Unfortunately driving in japan is not always the fastest way to get from one point to another. We had left Tokyo behind after we had collected our car at Shinagawa station from Nissan Rental. The first part along the motorway we made good progress – having learned our lesson during our first trip.

A few kilometres before the outskirts of Shimoda, traffic started to improve and me made better progress. Once we turned the last bend we could see Shimoda’s bay and port ahead of us. Shortly after crossing the river we reached the train station and a block further on we turned off, onto the road that took us to our ...

I love the photo of the “stuffies” looking out the back window of the car. The “crew” still travels with us and of course they want to enjoy the scenery too. Somehow I never thought of Japan as having beach resorts. I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise since it’s got lots of coastline.