Japan Travel Tips & Hidden Gems
Let’s face it. Saitama gets a pretty bad rap. Known to many Tokyoites as little more than a lame bedroom community for the capital, the prefecture is rarely something that foreign tourists even consider visiting. As a big fan of…
Anyone who has done a bit of digging likely already knows that Japan’s capital features an eclectic selection of museums to choose from. No matter where your interests fall, there’s something for everyone in Tokyo whether you’re a hardcore history…
“What the hell am I doing!” I quietly bemoaned to myself as I checked Google Maps for the umpteenth time to make sure I was on the correct course. It was late April and I was traveling the upper rural…
As much as it pains me to write this, I absolutely loathe Osaka these days. This is really saying something as the city once ranked among my all-time favorite places to party. Sadly, much like Kyoto sitting only 30 minutes…
While it pains me greatly to write this, the only place in Chiba Prefecture that most foreign tourists ever really visit is Narita International Airport. This is a real shame as the region is nothing short of a treasure trove…
If you have any pride at all as a fan of anime and manga, you must have heard of the legendary area of Tokyo known as Akihabara by now. After all, this place is basically the geek capital of the…
For the longest time, I have actively asserted that Kanagawa is the most well-rounded of all the prefectures. Between the history of Kamakura, the hot springs and nature of Hakone, and the urban landscape of Yokohama, there’s little that this…
Welcome back to another Japan area guide. As always, I’ll be going incredibly deep to ensure that you, the reader, are equipped with all that you need to know to get off the beaten path. Today we’ll be taking a…
In my journeys across Japan, I have come across two distinct types of places. On the one hand, there are hidden gems like Kanazawa or Atami that are very popular with Japanese tourists but have yet to establish much notoriety…
Welcome back to yet another super in-depth travel guide where I detail all you need to know to get off the beaten path. It certainly has been a while since I’ve published one of these, eh? Ever since I broke…
If you’re anything like me and my fellow Tokyoites, then you absolutely loathe the idea of having to fly in and out of Narita International Airport. After all, the bloody terminals are located over an hour outside of the city’s…
It really grinds my gears when people associate “old Japan” only with the likes of Kyoto and Nara. Yes, I get that the area of the country has developed a brand for itself as the bastion of all things traditional.…
Welcome back to yet another one of my area guides where I go irrationally deep on a single location. Today we’ll be taking an exhaustive look at Okayama Prefecture, the so-called “land of sunshine.” This peculiar moniker comes from the…
Ever since I first published my wildly popular titled The Haunts of Yotsuya, I’ve been itching to do another piece on Japan’s supernatural apparitions. My own interests aside, there’s just something about ghost stories that adds an additional layer to…
Allow me to begin this one by describing an all too common scenario. Imagine the following. You’re speeding along on the bullet train from Tokyo or Kyoto as you make your way to Hiroshima. As the stations roll by, your…