Homestays in Japan

For our last two weeks in Japan, we stayed in homes instead of in guesthouses or hostels. First, we stayed in Hadano, with a lovely couple that hosted us through Workaway. Then, we moved to my Obaachan’s house in Nagoya for a few days.

Melanie and I always feel quite exhausted when we’re moving quickly, from one accommodation to the next. This style of travel requires constant research – which is time consuming and psychologically draining. We’ve discovered that it’s often much more pleasant to pick fewer places and stay longer.

We felt at home in our workaway – enjoying experiencing normal life in Japan. We spent our mornings gardening (mostly tackling giant weeds) and in the afternoons went to the local bouldering gym, played guitar, read, or visited the neighborhood vegan cafe. Our hosts, Ryo and Carrie, are so sweet, and it’s inspiring to see them starting their own business/project as a young couple! We prepared dinner for the house twice, navigating the local grocery store in order to cook some of our favorite recipes with more locally available ingredients. We loved the shared meals and conversations with our hosts, and hope to see them again!

While we were staying with our hosts, we had a couple days off. One day, we went to Hakone, a town famous for its hot springs. We visited an ethereal temple surrounded by giant trees and with a tori in the lake, then hiked along a piece of the Tokaido road, a walking path from the Edo period of Japan linking Tokyo and Kyoto. We stopped at a little teahouse in the woods that served “amazake,” a sweet rice beverage, and chikara-mochi (strength-mochi), and has been doing so for over 200 years! Then we took the bus to the hotsprings to relax.

On another day off, we went on a little road-trip with our hosts to Yamanaka lake. While we couldn’t see Fuji, it was a fun and relaxing day, hanging out in the park and enjoying their company. Upon arriving back to Hadano, there was a fireworks show waiting for us!

After moving on to Nagoya, we enjoyed some city sights, such as the JR train museum (awesome!). My inner child was so excited to see so many trains in one place. Our friend Josh arrived from Hiroshima to hang out with us for a day, and we went to see a show together. The band, Roxy Roca, was featuring one of Melanie’s friends from Echo Hill ranch. Their music was fun, and is best described (I think) as country-funk. Give them a listen!

From Nagoya, we had a fun, easy, and cultural day-trip to Magome/Tsumago. The two towns are along the old “Nakasendo” post road, another Edo-era highway. The towns have been preserved in their Edo-state by the remaining inhabitants, and the picturesque region is a great place to hike and enjoy the beautiful historical Japanese architecture. As nature-lovers, we really enjoyed the region. Huge trees line the road, which runs along a clear river. Small shrines are tastefully built along the trail in the forest.

On our last day, we went to take a Japanese style wedding photo! We wore kimonos and took some great photos together. The photos are a secret, though, until they’re developed. Stay tuned!

Ahead of typhoon 24, the second typhoon of our trip to Japan, we crammed onto a Shinkansen with everyone else from Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya rushing to get to Tokyo ahead of the storm. The station was extremely organized chaos, and there weren’t any seats available, so we stood on our whole ride to Tokyo. To date, it’s the fastest vehicle we’ve been travelling on while standing, at 260 km/h! Somehow we got extremely lucky, and the storm passed after we arrived to Tokyo, but before our flight, and we were able to take our flight to Bangkok!