What to Do with One Day in Kobe
Jun 20, 2019 By Justin Hanus
Meat lovers often plan day trips to Kobe just to try its most famous food: Kobe beef. In fact, there is much more to see and do in the city than eat steak. If you only have one day, you’ll need to plan your time carefully to make sure you’re...[ Click to read more ]
Baeren: Morioka’s Beer
Jun 13, 2019 By Jade Brischke
Last month I wrote about my favourite places for craft beer. I half expected to receive death threats for failing to mention what is considered to be THE city’s craft beer: Baeren. The thing is, not mentioning it was deliberate. Some people are going to accuse me of being blasphemous,...[ Click to read more ]
How to Go-kart Through the Streets of Tokyo
May 29, 2019 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 ]
Hiking Mt Mitaki in Hiroshima City
May 27, 2019 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 ]
How Shodo Lessons Will Teach You More Than Calligraphy
May 22, 2019 By Justin Hanus
On the surface, it may seem that shodo is simply a form of Japanese writing. Actually, it is much more than that. The most well-known form of fine art in the country, children begin learning shodo at elementary school. It is also one of the most popular extra-curricular activities. What...[ Click to read more ]
Toyota: The Driving Force Behind Aichi’s Prosperity
Apr 22, 2019 By Bert Wishart
Aichi Prefecture is well known for manufacturing, but there is one company that stands head and shoulders above the rest. The Toyota Motoring Corporation that sprang up from the Aichi city that now bears its name is (by some metrics) the largest automobile producer in the world, and without it,...[ Click to read more ]
2019 Heisei Abdication & Reiwa Coronation
Apr 20, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
Unless you’ve made a concerted effort to avoid Japanese news headlines for the last two years, you already know that the current patriarch of the world’s oldest royal family, Emperor Akihito, will step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne and make way for his son Prince Naruhito to be crowned. A...[ Click to read more ]
Kyoto International Manga Museum
Apr 15, 2019 By Justin Hanus
There’s no better place in the country for fans of manga than the Kyoto International Manga Museum. Visitors have the chance to browse a massive collection of manga that spans three floors, visit exhibitions, and read manga on the museum lawn (weather permitting). The building was formerly an elementary school,...[ Click to read more ]
7 Facts About Ninjas
By Justin Hanus
Everyone is familiar with ninjas. They feature heavily in pop culture both in Japan and in the rest of the world. However, few people know the truth about these warriors — or much of what they think they know is fiction. Learning the critical facts about ninjas is not only...[ Click to read more ]
