Just like the year before, spring 2026 had another long trip to Japan lined up for us. We spent the first few weeks road tripping through the (sub)tropical islands of Okinawa and Ishigaki, the latter of which sits just off Taiwan – and quite far away from Japan’s main island Honshū. This beautiful part of Japan really felt like an entirely different country. Next up was an extended stay in Tokyo once again. Our home this time around was in a cute, residential neighborhood around the Higashi-Matsubara station in the Setagaya ward, not too far from where we stayed the year before. This year again we were spoilt with cherry blossom in full bloom all over.

We initially planned a trip to Japan on our way back from Hawaii in early spring, making it a round-the-world trip. However, we had to change plans and fly back the other way around, postponing our trip to Japan by a few weeks. So by the beginning of June, we finally left for Japan after spending a bit over a month at home. On the road again! (Or in the air, rather.) We had been to Tokyo a year and a half earlier and absolutely loved it, but we hadn’t seen anything else of Japan. This time, besides Tokyo, we were to visit the two small towns Hakone and Yamanakako in the Fuji Five Lakes region, close to the beautiful symmetrical volcano, as well as Kyoto.