{"id":18309,"date":"2020-02-02T17:45:57","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T17:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cakeswithfaces.co.uk\/?p=18309"},"modified":"2020-02-02T17:45:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-02T17:45:59","slug":"look-back-at-japanuary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cakeswithfaces.co.uk\/japan\/look-back-at-japanuary\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back at #Japanuary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Japanuary<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

THANK YOU to everyone who took part in #Japanuary, my Instagram and Twitter challenge about Japan (in January). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was my first time running an Instagram photo challenge. And in fact, the most I’ve ever managed to join in with one has been the first day… Which gives me even greater respect for everyone who managed to post every day! Here are my thoughts and a look back at how it went. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it started<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I first thought of the name Japanuary a few months ago and noted it down in my planner. I loved the name (as you know I’m a fan of puns) and knew I had to do something, but I wasn’t sure what. It was only in the last few weeks of December that I decided what it should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram challenges are where you post every day for a week or a month, with prompts each day. There are lots of small business ones, and sketch \/ doodle challenges like Inktober, where people post drawings every day. Everyone uses the same hashtag, so you can all look through each others’ posts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan turned out to be a perfect theme, as we could all share photos from our trips, chat about what we like about it and get ideas for places to go and things to try. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japanuary Themes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All the details about how it works are here in a separate blog post<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"#Japanuary<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Japanuary Community<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It really felt like a little community. I really enjoyed looking through everyone’s pictures. But the best part was reading the stories behind them, and hearing about all your happy memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was great to find out I’m not the only one with a fascination for vending machines, and it was a relief to know other people get excited about Japanese trains too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really am blown away by how many people joined in. To be completely honest, before I started I genuinely thought it might be just me posting on my own, but I decided to share the themes just in case anyone wanted to join in. I never expected so many people would participate, and carry on posting throughout the entire month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day #28 of @cakeswithfaces #Japanuary challenge is Four Seasons! We ALWAYS love to visit in the Autumn, not only is the weather pleasant and almost akin to a UK Summer, but flavours of sweet potato, pumpkin and chestnut are abundant in sweets, snacks and cakes! This year we took full advantage of visiting in the Autumn to observe Koyo; the turning of the leaves! As we travelled through Tohoku we could see the leaves trying to turn on most trees, much like the Spring it is difficult to guarantee you’ll be there at the height of koyo, but it was fantastic to see some of the vivid colours the trees would exhibit, in fact it’s so popular it was the reason for our three hour bus journey to\/from Oku-Nikko, as so many travel for the season! Autumn is such a fantastic time to visit, I highly recommend it! #japanuary #japanholidaysbestholiday #koyo #fourseasons<\/a><\/p>

A post shared by Charlotte Woolley<\/a> (@cptalbertwesker) on