Lack of a common language was the hardest part of our every day life in Japan and you couldn't begin to guess what a…

One of the popular restaurant recommendations in the area was the Phoenix Toya Club, a hotel just ten minutes' drive away from the Lake…

We took a touristy ferry across to the islands in the middle of Lake Toya, called Nakajima Islands.  There were lovely walks through the…

These photos were taken on a short walk along the lake.         The next day we took to our bikes along the lake and into…

The whole of Japan is seismically active and there were several live volcanos in our area.  Late one afternoon we visited the nearby Mount…

Lake Toya was an almost circular lake 10k in diameter; the Lake House was on the northern side of the lake.  The drive right…

Toya was our nearest town, about ten minutes drive from the Lake House; it had a few little restaurants and cafés, a post office…

The blue dot in the photo below represented the Lake House and the red dot was the local sizeable town, Date (pronounced Dattay).  The…

Toilets can be a nightmare for women when travelling abroad.  Ideally what one needs is a normal pedestal toilet so you can sit comfortably.…

Onsen is a Japanese hot spring bath often used for public bathing.  There was an onsen at a local hotel and we called in…