The trip is kick-started with a visit to the Takaragawa Onsen, a traditional hot spring located in the hearth of the mountains. The sudden appearance of snow among the scenery makes us slightly nervous about our spring-inspired choice of clothing.
The presence of five large pools of naturally hot water, however, manages to calm us down. Enjoying an outdoor bath while snow falls around you manages to rank among one of the most unique experiences of my uneventful life.
The day after we move to more non-naked (sadly) destinations and we arrive in Tokyo. The remaining half of the day is spent exploring the first of many parks and shrines - Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park.
We move to Akihabara, also called Electric Town, most commonly referred to as "Nerd paradise". You can visit a few temples here, but the highlight of our visit are less spiritual treats to be found among the thousands of shops running along the main street.
Note how this exemplar of Rochelle looks perfectly comfortable in her natural environment, ready to hunt for deals and scantily dressed plastic figurines.
Feeling slightly lost in a world of over-sized eyes (and other bodyparts), I quickly take shelter in a retro-gaming shop hosting more familiar sights, followed by the first of many ramen restaurants.
Let's move to another big reason Rochelle decided to venture to this mysterious country - bird cafes. Wondrous place where bird-shaped drinks and cakes are accompanied by complimentary "play time" with the cafe's feathered guests.
Rochelle's wallet did not stand a single chance against the large stock of expensive bird-related swag at the cafe's shop.
Happy with the country's treatment of two ignorant westerners so far, we sneak to the top floor of our apartment building to say hello to Tokyo's sunset, before collapsing onto a bed.
After seeing more people in two days than in my last 10 years of lifetime, I pretend a trip to a place with a higher trees-to-skyscrapers ratio. Luckily, mount Mitake was just a train and a short cable lift bus away.
A steep walk leads us to an enshrined white wolf rumored to act as the protector of dogs - as suspected judging from the amounts of little furry friends visiting the shrine.
As the brave souls we are, we dare venture past the shrine to to a narrow, forested valley with lots of moss covered stones and two nearby waterfalls known as the "Rock Garden".
Sadly, the sudden reappearance of snow did not make the place hike-friendly for us (and by us I mean Rochelle and her definitely-unsuitable-for-hiking-shoes). After a trail encounter with an old man who could not speak English but nonetheless manages to illustrate to us the possibility of accidents and death, we decide to head back.
We take a train from Tokyo to Kyoto, eager to explore temples and. First, however, we get lost in the maze that is the 13-floors building block known as Kyoto Station. Positive side - the view from the 13th floor is not so bad.
To begin, we walk to Arashiyama, a random district which just happens to be nationally designated as a Historic Site and Place of Scenic Beauty.
We enjoy the Japanese stalls on the main street and the pleasant weather, when they sky becomes suddenly much darker. We are ready to curse the clouds that followed here from England - then we look up.
Photos can't capture the scale of the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. We manage to bump into several brides taking a photo shoot at the location, although standing next to the bamboo doesn't exactly make you look taller.
On the left bank of Oi River, we climb a small hill to find ourself among some mates who share a few DNA chromosomes with us.
At the Iwatayama Monkey Park, we find a hundred or so cheeky monkeys strolling around, minding their own business, snatching free peanuts from the tourists and scratching their clothes-less bottom - Couldn't help but feel a hint of envy when partaking in this sightseeing activity.
We then tackle Fushimi Inari, temple of Inari, God of rice, patron of business and home of hundreds of torii gates - love interest of photographers and instagrammers from all over the planet.
As I drag myself through the first torii path, I can't help but having flashback of the Piccadilly Line at rush hour. The temple's beauty is definitely matched by its popularity.
As we climb the temple, however, tourists shrink in number, maybe because they do not worship rice enough, or maybe because they did too much and the thousands of steps proved to be a challenge not so much for their faith but for their cardiovascular system. No matter the reason, we enjoy some moments of peace.
After reaching the top, we realize how the temple is still actively used today as a place of prayer and our pride quickly turns into shame as we realized that there are probably several japanese old ladies who manage a daily climb.
A quick (not so quick) stroll down the other side of the temple brings us back to the crowded reality of Kyoto, which is bad. And food stalls, which is not so bad after all.
We replenish elementary supplies such as matcha ice cream and make our way to Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in eastern Kyoto. On our way we scramble through a graveyard which looks way more imposing than it had every right to be.
The temple closes quite early, around 6 PM as the sun slowly sets behind us, giving me flashbacks of desperately trying to find a place to buy groceries on a sunday in England.
We spend the night wandering through the district of Gion, Kyoto's most famous geisha district. Although we don't manage to catch any of those elusive women of arts, we do get a first taste of cherry blossoms blooming.
On the dawn of the new day, we go for a day trip to Osaka - called by some the food capital of Japan. The statement alone is enough to spark my excitement, although Rochelle seems more thrilled about the presence of a Pokemon center in the city's station.
Soon enough we make our way through the eccentric district of Dōtonbori and start sampling the local delicacies - grilled crabs, 200-yen (~1.40£) pork dumplings, squid pastry balls, and my favourite - Okonomiyaki, also know as throw-everything-in-those-eggs-and-call-it-a-day.
But the real most valuable player for Rochelle was a fragrant melon pan filled with ice cream, sold by a little van which had a pleasure of sharing a deep conversation with her wallet one too many times that day.
In the evening, the street grows even more alive with locals, tourists, and boats of dancing pandas.
Overwhelmed by Osaka's nightlife, I promptly request another hike. This time, we catch a very scenic train through the north hills of Kyoto to reach the village of Kibune and its neighboring temple.
Armed with a sense of confidence inspired by a newly-found walking stick, Rochelle is set to redeem her honor since the last hiking disaster. The lack of snow does help her cause a lot.
Near the top, we reach a trail called Kinone Sando. They say the rocks here are so hard that the roots of the Japanese cedar trees can't penetrate the ground, giving you quite the show.
After the hike, we stop for a short visit to Kinkaku-ji, a temple known as the "Golden Pavilion", followed by a break in a random park where a some cherry blossoms / Japanese ladies (there are different versions to this story) catch our attention.
The following day Rochelle meets her friends in Japan to do what she does best: pose in extravagant and colorful clothes.
For myself, I am granted a whole half a day where I am free to pursue my interests. Having been forbidden to approach the red light district, I turn to my other basic interest - a stroll in the Nishiki food market.
Highlight of the trip: a baby squid on a stick whose head had been filled with a boiled quail egg. What a time to be alive.
After filling my belly with more food of questionable appearance, I walk through the city to catch up with the girls.
We meet at the Philosopher's Path, a little path following a canal lined by hundreds of cherry trees which are desperately struggling to bloom out.
While the cherries in Kyoto are lagging behind, Tokyo's ones are going ahead at full steam. Heading back to the capital that day, we stop at Ueno park to have a look at the place looks like during a typical full blossom day.
The place is filled with people enjoying some Hanami, "the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers", which, judging from the businessmen on the location, can be greatly enhanced by getting drunk on cheap Japanese beer. At night, thousands of lanterns flare up in the darkness, taking the park's beauty to a solid 10 out of 10.
The day after, Rochelle starts feeling some withdrawal symptoms from the last bird-related activity, and thus we head to another branch of the bird cafe to sample their local selection of feathered friends.
Our bird levels, however, are not as high as we would like them to be: we therefore top them up with a visit to the Owl forest in Harajuku.
On the dawn of the last day, we regroup with some friends for a day trip to Enoshima, a small offshore island entirely dedicated to Benzaiten, goddess of music, entertainment, and several other things judging from the amount of wishes and charms hanging on the temple's grounds.
On a cliff overlooking the sea you can find the love bell - which grants wishes to couples. Since I was too busy taking cool pictures, Rochelle had to swing the bell with enough enthusiasm for two people.
A walk around the coastal area grants us rights to brag about experiencing snow and sea on the same holiday.
Our back turned to the island, we drag our exhausted bodies to the nearest Starbucks, a symbol of western culture and grim reminder that our trip to Japan came to and end.
