Dear Chibi,

Ah… Arashiyama. What a fun day to look back on :) During our last Japan trip in 2012 it was also one of our favourite places, so of course we needed to go again with P-chan.

Dear Chibi,

Lots of sightseeing in the beautiful city of Kyoto <3

We had to visit at least one castle this trip, and we end up checking out Nijo-jo Castle. It was surrounded by stone walls and moats.

Karamon Gate, entrance to the main palace.

Dear Chibi,

The Hideaki Anno Exhibition was not initially on our radar, but we spotted a promo poster hanging from the ceiling while shopping at Osu Shotengai… and the rest was history XD. We reserved tickets on our phone and went to a nearby Lawson’s to pay and collect the tickets. I remember we did something similar for the Sailor Moon musicals back in 2014. Thankfully it was fairly straight-forward but.. what ever happened to e-tickets? XD

The day had arrived and Hubby in particular was super excited! Hubby is a big fan of Hideaki Anno’s works, in particular Gunbuster and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Kanayama station

Kanayama Minami Building Museum Wing

Dear Chibi,

Our first sighting of Fujisan!! :D

On our third and final day in Hakone we met up with Hubby’s Uncle and Aunty from Hong Kong, who also happen to be on holidays in Japan. We took this chance to hang out and spend the day sightseeing together :) Uncle Wah rented a car and drove us around to multiple locations. First up was Mishima Sky Walk!

Dear Chibi,

Remember the rain I mentioned in my previous entry? It carried over to the next day :’) Views still look amazing though with all the mist.

We enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast at the hot spring resort. This is definitely my kind of breakfast! I especially loved the onsen egg…and of course we went for seconds..and thirds.

We finally arrive at one of the entrances to Hakone Shrine. Everything is so picturesque, but of course it was still very foggy and a bit wet!

Dear Chibi,

Bye bye Tokyo, hello Hakone!

Look at this stunning view from our hotel room, situated on the slopes of Joyama Mountain. It was such a lovely change of scenery after a few days in the bustling city of Tokyo. Time to relax and enjoy being surrounded by nature.. and best of all… the amazing onsen! This was another highlight for me :D

We stayed in a Japanese-style room with traditional tatami flooring. Very comfy and spacious. P-chan had plenty of space to run around in circles.

Dear Chibi,

We couldn’t take P-chan to Japan without a trip to the “Happiest Place on Earth”~ Disneyland! :D It was our final full day in Tokyo so I was glad the weather cleared up for us (it rained a lot the day before). We went on a weekday hoping to avoid the busy crowds, though it still end up being rather busy with lots of school kids on excursion. We utilised the fast passes where we could. Thankfully P-chan is just tall enough to get on every ride, so we had lots of choices!

Our very first ride was Space Mountain! We queued here around 100 minutes (our longest line) but P-chan stayed pretty excited and patient throughout. We spotted the Green Army guy from Toy Story wandering about. Love how in-character the mascots are.