Start of 2-month Japan trip

I'm in the departure lounge at the Vancouver airport, waiting for my flight to Tokyo. 

This is a big post-retirement trip for me, and I've always wanted to spend an extended time in Japan. In the past, it seems that whenever there was an opportunity to work/study in Japan for a while, something always came up and I decided against it. Now, in retirement, this 2-month trip will be like a mini-version of things I wanted to do.

I will arrive in Tokyo early April, hopefully in time to catch the end of the cherry blossoms.

In Tokyo and in Kyoto, I will be doing some classes in Japanese painting and calligraphy. I found a Japanese ink-painting, or sumie, course through a company called Wabunka. I also found the chance to study with a known Japanese painter in Tokyo, and with a calligrapher in Kyoto, through a company called Vacation With An Artist.

Next I'm doing a 6-day hike called the Kumano-Kodo.

Then, after some travel in Osaka and Miyajima, I will spend one month at a Japanese Language School in Fukuoka. After that I will travel a bit in Kyushu before heading back to Tokyo for the flight home in early June.