Non Hoi Park – Toyohashi Zoo and Botanical Garden
Aug 21, 2013 By Ray Proper
Non Hoi Park, or the Toyohashi Comprehensive Zoo and Botanical Garden is a garden, natural history museum, and amusement park a couple of hours from Nagoya in Toyohashi City. It makes for a great day trip. "NON-HOI" is something like "Hey" "Hey, hey" or "Hey That" in the local Higashi-Mikawa...[ Click to read more ]
Kawadoko: Riverside Terrace Dining in Kyoto
Jun 14, 2013 By Ray Proper
It’s summer — time for trips! If you’ll be visiting Kyoto this summer, one highly-recommended activity is kawadoko, or river dining. In Japan, eating outside in the summer is popular because finding ways to cool off becomes of paramount importance as the humidity increases. What is Kawadoko? The official name...[ Click to read more ]
Hiking and Hot Springs: Highlights of a Weekend in Nagano
Apr 16, 2013 By Ray Proper
Guest post from Peter Ninnes, author of Nagano Onsen Guide: The Top 100 Day-Use Hot Springs Hiking, Walking and Biking Nagano: 16 Tours in Ueda City and Environs Hiking, Walking and Biking Nagano: 20 Nature, History and Culture Tours in Chikuma City Many expatriates and visitors from overseas visit Nagano...[ Click to read more ]
HimakaJima in Sparkling Mikawa Bay
Mar 26, 2013 By Ray Proper
This article, and HimakaJima itself, caught my attention for various reasons: Chris Glenn knows where the good stuff in Japan is. It is a day trip from Nagoya. It is a day trip to an ISLAND. I like islands and oceans; though technically this is in a sea. The seafood...[ Click to read more ]
Takayama in Gifu Prefecture
Mar 20, 2013 By First Admin
Located in Gifu Prefecture, and surrounded by some of Japan's richest natural areas just below the famous Northern Alps, Takayama is some what isolated and distant. This isolation allowed the city to developed its own distinct culture that combines that of nearby Edo and Kyoto's into a new and interesting...[ Click to read more ]
Ceramics Shopping at the Cera Mall
Nov 12, 2012 By First Admin
The "Cera Mall" is a wholesale pottery shopping park in Tokoname City, on the Chita Peninsula. The area is famous for pottery, and you will find every local variety represented at the Cera Mall; which is the largest outlet in both scale and variety on the Chita Peninsula for ceramics....[ Click to read more ]
The Tokoname Pottery Path
By Ray Proper
[caption id="attachment_3598" align="aligncenter" width="150"] Tokoname Pottery[/caption] The Tokoname Pottery Path, or "Yakimono Sanpomichi" offers views of old traditional houses, workshops, buildings, implements of production, and pottery that typify the character of Tokoname's unique atmosphere. This atmosphere stems from Tokoname's storied history. It was already well-known as a pottery town...[ Click to read more ]
Flea and Farmer’s Markets in Nagoya
Sep 14, 2012 By Ray Proper
Flea Market at Osu Kannon Temple Osu Kannon Temple was moved to its current location by the very late and very great Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1612. The main temple on the site today was reconstructed in 1970. The Flea Market at Osu Kannon is held rain or shine on the...[ Click to read more ]
Utsumi Beach on the Chita Peninsula Near Nagoya
Aug 29, 2011 By Ray Proper
They say Utsumi Beach has the finest sand in the world, but probably only the Japanese say that. It is a great beach though, is well known throughout the Tokai region for its beauty. Its 1.6km length is a nice bow shape, and you can rent parasols and buy beer,...[ Click to read more ]
