Most people who go to Takayama never make it to Hida Furukawa, even though it sits just up the train line. That’s a shame, because Furukawa has the same white walled storehouses and old merchant streets as Takayama, without the crowds. Locals sometimes call it the quiet twin of Takayama, and once you’ve walked both […]
10
Jul
Jul
I first came to Japan in 2000. A year later, in 2001, I visited Kobe for the first time and absolutely loved it. Since then, I’ve been back to Kobe and the surrounding areas of Hyogo Prefecture many, many times. I’ve always said that if I could turn the clock back, I’d probably move to […]
06
Jul
Jul
You have one spare day in Takayama, and the same two names keep coming up. Hida no Sato and Shirakawa-go both have traditional thatched roof houses, but they are not the same kind of day out. If you want the easier, calmer choice, go to Hida no Sato. If you came for that famous valley […]
02
Jul
Jul
Transport fares, bus schedules, and service windows verified against current timetables. Confirm specific connections before travel as rural services update seasonally. If you have already figured out that the Kiso Valley deserves more than a day trip, you are ahead of most people who research this region. The next question is harder, and it is […]
13
Jun
Jun
Most first-time visitors still treat Nagoya as a place to pass through between Tokyo and Kyoto. The Shinkansen stops there. Some people check bags at a coin locker, spend a couple of hours in the city, and move on. Others do not get off the train at all. In 2026, that may become harder to […]
13
May
May
If you are weighing up Takayama vs Kanazawa and feel short on time, here is the simple version. Most first time visitors to Japan are better off choosing Kanazawa. Choose Takayama instead if you want mountain scenery, Hida beef, access to Shirakawa go, or a slower rural pace. That is not a knock on Takayama. […]
08
May
May
The short answer: Yes, Hida-takayama is worth visiting if you want a genuinely preserved Edo-period merchant town with excellent food and proper alpine scenery. But if you’re on a tight first trip of seven to ten days, the travel time alone should give you pause. Getting there takes a full day out of your schedule, […]
06
May
May
The thing nobody tells you before deciding which Japan cruise ports to visit, is how fast six hours disappears. Your ship pulls in, you clear the gangway, and suddenly it is mid-afternoon. You are calculating whether you have time for one more stop before you need to be back aboard. Getting this wrong does not […]
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 […]