As some of you know, I was away during the Christmas and New Year's break. I am very fortunate to have traveled to none other than Japan for a holiday! It was my third time visiting the country, and I loved every moment of it.

Rather than gush on about how much I enjoyed my holiday, I figured to share some pictures instead. Because if a picture if worth 1,000 words, then me sharing these photos would mean I've written 17k words, right?

So sit back, relax, and join me on a journey that all began here...

I love flying. I am prone to altitude sickness, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the excitement of traveling from one location to another. Even domestic flights make me excited.

Arriving in Japan a week before Christmas meant the opportunity to gaze upon some beautiful light displays. Christmas is not a major holiday in Japan, but the country still gets lit up with an amazing array of decorations to celebrate the occasion. That's a train station, by the way.

Beautiful scenery enchants me, so I took every opportunity to play the part of the tourist and take photos of pretty scenes. Like this iconic torii gate, Itsukushima Shrine. During high tide it looks like it is floating on water.

It seemed like there was a mascot for everything. Check out this awesome mascot for the port of Kobe in Kobe City.

Oh god, the food. I miss the food the most. Pictured above is a meal from a Japanese curry place in Osaka that specialises in customising curry to your tastes. I ate a lot in Japan. It felt like everyday was just a new culinary adventure which would result in delicious fooding...

... and eating...

...followed by more eating...

...and more eating...

...with a dessert break thrown in for good measure...

...to finish with some food.

But it's not just about food. I was also able to indulge my other great passion in life - gaming. Spending hours at arcades which spanned whole buildings, with floors dedicated to different genres - there's nothing like it.

Seeing the embrace of anime/gaming culture made me feel at home. It's something I don't really experience in Australia, outside of attending conventions etc.

Even with the fast cities and slick tech, the country has a lot of history to look at. The above is one of my favourite temples to visit in Kyoto. Yes, the top two floors are covered in pure gold leaf.

Snow! Snowsnowsnow! As you can imagine, a group of Australians experiencing snowfall (most of them for the first time) resulted in a lot of impromptu snow fights. Snow is awesome, although cold is not!

We even practiced teamwork in creating our very first snowman.

Camouflage.

I love traveling to other countries, and Japan was no exception. Hope you enjoyed the pictures (I culled them down from a thousand photos).

Happy new year everyone!