We left Kyushu and moved to Okayama, where the express train ‘Nanpu’ departs to Kochi. The train crossed over the Seto bridge, which used to be the longest bridge in the world. The view of the Seto strait from the train is awesome from both sides.

There is an attractive looking tram right in front of the train station.

Tram is directly in front of Kochi’s train station, Shikoku, Japan.

In Kochi, we saw famous bridge ‘Harimaya-bashi’ (-bashi means bridge, or the word is not connected, you can say ‘hashi’). The bridge is tiny one but pretty.

The famous bridge in Kochi, Shikoku, Japan.

The local shopping district in Kochi.

Then we went to the food market popular with both locals and tourists. It is called ‘Hirome Ichiba’ (Ichiba means Market).

Kochi’s famous authentic local food stalls.

The food there was delicious. What we choose were Katsuo-no-Tataki (Half cooked Bonito), Nankotsu-no-Karaage (Fried chicken cartridge), Gyoza (Fried Dumpling) and Gyu-Suji-Nikomi (Beef tendon stew).

Food from Kochi’s famous authentic food court, Hirome Ichiba, Shikoku, Japan.

Had fun Kochu night.

Breakfast next day served by hotel was only 100 yen but quite good.

Unfortunately the weather had not been so good but we still had a very nice time in Kochi, Shikoku, Japan.

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Bus from Iwakuni station to Kintai bridge.

The eighth time Kintai bridge has been rebuilt

After Kintai-kyo, we took Shinkansen to Hakata, Fukuoka prefecture. By now we were starting to realise the benefits of travelling via Shinkansen. Not just the speed and time saved but things like the extra room and comfort and also the smoothness and quietness of the ride.

Nice reflections by the river at Hakata

Hakata is known for it’s night food stalls. We explored a couple of them. The food was really yummy! Hakata Ramen (Tonkotsu flavor, also called Nagahama Ramen) was so delicious. Also had Yakitori, Oden, Gyoza, Japanese style of spicy vegetable (Takana) fried rice etc. The price was reasonable too.

A typical night food stall in Hakata.

We really enjoyed the Hakata food market night.

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We went out to a Karaoke party with her sisters colleagues and friends. There was a Karaoke room in Izakaya they also went to another Karaoke room which serves wide range of drinks and food.

The last time they went to Karaoke was a few years ago in Japan, it had been a long time.

Everyone had a great time singing, eating and drinking.

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We then went back to Kawagoe Saitama prefecture where we were staying at June’s sister’s home.

On this particular day, it was June’s nieces birthday so everyone went to a local yakiniku char grilled barbecue restaurant. This Yakiniku restaurant uses charcoal and you can enjoy table cooking char-grilled BBQ. The meat is of a high quality and we all enjoyed the food and ambience.

Nige took some ukon just to ensure he did not wake up with a hangover.

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Nagano station had spent a long time refurbishing and recently reopened into a modern sophisticated station. Lots of different kinds of Nagano food and suvenior shops in the station buildings.

There were several big mascots there to promote new national park in Nagano. Nige was so excited that he ran up to dance with them.

We had nice Japanese style lunch with friends too. Try Nagano food if you have chance, it’s delicious

Fish market inside Nagano station buildings, these are carried from Japanese ocean.

Had nice dinner with friends, this is called ‘Kushiage’ or fried skewers.

We had a great Japanese lunch and dinner, met some very nice new friends and finished up with a coffee at Nagano station’s starbucks while waiting for June’s Mum to pick us up.

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We went to a tiny villege in Nagano prefecture, Ogawa village. There is small trecking path near the buildings, so we climbed. You can see beautiful north Alps from there.

Beautiful views.
 

Entrance and there was smoking area and observation.
 

There are ‘Kotatsu’ in dining area. ‘Kotatu’ is the Japanese table which warms your legs.
 

We moved to ‘Oyaki’ baking hut. A man was baking ‘Oyaki’.
 

Free Miso soup and pickles were served there.
 

They have old traditional style of house and stove and they bake ‘Oyaki’ pancake there. It was delicious! You can only eat this type of Oyaki here or their shops in Nagano.
 

Oyaki hut from outside.
 

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Nagano is about 2 hours away from Saitama and 3 hours from Tokyo.
 

Nagano station was completely new after renovation.
 

Lots of delicious Nagano fruit and food.
 

We went to Soba (Japanese buckwheat noodle) restaurant in north of Nagano. Soba is speciality food in the region. Delicious!
 

Then we went to our first Onsen (natural hot springs) for the last one year. There was a lot of snow here yet.　
 

You can see superb view from the Onsen as the bath is located outside. Onsen water makes you keep warm after while you hop out, it has serveral good health effects.

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They arrived at about 12:45pm and were impressed by the size of the new terminal.

The plan was for Nige to change his 25 year old travel cheques at the airport and they would use that money for their time in Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately none of the banks would accept his $US travel cheques so they had to resort to their Australian dollars. They did not realise at the time but this would be a good thing. Read the arrive in Japan episode.

Kuala Lumpur airport is about 65 kms from the city centre and takes just over one hour.

They were staying at the Metro hotel and were pleasantly surprised to get an upgrade to a family room.

After Nigel did his customarily room tour vlog, they headed over to Lot 10 the food court for they had not eaten much during the day.

At Lot 10 Nige prepped the vlog and while walking around the food court they were stopped by security and told to turn the video phone off. After that several security guards which Nige & June while the were in the food court. Nige & June had some roasted pork & duck with rice then moved on to Jalan Alor.

Jalan Alor is a night market and starts to wake up from 6pm onwards but some of the stalls are open earlier.

Nige & June found a place to have some dim sum, and then headed over to a yakitori stand for some yakitori’s and beer.

They then started to fade and called it quits and headed back to the hotel for an early night.

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Perth Japan festival was held on the 7th of March, 2015 at Forest Chase in the centre of Perth city.
 

Kimono show was ongoing.
 

Japanese Curry, Okonomiyaki, Yakisoba Kakigori etc…
 

Japanese choir
 

Quick but sweet wandering Perth Japan Festival 2015.
 

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About Nige & June
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ヽ(・∀・ )ﾉ ＜Hi~
Thanks for visiting Nige&June’s blog!
Nige is from New Zealand & June is from Japan.

Currently we are in Perth Australia, soon will be moving to Japan.
Our youtube videos in 2015 will be mainly about Japan!
ヾ(*´∀｀*)ﾉ

こんにちは♪　ナイジ＆ジュンです。
ナイジはニュージーランド出身です。

日本の様子を英語で発信していきます☆
日本語版も徐々に準備していきたいです〜o(^_^)o
以下もあわせてどうぞ♪

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