Japan

On our third visit to Japan, we knew we wanted to try to make it to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, on the west side of Tokyo.

This incredibly popular museum is a must-see spot for those who love Studio Ghibli movies and is quite a popular tourist attraction. But with popularity comes the crowds, and scoring tickets to this one requires a bit of advanced effort.

So let’s talk about how you can go about getting tickets, give a tip that may help you score one despite the popularity, and share a bit about what the museum is like, too!

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During our winter trip to Japan, we knew we wanted to visit an onsen town after skiing in Hakuba.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to travel very far as the mountain village Hirayu Onsen was just a short trip away via a train to Matsumoto and bus transfer to the mountains.

For this visit, we decided to have a bit of a splurge and booked a premium annex room with open air bath (onsen) with breakfast and dinner included for a complete resort experience. We are so glad we did.

While expensive, Miyama Ouan Kyoritsu Resort was one of the best hotel stays we’ve had in recent memory, and for those who want a high-end onsen experience, this one is sure to please!

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Ever since my first visit to Tokyo in 2010, I’ve always wanted to see the famous tuna auction. Back then, the market was located on Tsukiji, and, although I got to visit the market later in the day, the tuna auction was out of reach due to poor travel logistics so early in the morning (but more on that later).

When we returned to Tokyo, the market had been moved to a massive new facility nearby and renamed as the Toyosu Fish Market. Much like our first trip, the logistics made it tricky for us to try to go to the tuna auction, and we only visited the facility in the afternoon once sales had ended for the day.

But on our third trip, we were staying nearby, threw our name into the lottery to score tickets for the auction, and won the chance to view the tuna auction the very first morning of our trip. Being five minutes away and winning the tuna auction lottery? You couldn’t ask for better luck.

So in this one, we wanted to share what you need to do to win tickets to the tuna auction, more about those pesky travel logistics, and share additional details to keep in mind- including that you can still visit the auction even without winning the lottery!

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Kyoto is one of my favorite cities in Japan. It is a must-see every time we visit the country, and is one of those places I could imagine myself living in as well- it is just that fun.

But, when it comes to planning where to stay in Kyoto, you have a very important consideration to keep in mind, namely, Kyoto is huge! This is not just in population, like most major cities in Japan, but also in area. 

So when planning your base, it is less the number of people that is a concern (although we will discuss why that is also an issue later on), but rather that Kyoto is just very, very large, and it can take quite a bit of time to travel around to see all of the highlights!

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