Hi! My name is Marie. Welcome to my online diary.
A collection of stories about travel, food, old and new adventures, random thoughts and all things I feel like writing about.
I’ve been living in Japan since 2000, and I want to share my Japan experiences with you through my photos and writing. I love HIKING, CAMPING and anything OUTDOORS. I also enjoy going to CONCERTS and KARAOKE, PAINTING and visiting ART MUSEUMS, playing VOLLEYBALL and reading BOOKS. I’m the type of person who will try anything at least once.
Back in 2020 when I just moved to my current city where I didn’t know anyone, COVID happened— and it really affected how I socialized with people. I became more introverted, and making friends became really difficult. I was alone for about 2 years and didn’t travel for a while.
I’m sure I’m not the only one but making new friends in your 30’s is already hard enough, add the pandemic and moving to a new city on top of that and it was too overwhelming for me.
Fast forward to 2024, I realized that if I struggled even though I have old friends and family spread all over Japan, then imagine how hard it must be for people who just arrived here and don’t know anyone at all? That’s when I decided to start a meet-up group in my area. Eventually, people from different prefectures wanted to join as well so I renamed it Japan Meet-ups & Events.
Here, you can find people to go to events with, travel with, or simply hang out with. And who knows—you might even meet someone special wink wink.
47 Prefectures Bucketlist
Right now, I’m trying to visit all 47 prefectures, and these are the ones I’ve already been to. I always get asked for recommendations on where to go and where to stay, so I decided to write about the places I liked—and the things that went wrong on my trips—so people can avoid the same mistakes.
Click HERE for my trip list.
HIKES/EVENTS
I’ve been hiking for a few years now, but I think I became really obsessed with it this past year. I’m currently trying to hike the Hyakumeizan (100 Famous Mountains), but I’m also open to climbing other mountains. I can go on weekends, and I’m always looking for people to hike with because I’m not comfortable hiking alone yet.
Click HERE for the list of our hikes by prefecture.
Click HERE for the link of my list of Hyakumeizan in google sheets form.
I find it easier to look for which mountain to hike using this because you can search by elevation, region or prefecture.
YT CHANNEL
One of the hardest parts of planning a trip for me is the logistics. Sometimes it’s difficult to visualize how far places are from each other or how to get from point A to point B. That’s why I’m going to post more videos on my YouTube channel to document my hikes and trips—hopefully help you with your planning.
Come find me on YouTube! Just type [ Marie Journals ] and I’ll pop up 😊 I’d really appreciate it if you could subscribe. Thank you in advance!
I’m really shy in front of the camera, so filming videos is definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone—but I hope you enjoy watching them!