Hello, my name is Grace. If you have been following me and my blogging journey since I lived in Dubai and surprised what’s going on in here, YOU ARE NOT LOST.

I used to blog under the name, “Sandier Pastures” since 2007 but our current life situation has prompted me to say goodbye to my old blog name and think of something new. I came up with, “Finding Backroads”.

BRIEF BACKGROUND STORY

I first came to Japan as a student in 1996 and stayed until fate took me and my family to live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in January 2007. We got sucked in by the city’s charm and comfortable lifestyle for eleven long years. In 2017, we realized that while we enjoyed the lifestyle we had in the big city, it didn’t fit with what we wanted for our kids anymore that’s why we left Dubai, to ‘normalize’ and live a slower, more mindful life in Japan, at my husband’s countryside hometown.

(We felt it was also time the kids learn about their culture, tradition and language that’s part of what they are.)

I blog about travel, lifestyle and recently, our life in the Japanese countryside.

WHY FINDING BACKROADS?

Simply because,  I love backroads and ‘finding backroads‘ is my travel style. And my husband’s too.

When road tripping, we tend to explore hidden corners and take the back road because most of the time, that’s where the scenic views are. Before we put up our smart phones and fire up Google maps, we wander and in turn discover places entirely ours!

WHY FOLLOW MY BLOG?

Because I share stories about the back roads we’ve taken, personal authentic travel experiences + you might want to know about another side of Japan aside from the big, bright cities of Tokyo or Osaka.

Join us as we share our backroad travel adventures and things we’ve learned along the way. We hope you’ll find interesting and useful information to help you plan your own Japan backroads trip –  you may find something that I can help you with – be it with location suggestions or with creating an itinerary or even helping you navigate your way through Japan in a trip you can truly call your own!