Tohoku’s Kizuna Festival Raucously Blends Six Great Traditions
Tanabata Festival in Sendai
Japanese festivals are raucous and joyful events, filled with noise and songs. For a...
Myoshin-ji Temple and Taizo-in’s Garden: Kyoto’s Past, Perfectly Preserved.
Although much of Kyoto city's architectural and cultural history has skyrocketed in popularity in the last five years, many almost 'undiscovered' sites...
Tofuku-ji Temple: Mirei’s Modernism in the Heart of Kyoto
Japan's abundance of breathtaking gardens makes it a promised land for plant lovers and landscapers alike. The problem is, which gardens should...
Aizuwakamatsu: An Overnight Stay in the Samurai City
The name Fukushima still carries negative associations after the tragic nuclear disaster in 2011. Ten years on and tourism is still rather...
Experience Old-fashioned Tokyo on a Walking Tour Of Yanaka
On any given day, you can count on the main tourist areas of Tokyo to deliver a cacophony of light and sound...
Super Tamade! Osaka’s Balls-Out Supermarket Experience.
The first visit to any Japanese supermarket is always exciting. The abundance of the same foods you pay a fortune for back...
Higanbana Flower Viewing at Kinchakuda in Saitama
While most people associate spring with flowers, there are plenty of lovely blossoms blooming throughout autumn in Japan as well. My favorite...
Love Thy Neighborhood: The Complex History of Osaka’s Nishinari District
At night, from atop the vertiginous heights of the Abeno Harukas mega-tower, the lights of Osaka shine to the horizon, almost into...
The Most Stylish Buddha in Japan gets a Fashionable Upgrade during Sakura Season
The 18m tall Great Buddha (daibutsu) statue in Konan, Aichi prefecture is somewhat affectionately known as the “Great Buddha with Sunglasses”. That’s...
Hozan-ji Temple: in the Mountains of Ikoma, Nara’s Hidden Wonder.
Hozan-ji is in many ways the embodiment of a perfect Japanese experience, in miniature. The otherworldly mountain temple complex is largely unknown...