Welcome to 2018

皆さん、あけましておめでとうございます！

Happy 2018 everyone!

家族やお友達と良い年末を過ごせましたでしょうか。

I hope you all had a wonderful and exciting break whether it was seeing family, catching up with friends or enjoying some peace and quiet.

私は１０日間、友達とタズ先生と一緒に日本旅行をしてきました！合計６か所に行ってきましたが、USJやディズニーランド、

お寺や神社、買い物、食事、迷子になったりと（笑）楽しかったです！

For me, I chose to do a 10 day round trip of Japan with my good friend and fellow SES teacher, Taz! We managed to visit 6 prefectures (one by accident), see USJ, Disney Land, Disney Sea, visit Temples, Shrines, shop, eat, be tourists, get lost and most important of all, have fun!

写真を使って旅行のハイライトを短く伝えていきますね。

I will try and make this blog as short as possible so here are a few photo highlights from the trip. Enjoy.

December 25th - Found Hogwarts
12月25日　ホグワーツを発見！

まずは大阪。USJには行かずにはいられませんでした！ハリー・ポッターファンの私は、クリスマスにはしゃぐ子供のように歩き回って

笑顔が絶えませんでした。

Our first stop was Osaka and we simply could not resist visiting the famous Universal Studios Japan. As a major Harry Potter fan I was like a child at Christmas (literally) and when we were walking around the place I could do nothing but smile. I had so much fun here and I definitely recommend that you visit if you haven't already. And don't forget to take a ride on the Flying Dinosaur! 

December 26th - Beat the crowds at Fushimi Inari
12月26日　伏見稲荷大社にて

大阪の次は京都の伏見稲荷に行ってきました。他の観光客よりも早く来たので、たくさん写真が取れました。もし行くのであれば朝早くか夜遅くがオススメです。朝９時にはもう混みはじめていたので。

When we told people we were going to do Kyoto in a day they all laughed. But as 5am came we embraced the journey from Osaka and our first stop had to be Fushimi Inari! It felt great beating the tourists and we got to take loads of cool pictures. If you want to come here, I would recommend coming early in the morning or late at night, by the time we left at 9am the place was already starting to become crowded.

December 26th - Made our very own ramen!
12月26日　ラーメン作りを体験！

タズ先生と一緒にラーメンを作っています。「ラーメンファクトリー京都」というところで作ったのですが、

京都に来たらぜひ行ってみてください。スタッフも親切で、ハラール（イスラム教で合法なもの）の肉もあります。

Here is Taz and myself making our very own ramen (from scratch). We booked this place just before we went and it was such a fun experience and the food was delicious! The shop is called Ramen Factory Kyoto and I definitely recommend that you come here. The staff were great and the shop also does Halal meat (a rare find in Shunan!) so it gets double the bonus points for that.
 

December 26th - saw the Kinkaku-ji!
12月26日　金閣寺 

忘れちゃいけないのが金閣寺！京都は観光客がいっぱいでしたが、ここはそこまで混んでなかったので、上のような写真を撮ることができました。京都に来た際は一見の価値ありです！ 

Still on our Kyoto adventures we felt that we could not miss Kinkaku-ji! Although there were lots of  tourists here the place wasn't too crowded and we managed to take several amazing pictures like the one above. The temple is breathtaking and definitely worth checking out when in Kyoto! 

December 29th - Disney Land day!
12月29日　ディズニーランド

千葉に来たときは東京ディズニーランドと東京ディズニーシーに行くことに決めていました。両方とも素晴らしくて、

魔法にかけられたみたいでした。これが私の初ディズニーでしたが、特別な経験になりました。 

As we made our way North of Japan to Chiba we decided to embrace the winter coldness and visit both Disney land and Disney sea. Both were incredible and I was far too excited by all the magic and detail in both parks. Although I do prefer Disney Sea, Disney land was also so much fun and it was my first time ever at a Disney park which made the experiences extra special. 

December 31st - Saw the New Year in Shibuya crossing
12月31日　渋谷の交差点で年越し

渋谷の交差点で新年を迎えています！雰囲気も良くみんなうれしそうだったので楽しくお祝いできました。

カウントダウンの後はカラオケで歌ったり踊ったりしました。

Here am I in Shibuya crossing at New Years. The atmosphere here was amazing and so much fun, and I enjoyed celebrating the new year here because everyone was so happy! After the countdown we went and sang karaoke (very badly) and danced our way into 2018.

January 1st - Became a samurai for the day
1月1日　侍に変身！

しっかり寝て、起きたあとは東京のサムライミュージアムに行ってきました。１時間３０分の英語ガイドで楽しんできました。

侍の格好をして写真も撮ってきました！

After having a much needed sleep we woke up and headed straight to the Samurai museum in Tokyo. We did a guided English tour which took maybe 1 hour 30 minutes to complete but it was so worth it. Not only is the museum fascinating and the tour staff informative and funny, but the tour is very interactive and we got to dress up like Samurai at the end.

January 2nd - Saw Mt. Fuji, our last stop before home!
1月2日　旅の終わりは富士山！

最後は富士山に行ってきました（登ってはいません！）。でもいつかは登ってみたいですね。

Our last stop before our flight back to reality was to visit Mt Fuji. And before you ask, no we didn't climb it! However, it was breathtaking to see and no photos do the mountain justice. Hopefully one day I will have climbed Mt. Fuji but for now, seeing it in real life was good enough for me.

これが１０日間の日本旅行でした！２ヶ月で４７都道府県中１０個を制覇しました。

And there you are! They were my ten days travelling Japan. I am hoping to do lots more travelling in the future as I want to tick off every prefecture in Japan. So far I have visited 10/47 prefectures in 2 months, so I think I'm doing a pretty good job! 

では、良い新年を！

Thanks and once again Happy New year!

Amy