My family and I had a great time on our 15-day vacation to Japan this August, and I really enjoyed writing so many posts about it. Although it’s possible to get a page linking to a bunch of blog posts using keywords (like this), for ease of use I think an old-fashioned table of contents… Read More »
On our recent trip to Japan we took over 2000 pictures, the majority on a brand new Olympus TG-4 Tough we purchased just for this occasion. I’ve went through them and selected my top 40 favorites.
Watching Japan’s countryside rush by outside the window of a fast-moving train always mesmerizes me. There is a natural, peaceful beauty to the expansive fields of green, interspersed with homes bearing bright-colored roofs in shades of orange and blue. The land is fairly flat, so in some places you can see far into the distance, as things… Read More »
For the last two days of our 2015 Japan trip, we decided on staying in a hotel in Narita. Though Narita isn’t exactly known for it’s sightseeing, being only 10-15 minutes away from the Narita airport is extremely convenient. The hotel we stayed in, Narita View Hotel (成田ビューホテル), also had shuttle service to the Airport… Read More »
Having only travelled to Japan a handful of times, each only a week or two, I am usually hesitant to make any general claims about their culture. After all, there is always a wide distribution of traits in the people of any country. For example, just because I happened to know a few Japanese guys who were… Read More »
I can remember the days when I first heard about this thing called “sushi” from a friend and gathered up the strength to try some after considerable effort. In the 20 or so years since then, I’ve tried many other types of Japanese cuisine and grown to love nearly all of them (Natto is one… Read More »
Many people who visit Japan for a short time (excluding business trips) are there to see the sights and enjoy the wonderful array of foods the country has to offer. The first time I visited Japan, over 10 years ago, those were my main goals as well. But if you’re heavy into Japan’s culture and language, you’ll want… Read More »
On our recent trip to Japan, we planned to spend a morning in the district of Akihabara (秋葉原), within Tokyo. This area, sometimes called simply “Akiba” is known for it’s many shops of electronic items, games, and maid cafes (cosplay restaurants). Having an interest in robotics, I had planned to visit the Tsukumo Robot Kingdom store,… Read More »
One thing that caught me somewhat off guard in our most recent trip to Japan was the frequent use of the roman alphabet throughout the country. By this I mean the alphabet you are reading now, called romaji (ローマ字) in Japanese. Nearly all location names on road signs, as well as on signs in places… Read More »
Edo Wonderland Besides hanging out in our hotel’s onsen in Nikkou, we spent some time at two other places in the area. The first of these was Edo Wonderland (日光江戸村), a theme park based on the Edo period in Japanese history (1603-1867). This is where much of popular Japanese history comes from, including things like Samurai warriors… Read More »