Japan has a well-worn family itinerary and most visitors follow it without thinking too hard. Tokyo for the theme parks, Kyoto for the temples, Osaka for the food. All three are worth visiting and none of them are wrong choices, but they share a problem that only becomes apparent once you are actually there with […]
12
Apr
Apr
Most visitors to Nagoya spend their time at Nagoya Castle, eat miso katsu, and head straight for Kyoto on the shinkansen. That is their loss. Less than an hour south of the city, the Chita Peninsula stretches down into Ise Bay and offers a completely different side of Aichi Prefecture. There’s a thousand-year-old pottery town. […]
09
Apr
Apr
The first time many Western travellers come back from Japan, they feel vaguely cheated. Not because the trip was bad, but because somewhere between the queues at Fushimi Inari and the crowds at Dotonbori, they got the nagging sense that the real country was right there, just one or two train stops past where everyone […]
08
Apr
Apr
You have spent months planning this trip, maybe longer. Your flights are booked, your accommodation is confirmed, and your countdown has started. Somewhere underneath the excitement sits a quiet worry about those first few hours. On arriving in Japan, you picture yourself jet-lagged and disoriented. Surrounded by signs you cannot read, making expensive mistakes before […]
05
Apr
Apr
If you’ve done Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka and you’re planning a return trip that actually surprises you, you already know the problem. Every itinerary online leads to the same cities. Most places earn their English write-up long after the interesting work is done, leaving copy-and-paste recommendations clustered around the same handful of stops. A while […]
Life
Japan Is One of the Safest Countries on Earth. So Why Are Its Students Being Recruited Into Crime?
27
Mar
Mar
If you have spent any time following Japan, you have probably absorbed something close to gospel about the place. It is extraordinarily safe, streets are clean, people are honest, and the idea of ordinary young people sliding into organised crime feels about as likely as cherry blossoms blooming in January. That picture is not entirely […]
24
Mar
Mar
There is a moment, usually in a Japanese convenience store, when you pick up a bottle, read the label, and realise that nobody at the naming meeting spoke English. Or if they did, they had a very good sense of humour. You stand there for a second, look around to confirm that this is a […]
13
Mar
Mar
Eating well in Japan does not require guesswork, local contacts, or blowing your budget. Reliable, good quality meals are built into daily life, and they remain affordable even after recent price rises. If you know which chains to use and when to use them, you can eat properly for the price of a coffee in […]
26
Feb
Feb
Thirty years in Japan and I still can’t get a straight answer out of most travel guides. Ask them what to do if you’re not into temples and shrines and they’ll give you a list that starts with a different temple or a castle. Then some shopping. Then, inevitably, a food tour near a shrine. […]
25
Feb
Feb
I remember standing in front of Fushimi Inari on a Tuesday morning, thinking I’d beaten the crowds by arriving early. I hadn’t. There were already hundreds of people there, selfie sticks raised, shuffling through the torii gates in a slow-moving queue. Somewhere behind me, a tour guide was explaining the significance of the shrine to […]