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• All blogposts from Tokyo
• All blogposts about hotels
• Tokyo Hotel Special: 20 Grand Opening Hotels 2016 - 2017
• Tokyo Hotel Special: 2015 & 2016 Brand New Tokyo Hotels
• Lodging in Tokyo: 10 Unique Budget Hotels for an Unforgettable Stay
• Osaka & Kyoto Hotel Special: Grand Opening Hotels 2016 - 2017
• All blogposts about Japanese hotels/ryokan
• Hotel / Ryokan Reviews
• Chichibu: Heritage Minoyama Ryokan
• Gunma: Kusatsu Onsen Nisshinkan
• Hokkaido: New Furano Prince Hotel
• Nagano - Yudanaka: Aburaya Tousen Ryokan
• Niigata: Shikinoyado Minoya
• Nikko Astraea Hotel in Oku-Nikko - Nikko National Park
• Osaka: The Bridge Hotel Shinsaibashi
• Saitama: Heiseirou Onsen Health Center 
• Smarter Hotel Booking: Agoda Secret Deal
• Getting you the Best Hotel Rates: Agoda Insider Deals
• Hotel Time Sales
• All blogposts from Japan 

During a recent trip to Nikko we had the pleasure of staying a night at Nikko Astraea Hotel, also known as Kotoku Onsen Nikko Astoria Hotel. This hotel is located in Oku-Nikko (奥日光, lit. "inner" Nikko), a place that is situated within the Nikko National Park. With nothing else than forest in sight the location was excellent for enjoying the great outdoors, and for this trip our main purpose of the stay was to try out their cross-country skiing trails (I've written a separate post about cross country skiing in Nikko here).

Although Japan is most known for downhill skiing (you can check out all my blogposts about skiing in Japan here) there are some places where it is possible to try out cross country skiing as well. Last weekend I had the opportunity to try out cross country skiing in Nikko thanks to an event organised in leadership of former ambassador of Japan to Norway, Mr. Kawai. The event took place at Koutoku (光徳) in Oku-Nikko (lit. "Inner Nikko").

The number of tourists visiting the famous Japanese cities Osaka and Kyoto is increasing rapidly these days, and with the huge increase in number of visitors comes a number of new hotels ready to cater to these tourists needs with their Japanese omotenashi service. In this post I introduce a list of 12 brand new hotels scheduled to open in Osaka and Kyoto in 2016 and 2017, and I hope you will find them interesting!

Tokyo Hotels: I have also written about newly opening/opened hotels in the capital city Tokyo. You can find an overview of hotels that opened in the second half of 2016 and the first half of 2017 here, and hotels that opened in the second half of 2015 and the first half of 2016 here. I have also written a post about fancy low budget accommodations in Tokyo here.

The hotels below are listed by star rating.

NHKのEテレの番組「グレーテルのかまど」でワッフルパーティの収録に協力しました。番組をきっかけにノルウェーに興味を持ってくれる人が増えますように～。番組の一部をこの下に共有しますので、ご興味がある方はぜひご覧になってください。

A little while ago me and some friends had the chance to participate in the making of an episode about Norwegian waffles and the stories about the fictional Norwegian character Mrs. Pepperpot. It was aired today on a program called Gretel's Magical Oven (Gureteru no kamado / グレーテルのかまど), and you can find parts of the episode below in this post (Japanese only).

「スプーンおばさん」にも登場する、ノルウェーの国民的おやつと言えば、愛らしいハート型が特徴のワッフル。チーズとチョコレート、2種類のトッピングでお楽しみあれ！世界中で親しまれている、ノルウェー発の「スプーンおばさん」。ひょんなことから、スプーンほどのサイズに小さくなってしまうおばさんの冒険物語。作中にも登場する、ノルウェーの国民的おやつが、ワッフル！薄くてしなやか、ほのかに香るカルダモン、そして何よりも、愛らしいハートの形。おばさんお得意の一品に、ヘンゼルも挑戦。ノルウェー伝統のトッピングと、オリジナルのふわふわガナッシュで、何枚でも食べられちゃう！

• All blogposts from Tokyo
• All blogposts about Norwegian stuff abroad
• Yokohama : Norwegian Skolebolle in World Porters
• Yokohama Kannai: The Norwegian Bar - Bar Norge (バーノルゲ)
• Norway Food Festival in Tokyo!
• Tokyo Cafes: Cafe Fuglen - Norwegian style Coffee & Vintage Furniture
• Norwegian 17. May Celebration in Tokyo 2014 - 東京でのノルウェー憲法記念日
• Norway Yumenet Presentation in Tokyo (Norsk Salong)
• Japan Hardanger Club (日本ハルダンゲルクラブ) Performance at the Norwegian Embassy
• Norway in Japan: Arne & Carlos Knitting Event
• Celebrating Norway's National Day at the Embassy in Tokyo!
• NHK on Norwegian Slow TV／NHK放送：ノルウェーのスローテレビ
• NHK E-Tele: "Gretel's Magical Oven" and Norwegian Waffles
• The Norway-Japan Society: Yakatabune Dinner Cruise on the Tokyo Bay (屋形船)
• ZIP！（アレナニ？）Norway and the World Happiness Report 世界幸福度ランキング ”世界一幸福” ノルウェーどんな国？