Jaz Hedgeland

always ❤️‍🔥

How good is sport. We stayed a few extra days to watch Japan’s iconic New Year two-day relay event. Covering 217km from Tokyo to Hakone and back, the course was lined with crowds the whole way. Kye was in his element!

Shirakawa-go is famous for its unique, steeply-thatched gassho-zukuri farmhouses. A small little village tucked away. And the afternoon we visited, it snowed for us. We love Japan 🇯🇵

Attempt 2 for Mt. Fuji viewing was a lot more successful! We were so happy to have sunshine on our last day to get these photos before rushing to the airport for the flight home 🏔️

The first morning of the year was spent strolling around this garden with many locals and other visitors. When we arrived the sun was shining, and as we headed towards the exit it briefly snowed. It was a peaceful start to 2026 💫

We arrived at this Airbnb late at night. The next morning we woke up to see we were amongst a snow covered forest with no one else in sight. It’ll be hard to beat this stay! ☃️

We had a few hours on the train on Jan 1st to get to our next location. Once we arrived, we dropped our bags and walked across the road to the beach, right as the sun was setting. We couldn’t believe the timing. The sky put on a show that we happily watched to close out the first day of 2026 🌅

We had to check out these giants. Ancient Japanese cedar trees lined the snowy path to the Togakushi Okusha Upper Shrine. What a way to start to the day. Watching locals and tourists slide down the steep slippery path to the shrine was a humerous bonus. And the step after I spoke highly of my grippy snow shoes, I landed on my batooty too.

We drove to Mt. Fuji and were a little disappointed when it was hidden behind thick clouds. But then it started snowing and the disappointment was quickly replaced with so much joy. ✨

Tried to capture all the different expressions of these furry little guys. Easily could’ve watched them for hours. The last photo shows you we weren’t alone in wanting to see them! 🐒