Adventures of Anette

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Tokyo: Real Escape Room Asakusa - Escape from The RED ROOM

11:52:00 PM
Escape room games have been gaining popularity in Tokyo during the recent couple of years, and an increasing number of these venues now offer the opportunity to participate in the puzzles using English, making it accessible also to non-Japanese speakers. One of these venues is the Real Escape Room Asakusa, which is conveniently located in Asakusa only a couple of minutes walk away from the famous Sensoji temple. I visited the Real Escape Room Asakusa a little while back with a group of friends, and have written a little bit about my experience below.
*Warning* Some of the images in this post contains potential spoilers for solving the riddle of the Red Room. I have blurred out some of the photos, but if you hover the mouse over these images they will become visible.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

[Hotel Review] Nikko Astraea Hotel in Oku-Nikko - Nikko National Park

10:49:00 PM

Ready for skiing. In the background: Nikko Astraea Hotel
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).

Friday, February 10, 2017

Nikko: A Cross Country Skiing Experience in Oku-Nikko

6:15:00 PM

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").

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Osaka & Kyoto Hotel Special: Grand Opening Hotels 2016 - 2017

8:05:00 PM
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.

Monday, February 6, 2017

NHK E-Tele: "Gretel's Magical Oven" and Norwegian Waffles - グレーテルのかまど「“スプーンおばさん”のワッフル」

11:53:00 PM
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).

Video / ビデオ:

「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!

Related blogposts

Monday, January 30, 2017

Tokyo Hotel Special: 20 Grand Opening Hotels 2016 - 2017

9:49:00 PM
Are you curious about what kind of new hotels that are opening in Tokyo these days? Perhaps you want to stay a night at one of the metropolis’ brand new luxury hotels? Or you are more into funky and unique contemporary theme hotels? In this blog post, I will introduce 20 brand new Tokyo hotels with an opening date in the second half of 2016 and the first half of 2017. I hope you will find them interesting!

See also: 

The hotels below are listed by star rating.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Yokohama Kannai: The Norwegian Bar - Bar Norge (バーノルゲ)

2:12:00 PM
Yokohama is a city that can boost of a long history of trade with the outside world during a time while most of Japan still remained closed. After the Port of Yokohama opened up to foreign ships in 1859 an area of Yokohama known as Kannai (関内) became a particularly popular place to settle down among the foreigners, and to this date their presence has left a mark on the atmosphere of this part of the city.
In Yokohama Kannai you can find among others a number of foreign bars that used to be frequented by foreign sailors, and one of them is the Norwegian bar known as Bar Norge. This bar has a history stretching back to 1972, and is according to word of mouth a bar that was founded by a Norwegian sailor and his Japanese wife. The two of them have long passed away, but the bar was bought by one of their regular customers, and the spirit of the old bar has been kept alive until today.
At the bar you can enjoy a wide range of drinks, most of them not really related to Norway, but if you are up for a real viking drink they do serve some cocktails based on the traditional Norwegian/Scandinavian liquor called akevitt (also known as akvavit or aquavit).
A map of Norway inside the bar
As a Norwegian living in Tokyo this bar is one of the places I like to stop by while in Yokohama. My great-grandfather was actually a sailor too, and he and my great-grandmother lived a couple of years in Nagasaki and Kobe in the early 1970s working for the shipping industry. So who knows, maybe they've even enjoyed a drink or two at this bar during a visit to Yokohama?

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below
Anette

Basic information

  • Bar NORGE (バーノルゲ)
  • ・Address: 〒231-0023 Kanagawa Prefecture, Yokohama, Naka Ward, Yamashitacho, 217
  • ・Opening Hours: 4:00PM - 12:00AM
  • ・Homepage: http://www.bar-norge.com/


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Yokohama Royal Park
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Hotel New Grand
Hotel New Grand
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Hotel Associa Shin Yokohama
Hotel Associa Shin-Yokohama
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Hotel Edit
Hotel Edit Yokohama
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Saturday, January 21, 2017

Monday, January 9, 2017

[Hotel Review] The Bridge Hotel Shinsaibashi in Osaka (ザブリッジホテル心斎橋)

5:59:00 PM
A red bridge in front of the entrance to the Bridge Hotel
The number of tourists to Japan has been nearly exploding during the recent years, and this had led to a wide range of new fancy hotels being built especially catering to the needs of foreign guests. During my annual visit to Osaka for the Toka Ebisu festival I stayed a night at the newly opened The Bridge Hotel Shinsaibashi, a hotel that aims to be a "bridge between Japan and the world".

See also: 

Sunday, January 8, 2017

The American Football Rice Bowl Final in Tokyo Dome 2017 (ライスボウル)

5:24:00 PM
In Japan university sports is a big thing, and some university students can get through their whole university education without almost studying even one bit, often getting excused from their tests and essays in order to fully concentrate on representing their university on the playing field. Different universities usually have different sports they are good at, and for my brother-in-law's university that sport is American football. This has been Taisei's forth and last year in university, and in the beginning of January he was one of the lucky players representing Kwansai Gakuin University's team Fighters in the 70th final of the American Football Japan Championship - also known as the " Rice Bowl" - in Tokyo Dome.

About Me

Adventures ofAnette


A modern day shield-maiden who loves to explore the unbeaten paths of the world. From her base in Tokyo, Anette takes on both rural and urban challenges, and goes by the motto "No challenge too big, no adventure too small"!
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