My love affair with Japan

Sapporo: A flashback to somewhere familarIt's a known fact that I have been away from Seattle for quite a long time and it's been making me homesick.  Yet, when I embarked on this food-tasting journey to Japan, I never expected it to bring me to the familarities and comforts of being home.  The temperature was chilly and the people were friendly.  What I noticed was that it didn't matter that I didn't speak Japanese, it was possible to communicate with smilies. :) How lovely.****************Otaru stopover: Steam Train rideFrom Sapporo to Niseko (Final destination), we needed to take a journey by train.  At the platform, I heard the shrill of a train horn and turned around to be blanketed by a cloud of steam.  It was beautiful to see the train pulling into the platform. Loved it.***************Lovin' NisekoIt's this tiny ski resort town, Simon has told me about it before.  Loads of my celebrity friends go there so I thought it was this expensive unaffordable ski resort with 5-star hotels, everything I desperately want to avoid.  When I arrived, it was a quaint little town with everything cultural written on it.  It reminded me of home... the four clear distinction of seasons, the friendly people (super cute little kid!) , somewhat chilly weather and soothing scenery.  Being there for the food tasting tour, (haha!) we were present for the Annual Niseko Food Tastingevent where 20 hotels participated in preparing food with premium Japanese produce. Best thing, I witnessed the change in seasons in Niseko.  Staying at Freedom Inn, this tiny conceirge hotel fitted with a fireplace and limited rooms, it had such a "home-away-from-home" feeling to it.  This brick building, served as a perfect backdrop against the breathe-taking Niseko scenery.  One day, it was autumn and the next morning, the floor was blanketed in fluffy snow.  The snow is amazing. I couldn't stop playing with it.  The trip was excellent, made some new friends! lovely peopleI love Niseko.************Beauty in Fallen Leaves*So... after that lovely trip to Niseko, went back out to Sapporo to get back to Hong Kong, it was a long trip... I am still really tired. But to go from a snowy place to a colorful city filled with the brown hues of leaves, it was such a wonderful feeling...Japan was an awesome trip.  Love

Niseko, will go back for snowboarding!Who's going?