Kolbe Adventures

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are getting ready for the new year. We’ve enjoyed Christmas in Japan very much and are looking forward to the new years celebrations, but today I will not tell you about that - this post is all about our fantastic trip to Kyoto that we experienced two weeks ago. Kyoto is one of Japan’s most famous cities. Every year, thousands of international and Japanese tourists are coming there, increasing not only the thriving tourism industry of the city but also causing a lot of troubles for local residents.

Hey everyone, I hope you are enjoying the pre holiday spirit and are not too caught up in all the related activities and social gatherings! As the year nears its end, the number of dates and appointments always seems to increase enormously. This also applies to us, even though we are not at home in Europe. But we already received some invitations for year end parties (“Bonenkai”), classical concerts and dinners.

Hey everyone, after telling you about our tropical adventures I want to give a little overview of our daily life in November, as the island paradise is more an exception from our regular life. ;-) First of all, November in Japan is indeed a very nice month, not only if you spend it in the prefecture of Okinawa. I was used to the endlessly cold and gray German November days, filled with rain and fog.

Hey everyone, I hope you are all doing fine. Currently we have pretty cold and rainy weather in Kanazawa. Therefore, writing about our vacation time in the south brings back warm memories and helps to deal with this seasonal transition to winter. Snorkeling adventure After our fantastic trip to Taketomi Island we wanted to explore two dreamy beaches of Ishigaki. Thanks to our friends Nora and Chris, who already visited Ishigaki island, we got some cool recommendations regarding the beaches of Ishigaki and found ourselves in the bus which would take us to Yonehara Beach.

Hey everyone, we are back from our fantastic holidays in the southern part of Japan and have a hard time readjusting to the cold autumn temperatures of Kanazawa! In the next two posts, I will tell you all about our trip adventures as well as giving you some recommendations about travel and sights if you also want to go to Okinawa Prefecture. About Okinawa Okinawa consists of several islands, located in the south of Kyushuu and separating the East Chinese Sea from the Pacific Ocean.

Hi everyone, as October is now over, I just wanted to give you an update about what we did and experienced in this month, besides traveling/hiking or being creative. ;-) Like the months before, October was anything but boring. The perfect autumn weather made it very enjoyable, too. Well, most of the time…. It’s typhoon time As many of you remember, Japan was hit pretty bad by the super typhoon Hagibis earlier this month.

Hi everyone, in this post I would like to give you some insights regarding the famous dyeing technique called Kaga Yuzen which is used for the manufacturing of truly beautiful Kimono fabrics. Two weeks ago we had the chance to participate in an workshop where we learned all about this part of Japan’s cultural heritage as well as how to work with this technique step by step. What is Kaga Yuzen?

Hey everyone, I hope you are all fine! We survived the typhoon and are now experiencing the true autumn feeling of Japan. Today I want to tell you about the nice weekend trip in Ishikawa Niklas and I did two weeks ago for our anniversary. Yes, you got that right: already one year married! :o Time flies! After hearing so much about this place, we finally managed to visit Kaga Onsen, a popular town south of Kanazawa that is famous for its hot springs and public bath houses.

Hello everyone, while the super typhoon Hagibis is haunting Japan, I thought I’d use the time and write about our big hiking trip that we did at the beginning of October: the climbing of the holy mountain Hakusan. With 2702 m of height, Hakusan is one of the highest mountains in Western Japan. His peak is covered in snow nearly all the time, except from July to October, that’s why he is also called “the white mountain”.

Hey everyone, in this post I want to tell you about the traditional Japanese way of dressing: the Kimono. Together with my Taiwanese friend Kao, I experienced myself how it feels to wear such a beautiful and important gown and how difficult it is to get dressed. I will share some tips with you, so that you are well prepared if you are going to Japan and are interested in having this experience yourself.