We arrived in Hiyoshi on Friday night after a relaxing trip over via Bangkok. We had a relaxing day Saturday taking the dogs for a walk, a short trip to Yokohama and a barbecue on the terrace - the weather was great! Sara was at school for most of Saturday- think of that, kids - school 6 days a week!

We were up early for a long train trip to Hokkaido. The Shinkansen trains are amazing - so quick and comfortable. We passed through Sendai devastated by the earthquake 10 years ago but now looks completely rebuilt looking over a sea of new buildings from the station. Once we got on to Hokkaido, you could see quite a difference in vegetation and landscape. The rice paddies had changed to large fields of vegetables. We are now in Toyako which is on a lake formed by a volcano. It was a busy town when we arrived as the Toyako marathon had just finished so people everywhere, a lot limping!

Here is a view from our room . It is a bit hazy but you can just see the mountain across the lake.