Travel guides to help you plan your trip to different destinations in Japan
To be honest, I went to Matsumoto for the soba. Nagano Prefecture produces some of the best soba in Japan so that was my main motivation for visiting this city in the Northern Japan Alps. Of course, I had read about its castle, one of just twelve original castles left standing in Japan. But I … Read more
Don’t let Takayama’s size fool you. This mountain town in Gifu Prefecture may be small, but it’s one of the most captivating destinations you’ll visit in the Chubu region. The first time I went to Takayama, I used it as a base to visit Shirakawa-go, but it didn’t take me long to realize that Takayama … Read more
Osaka is an easy destination to plan for. Nagoya is also easy. Fukuoka and Hiroshima are pretty easy as well. Kyoto is a little more difficult but compared to Tokyo, it’s still relatively easy. Planning a trip to Tokyo can be daunting, and a lot of that has to do with its size. It isn’t … Read more
If you’re visiting Tokyo for the first time, then you’ll probably want to see the usual tourist attractions like Senso-ji, Meiji Shrine, Tsukiji Market, and teamLab Borderless. But what about on your second and third trips to Tokyo? Thankfully, Tokyo is massive, and offers lots to do even for people who’ve been to Japan’s capital … Read more
When visiting any new destination for the first time, going to a city’s top tourist attractions is a given. It’s something most people need to do. But do you know what I enjoy more than snapping a few photos at overcrowded temples and shrines in Japan? Visiting its neighborhoods. Exploring a cool neighborhood and wondering … Read more
Miyajima Island is famous for Itsukushima Shrine and its “floating” torii gate, one of the three most celebrated views in Japan. I took a day trip from Hiroshima to visit the shrine only to find the torii gate completely covered in scaffolding. Little did I know, the famed floating gate had been undergoing a major … Read more
I had just dropped off my bags at my hotel in downtown Kanazawa when I made a beeline for Nagamachi District. I had a fascination for swords and samurais as a kid so seeing an actual samurai district topped my to-do list in Kanazawa. It was grey and rainy that winter morning so my initial … Read more
Hiroshima surprised me. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I had visited Nagasaki a few years before my first trip to Hiroshima. Because of their shared histories, I expected a similar feeling of heaviness from Hiroshima, a sense of joylessness often felt in places with dark histories. But that wasn’t … Read more
I was on a press trip to the Chubu region a few years ago when one of our Japanese guides said “there’s nothing in Nagoya”. I understood what she meant, I had heard it before, though I didn’t agree with her. Before my first trip to Nagoya, I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about visiting this metropolis … Read more
Nagasaki is a strange city. It’s strange in the sense that in many ways, it feels very “un-Japanese”. For one, it doesn’t seem to have the quirks that make Japan the endearingly eccentric country that it is. Things like giant mechanized robots and oddball restaurant concepts are nowhere to be found here. There’s no hi-tech … Read more