the beach and they're usually so quiet that it's fun to spread out and settle down for the day, but the water is still so cold!! I'm hope it will warm up but at the moment, it's pretty chilly!

We have been making an effort to try out all the restaurants in our local area and on Tuesday we headed to a place called Saizeriya. With everything about ¥400 (£2.09), it is a cheap and easy place to eat and with a large range of italian style dishes, it made for a nice break in noodles, hamburgers, and katsu curry. Just a side note, everyone thinks of sushi being the main food in Japan, and yes, whilst it is easy to find and delicious here, I would say that the food that you can usually find in every single restaurant you head to (aside from a ramen restaurant) is hamburg steak!! They LOVE their hamburg here; you can find restaurants that specialise in it and you can even find mini hamburg on sushi. I would never associate hamburg steaks to be so popular in a country that loves fish, noodles, and rice but honestly, it's probably the food I've had the most here.

On Friday we were hit with the heaviest rain I have ever seen in my life. Lasting from a 10am to 10pm, lots of Eastern Tokyo and Chiba was hit with a massive rain storm and honestly, I have never seen rain like it. On the 30 second walk from school to my car, I got drenched to the bone and driving in it was like trying to maneuver through a brick wall of water. We've been told that our area is prone to flooding so we were apprehensive when seeing the intense rain, but by the next day, it was like nothing had ever happened. I'm sure there will be more rain like this to come as we enter Japan's monsoon season.

On Saturday, Chloe, Nick, and I drove down to Nokogiri-san at the bottom of Chiba to meet some friends and hike up to the top of the mountain. We were slightly tight for time so we split off from the group and Chloe, Nick, Jesus, and I hiked around the peak of the mountain. Mt Nokogiri is a temple complex that is home to one of Japan's largest Buddhas and 500 mini buddhas that are dotted around the peak. It was an amazing day that started off on the drive down there. We were driving down the highway when Chloe spotted a white dome peaking above the trees and as much as we all thought it could be the top of Mt Fuji, the fact that it is about 250 km from our area meant that we all dismissed it and carried on the drive. 10 minutes later, we drive onto a open bit of road with a beautiful view and so I tell Chloe to record... lucky she did because 30 seconds later, the trees disappear from view and to my right is a nearly unobstructed, clear view of Mt Fuji! It was absolutely magical and amazing to see such a beautiful mountain so out of the blue and I definitely felt on a high for the rest of the day. As we arrived in Tateyama, we saw Mt Fuji again across Tokyo Bay and it was truly spectacular.

The hike around Mt Nokogiri was as amazing and seeing the massive Buddha was awesome. It is a beautiful area and it felt great to be there. There are small Buddha statues around the hike and as you round corners you come across views for miles, small waterfalls, and beautiful flowers. The main viewing point is called Hell Peek Point and you can stand on the edge of the cliff as it juts out of the mountain. From the top you can see right over the clear blue waters of Tokyo bay. It was stunning, definitely a highlight so far and something I won't forget for a long time.

Sunday was a sad day as I said goodbye to our friend Nick who has decided that Japan isn't right for him at the moment. We will miss him so much but I'm sure we will see him again. His last day was spent laughing as we all tried to squish his three massive suitcases and spare belongings in my little tin car..... it was definitely a tight squeeze.

See you next week!