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 […]
21
Feb
Feb
I’ve been in Japan for nearly three decades and I’ve spent a huge chunk of that time travelling around the country. If I could go back and give my younger self a quick pep talk before that first trip, this is what I’d say. Not to plan less, but to plan smarter, and to avoid […]
20
Feb
Feb
Whenever I am on social media, I see these full on itineraries and stories of people making Japan travel mistakes. People trying to do too much in a short space of time. Or simply making innocent errors as they didn’t know any better. So, I decided to write this post to try to save you […]
19
Feb
Feb
If you are searching for underrated places in Japan, you are probably trying to avoid queues, tour buses, and the same five photos everyone else posts. That usually means going beyond Kyoto and Tokyo. It means choosing towns that are not optimised for visitors. Places where dinner finishes early, the bus runs three times a […]