It's already the end of January 1st because I spent most of it sleeping, but happy new year! I guess I'm doing a true 寝正月 ("sleeping new year's") like the touken danshi were suggesting in Kotobuki two years ago, haha.


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 On my last few days in the Netherlands I made a two-night, three-day trip across the country to see some more friends... Thankfully I could stay overnight at their places so I didn't have to travel quite as far. It was tiring, but fun! I didn't take that many pictures (the first day we just stayed in and watched anime... ^^;)  except at this ( Read more... )

Last Monday I asked my parents if we could go to the Seal Center, also known as the Seal Kindergarten, in Pieterburen, Groningen! I've been keeping an eye on their youtube livestream which has been really popular in Japan since this summer. It's funny that suddenly everybody in Japan knows where Groningen is. It makes it a lot easier to explain ( Read more... )

I've been waking up pretty early due to jetlag, so on Saturday morning I went for a not-that-early morning run before breakfast... The sun doesn't rise until 8:40 so it was super late compared to usual, yet the sky looked like I was up at the crack as dawn... Which I technically was? xD


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It's funny how a 14-hour flight feels "short" compared to the journeys via Dubai and Paris and Seoul that I had to make the previous times I went to the Netherlands, even though it's considerably longer than the 10~11 hours that it used to take before... everything *gestures broadly*


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Happy new year! It's pretty weird waking up to the news about the earthquake in Japan - I'm glad I missed that (though my area doesn't seem to be affected) I hope everyone up north is okay >Last night was pretty uneventful over here, so let me post the pics from the cat cafe I went to with my friends on the 30th first, 'cause I hadn't gotten to ( Read more... )

Yesterday night I got back from a 3-day trip around the Netherlands... kinda! Most of my destinations were in the west, so I arranged to stay at Mimi91chan's place for two nights so that I could combine various things into one trip and not have to travel all the way back to the north every day.


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On my last day in HItoyoshi (this time!) I went to collect some more of the 33 Kannon pilgrimage stamps. I wasn't planning on collecting so many at all, but once you get started, it's kinda addicting... Like a stamp rally, haha. This day I was able to borrow one of the electric-assist cross bikes that were newly made available at the Kumatetsu ( Read more... )

Yesterday the Kuma Tetsudo railway was operating fully again! Over the Obon holidays, the trains were running, but since the bridge to Hitoyoshi is still out, the trains only run between Higo-Nishimura and Yunomae station, so you have to take a bus to Higo-Nishimura station first if you want to ride the train... But that bus doesn't run on holidays ( Read more... )

Yesterday I went cycling to Amemiya shrine - this time on the inn's rusty one-speed mamachari again. xD I also found some more of the 33 Kannon pilgrimage sites nearby, so I made a route in my garmin app that led past a couple of them in the same area, and maybe it would lead me past some more interesting spots that I didn't know about yet... ( Read more... )