Reasons to Travel to Hokkaido Few people outside Asia undertake the journey to reach Japan’s northernmost territory and natural heaven, Hokkaido. The island is the second largest in Japan, but the least inhabited, which makes it a soothing respite from the crowded urban zones of Tokyo and Osaka. Whether you’re looking for sunshine and summer […]
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Tips for using a Japan Rail Pass The Japan Rail Pass is an excellent value. It’s what helped me save $1249 traveling around Japan. But there are some rules you need to know and advice to heed from someone who’s used the pass. These tips for using a Japan Rail pass will help you get
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Fushimi Inari Shrine The bright vermilion Torii gates of Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto are a unique place among the old Japanese capital’s many temples, shrines, and other sites. They are beloved by Japanese as the most important of numerous Inari shires around Japan and by foreigners for the serene atmosphere they create. Thousands of
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Yamadera Temple Japan About a 20-minute train ride north of Yamagata, Japan, Yamadera Temple (Hōjusan Risshaku-ji Temple) clings to the side of a steep cliff. Pilgrims and tourists alike walk the path through old-growth trees, where beams of sunlight reach the mossy rocks and little shrines and lanterns that are situated along the route. The
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Photo of the Week: View of Mt Fuji and Tokyo Tower at Sunset One of my best moments in Tokyo happened unexpectedly. I took the elevator up to the 16th floor lobby of the Mitsui Garden Hotel, which looks out over a splendid view of Tokyo. In one direction, the high rises were lit
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Industrial Tourism Tokyo Japan It’s an oft-overlooked fact that Tokyo is a city by the sea, and to be honest, it’s easily done. Visitors to the world’s largest urban area spend most of their time trying to keep from drowning in an ocean of metropolitan pleasures that encompass the mad kaleidoscope of rabid
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Headed West: Rural Travel in Japan’s Noto Peninsula It’s easy to get caught up in the industrial/entertainment juggernaut that is the East Coast of Japan. The mind-bending neon and manga inspired mayhem are all consuming and distract from the fact that Japan has a West Coast, too. So it comes as a surprise
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Nankinmachi in Kobe, Japan After Japan was bullied out of its self-imposed isolation in the mid 19th Century, the port city of Kobe in southern Honshu became one of the nation’s first cities to reluctantly open its doors to the outside world. The usual hotchpotch of merchants, empire architects, bon vivants, and religious crusaders rocked-up
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The world’s largest urban area is an unlikely place to find an abundance of incredible parks and gardens, but by using the apps developed at GPSmyCity.com, visitors to Tokyo will be able to discover an amazing range of green spaces hidden among the city’s neon canyons. Whether you want to join the throngs at
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Most visitors to Japan gravitate to the East Coast industrial belt that stretches from Tokyo all the way down to Hiroshima. Which is fine, as it leaves more space for the rest of us to enjoy the West Coast. Kanazawa is one of the biggest cities in the West, and is a rare urban phenomenon
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