July Festivals Around Nagoya and Beyond
Jun 13, 2019 By Mark Guthrie
Though the air is getting hot and sticky and permanently filled with the perma-drone of cicadas, July is perhaps one of the best months in Japan (and not just because it's my birthday). That's July marks the beginning of the matsuri [festival] season. It is a time when local communities...[ Click to read more ]
Cycle Routes Near Nagoya
May 29, 2019 By Mark Guthrie
With the Giro d'Italia already underway and the Grand Tours of France and Spain soon to come, you may be feeling inspired to get on your road bike and put some kilometers in your legs. However, living in the middle of the city you may feel like there is nowhere...[ Click to read more ]
How to Go-kart Through the Streets of Tokyo
By Jason Gatewood
If you’ve been in Tokyo’s tourist areas for just a few hours, you might have caught a glimpse of a fleet of go-karts with costume-clad drivers speeding through the streets. Even if you haven’t seen them up close, you may have heard of them or even caught them all over...[ Click to read more ]
Cool Biz – What is it, and Where Can You Get It?
By Mark Guthrie
The summer has felt upon us for some time now, with the thermostat rising as quickly as the humidity, and although officially the season does not begin until June 22, for many businesses summer started from the end of the Golden Week holiday. That is because the first day of...[ Click to read more ]
Best Ice Cream shops in Tokyo
May 27, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
Summertime in the Metropolis gets really hot and humid, bordering what you’d find in many subtropical locations. While it’s easy to find relief in the form of sitting underneath the aircon at home, having a one-hour go on the Yamanote Line’s new trains (whilst avoiding the “weak air conditioned car!),...[ Click to read more ]
Round One Spocha is the mother of all game centers
By Jason Gatewood
What place in Japan has a gazillion flashy lights, dazzling video screens, ear-busting loud noises and is teeming with people pressing their luck on games of chance and skill? Nope, not the pachinko parlor, but a more wholesome (maybe) way of sinking your hard-earned yen into oblivion: Game Centers. These...[ Click to read more ]
Out Drinking in Hiroshima
By Hugh Cann
You have had a great week and want to celebrate, or possibly it was one of those weeks that felt like a string of Mondays one after the other and you just want to have a quiet drink and put it behind you. Here are some suggestions for places to...[ Click to read more ]
Hiking Mt Mitaki in Hiroshima City
By Hugh Cann
The best hike within Hiroshima City is a great bush hike to the summit of Mt Mitaki on the outskirts of the city. Mt Mitaki is best known for Mitaki-dera (三瀧寺), an historic Japanese temple nestling on the mountainside, a very short but entirely well worthwhile journey from Hiroshima city...[ Click to read more ]
The Mazda Museum in Hiroshima – More Than You’d Expect
By Hugh Cann
Amongst the museums, galleries, and attractions you will find in Hiroshima, perhaps one of the more surprisingly interesting is the Mazda Museum. In fact, it may well be news to you indeed that the Mazda brand originated in Hiroshima and where the Mazda Motor Corporation, founded in Hiroshima in 1920,...[ Click to read more ]
Let’s Tour: Yokocho Drinking Alleys
May 25, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
Japan is very adept at making sure its past is preserved while building the future in terms of architecture at the city level. It is very common to see a new building complex go up right next door to a 200+ year old temple complex in many cities, even in...[ Click to read more ]
