Aries and Rinka

Golden Week is a collection of 4 national holidays in a seven day period, starting around the last week of April and ending on the first week of May. April 29 is the Showa emperor's birthday and May 3,4 and 5 are the other 3 national holidays. So for this year, there were 2 consecutive long weekends, 3 and 4 days respectively. Most Japanese people choose to travel this time of the year, us joining the pack too, sometimes to visit Rinka's folks down south, but this year we wanted a nearer destination. April is my golden month. It spring holiay, thus my work days are pretty scarce. But I still feel the urge to do something special and travel with the rest of country come Golden Week. Its just too hard to stay at home, ... read more

All the while Osaka plays second fiddle to New York City, the place we loved so dearly but left it for practical reasons. We can't help it,New York City was the backdrop of our love story. Me and my wife in a romantic and fun city, while being young and without parental responsibility, thats New York. While Osaka is a place where we toil and raised our children all on our own apart from our families. Sadly, our perception of Osaka falls victim to our new circumstances. But this time this change a bit. We have been constantly checking the weather, days ahead our prenuptial photo shoot. The forecast changes slightly on a daily basis, but never on the good side. It was either cloudy, rainy, or partly sunny At this point, we are not counting ... read more

Its been a busy summer for us. We didn't get a chance to see any big matsuri (festivals) or hanabi (fireworks display) which define summer in Japan. These festivals are really nice to see as most highlight the beautiful Japanese culture, but it also atttracts big crowds and as such being held in summer, attendees should bear with heat and humidity. But we can't let this summer pass by without at least attending less popular matsuri, so we thought. We chose to attend the light/ candle festival held at the Osaka castle. Although less popular, it still does attracts the crowd and the oh so present humidity lingers quite annoyingly. A lot of shrines, temples and castles around Japan usually had these events, where they lit up thousands of candles, bearing symbols or just simply spreading ... read more

Arrived in Manila half past midnight on 11th of March. My parents and sisters were so happy to see us, they played with our kids for hours. There were no sleep in sight as we still have to unpack and repack for our flight to Boracay later that day. Though lacking sleep, my kids seemed more energized having so many playmates. So after the car-plane-van-boat-trycicle ride, we arrived at Sur Beach Resort, our home in Boracay, having stayed here 3 times in the last 3 years. We just love going to this resort, because you get to stay at the best, whitest, and widest part of the beach, which is Boat Station 1. The service is great and although a bit pricey, its still cheaper than most resorts in the area. We were so excited for ... read more

A friend of mine arrived for a 12 day visit here in Osaka from the Philippines. She couldn't come at a worst day of the year. In my 4 years living in the city, snow is very rare, thus it's kind of strange that there was heavy snow on the day after the night of her arrival. The whole tour schedule I prepared for her visit had to be changed. We were supposed to go to Kyoto on the first day but ended up having to spend the day at the mall. We then braved the chilly cold weather the next day at Universal Studios Japan. For her trip to Japan, I was really looking forward to bring her to Kyoto. The prefecture is Japan's ancient capital, and it's know for its numerous ancient historic monuments, ... read more