Franzi

Flowers and sunshine in May

Hey everyone, we hope you are all healthy and doing fine! In some countries, it seems that the virus cases are dropping and the restrictions are lifted step by step. In Japan, the situation is also getting better and we are really relieved about that. Half of May has passed and we wanted to give you an update about our daily life. Covid 19 situation: an update So, a lot has been going on since my last post.

Cherry blossom season

Hi everyone, after the last posts that have been quite serious, I wanted to share something with you that is an integral part of Japanese culture: the cherry blossom viewing. Despite Covid-19 and all the chaos surrounding it, the blooming of the cherry blossoms took place in early April and we took long walks through the nature and took many beautiful pictures! Even though we couldn’t get the full experience of hanami, we still had time to admire the view for ourselves and discover the beauty of the cherry trees.

A different spring in Japan than imagined

Hey everyone, I hope you are all healthy and still holding up with this new lifestyle. The past weeks our life has slowed down a lot and we have been spending countless hours indoors with the exception of some walks in the neighborhood. For over 8 weeks there have been no travel adventures, meetings with friends, new events or anything exciting that I can report. However, the weather was improving greatly and this means, winter is finally over!

Experiencing COVID19 outbreak in Japan

Hey everyone, it was really quiet on this blog in the last weeks. As you can imagine, there was a lot going on though: due to the rapidly progressing Corona outbreak, we had to make some tough decisions while also being constantly worried about our families and friends who are far away from us and might not be safe. Therefore, writing a new post was not a priority for me as you surely understand.

Our life in February

Hi everyone, hope you are all doing all right and are healthy! Right now, a lot is going on and I hope you guys are all okay. In this post I want to tell you about our daily life in the past weeks. Spoiler alert: we experienced all kinds of weather situations and also (finally) some snow, there were some cancellations of big plans, we did go on a short trip to the mountains and we live among a virus outbreak…

Forest bathing: Shinrin Yoku

Hey everyone, in this post I want to tell you more about the Japanese tradition of forest bathing. I recently joined a tour and experienced the positive effects myself, so I am happy to give you some insights about this cultural element! What is forest bathing? Shinrin Yoku or forest bathing is a practice that combines a range of mindfulness exercises and tasks in a Forest environment. “Shinrin” means forest and “yoku” means bath - therefore, the two words combined mean taking a bath in the forest atmosphere.

Hakusan winter hike experience

Hello everyone, today I want to tell you a little about our day trip to the Hakusan mountainside we experienced last weekend. As I told you before, we were planning to go on a snowshoe hike this winter but, as the snow never came, we had to postpone it and we finally decided to go there just for a winter hike without snow or snowshoes. So sad… But we still wanted to see the mountains in the winter, so we grabbed our hiking boots and got ready!

Gloomy winter

Hey everyone, we hope everyone has a nice January so far. This month is a little busy for both of us and due to the current weather, we don’t enjoy as many outdoor activities at we would like to but nonetheless, I want to give you an update of our ongoing projects so far. A winter that is too warm Do you remember me telling you that we prepare for the big snow in the last posts?

Celebrating the new year

Hey everyone, we wish you a happy new year 2020 and hope you all had a great party! No matter if you celebrated with a crowd of friends or together with your family or significant other, we hope you enjoyed this special time of the year. Did you make a nice new year’s wish before the countdown? We hope it will come true. In this post we want to tell you how we celebrated the beginning of a new year but also give an overview of Japanese traditions and customs regarding the time around New Year’s Eve.

Christmas in Japan

Hi everyone, as promised we want to tell you how we spent Christmas in Japan. I guess most of you are wondering, if and how Japanese people are celebrating Christmas, right? Don’t worry, you will find all answers to your questions in this post! Japanese Christmas traditions As Japan is no country with a Christian background and culture like Western countries, I was surprised to learn that Christmas is also a big deal here and aggressively advertised in every possible way.