Well it’s been nearly two years in the planning and there can’t be any of our friends who we haven’t bored with the details, but this time next week we will be boarding a flight for the first leg of our Rugby World Cup 2019 Adventure.

It’s been 19 years since I left Tokyo with just 48 hours’ notice and a chronically sick child. I barely had enough time to throw our toothbrushes and some knickers in a bag, let alone say a proper goodbye to the country which had been our happy home for nearly 5 years. It has always felt like we had unfinished business in Japan, it’s just taken a while for us to get round to it. Life got in the way. Our two Japanese babies are all grown-up (chronically sick child saved by the wonder that is the NHS/John Radcliffe Hospital) and able to fend for themselves, while we renew our love affair with the Land of the Rising Sun.

So the bags are ready to pack, an itinerary of sorts is in place and we have nearly six weeks to play with.

We are going to revisit some of our favourite places, but we are largely travelling south to parts of Japan that are new to us. Let’s not forget there is also the Rugby World Cup 2019 and we have tickets for the following games:

• 22/9/19 Italy v Namibia in Osaka (that day I will be a little bit Italian)
• 26/9/19 England v USA in Kobe (full branch English)
• 2/10/19 New Zealand v Canada in Oita (a little bit Kiwi)
• 5/10/19 Australia v Uraguay in Oita (small Australian streak)
• 9/10/19 Wales v Fiji in Oita (Island credentials to the fore)
• 12/10/19 Ireland v Samoa in Fukuoka (green hat at the ready)
• 19/10/19 QF1 in Oita (tbc)
• 20/10/19 QF2 in Oita (tbc)

Finally there is also the small matter of 21 days in a campervan together. The lack of available hotel rooms on Kyushu was making me anxious, so rather than risk nowhere to sleep, I am instead committed to a very small space. I am reliably informed it has a bed, it’s just one that requires closer proximity to one another than we are currently used to. What could possibly go wrong.