Tag: japan
Kyoto: Nishiki Market
One of our favorite sights in Kyoto was the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Its maze of bright orange torii were donated to the Shinto deity Inari to give thanks for success in business, industry or other endeavors. Inari is also...
Kyoto and Nara
Kyoto is in most ways a very average large Japanese city. Bulky, gray buildings and power lines dominate the skyline and malls and subways bustle with commerce and traffic. Even Gion, the famed geisha district, is, aside for a...
Tsumago
Tsumago began as a post town, developing around a core of facilities for travelers between Tokyo and Kyoto. After it was bypassed by the railway, it turned to tourism to restore some of its former prosperity, and now you...
Fake Food
One kind of food that is particularly easy to find in Japan is the fake kind. We saw food made of fabric, of plastics, of resin and of foam, food designed to hang from your cellphone, sit in your...
Nikko and Utsonomiya
Nikko is a popular day trip from Tokyo, and it makes an excellent break from the crowding and rushing of the city. The weather was crisp on the day we visited, and the sun sifted brightly through tall evergreens,...
Tokyo: Eating In
In Tokyo, we rented an apartment to save a little money on both accommodation and food. (Although Tokyo nevertheless tore a hole in our budget that you could drive a shinkansen through.) I spent a significant amounts of time...
Takayama and Nozawa Onsen
From Fukuoka, we headed into the mountains, and spring turned back to a chilly drizzle. In Takayama, the sun, breaking through the clouds, left the blacks and whites of the Meiji-era buildings sharp and gleaming, their contrast heightened by...
Fukuoka and Dazaifu
Our first stop in Japan was Fukuoka, a pleasant city that felt very bright and clean in the early-spring warmth. Fukuoka may sound more familiar to some if I mention that what is today Fukuoka was once two cities:...
