One of the greatest things about traveling to Japan is the way baths are enjoyed. Aside from the awesomeness that is the bath in a person’s home, sometimes people enjoy a trip out to a public bath, or if they are lucky enough to live within a few hours of an onsen or hot spring,…
One of the greatesst places to visit in Japan is Hiroshima. There are beautiful sites, natural places to hike, historical monuments and museums, and great regional foods. One of Hiroshima’s greatest attractions is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, called the “Genbaku Dome” in Japanese. Beginning August 6th, 2011 in Japan which is the evening of August…
The O-bon or Bon Festival in Japan is definitely something summer travelers to Japan want to have marked on their calendars. There are both good things about being in Japan, but also some things to be aware of if traveling around this time of year. Some things to be aware of: Many people in Japan…
After the Tohoku Earthquake, the Tsukiji Fish Market, a great place to see where your sushi and other foods get their start, and to gain a great appreciation for the way a fish auction works in Japan, was closed to tourists out of concerns for their safety. The market has banned visits from tourists in…
One trip that I feel is worth the money if you are in Japan for any significant amount of time is a trip to Hokkaido. Hokkaido has wonderful hot springs, food, and natural wonders (yes, wonders!). The difficulty of a trip to Hokkaido is that everything is very spread out and it may be a…
I just read through a great article (in Japanese) that gives advice to people about how to take great pictures of the cherry blossoms at night. There is a lot of basic advice for using the white balance and experimenting with your cameras automatic settings, but the site also features some nice photos of cherry…
If you are lucky enough to be in the Kobe area for the cherry blossom season, there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of places you can go. Actually, I will be writing a lot about places outside of Kobe and toward the western side of the Kansai region here because some of the best places to…
This is coming from a lot of experience getting a lot of strange looks during many years living and faux pas-ing in Japan. 1. Don’t Think About Soup I’ve brought non-Japanese friends to a very nice Sento, or public bathhouse, and heard the inevitable reference to “sitting in an old guy soup”. “The only thing…
When you go to Japan to order sushi, you can go to one of the “kaiten” sushi places where the sushi goes around on a conveyer belt, and usually costs about 100 yen or so per plate (usually with two pieces of sushi per plate). This is a very cheap way to get your fill,…
In comments on my previous post, people seemed interested in “Yozakura” or night hanami. Viewing cherry blossoms at night can be a nice evening outing and also a good contrast to cherry blossom viewing in the daytime. There are tons of places, and if you stay in a hotel, I’m sure the staff can guide…
UPDATE (FEB 4, 2011): tenki.jp has reduced it’s annual Japan cherry blossom forecast for 2011, a screenshot of which is below. It looks like Tokyo is on the line for blooming in March, and we are looking at the turn of the month for most of Japan. Fukuoka, Kochi, and warmer climates seem to have…
Monday, January 10th will be Coming of Age Day, also known as Adult’s Day in Japan. It is the day that young people celebrate officially becoming adults. Traditionally they gather at their hometown City Hall wearing very fine kimonos, suits, or other fashionable clothing. In larger cities, they gather at local ward offices. Since new…