Sharing favorite finds from across the archipelago
Happy 2020, blog readers … if there are indeed any of you left out there. 😉 It's true, I spend more of my time "microblogging" these days - I'm much more active on the Uncover Japan facebook page and I've even started Instagramming. I certainly neglect this blog much more than I write on it,... Continue Reading →
Though I've lived in Japan for almost 9 years, I've luckily never experienced a major earthquake. Sure, we've had the odd minor tremble here and there but during the major disasters of the last decade (Tohoku in 2011, Kumamoto in 2016), we were always living in a distant part of the country. In a country... Continue Reading →
While I missed the bulk of the New Years celebrations this year, thanks to a timely announcement from my good friend and comrade-in-travel Excursions Japan, I attended my first ever hashigo-nori performance at Tokyo's Ikegami Honmonji Temple. Hashigo-nori is essentially a series of acrobatic contortions performed at the top of a 6-meter high bamboo ladder. The... Continue Reading →
Back in my university years, one of my roommates convinced me one summer that we should enroll in a yoga class. At that time, yoga was not the massive lifestyle craze that it's since become and I'd never personally taken the plunge. Our instructor was a 6 foot tall man with a soothing voice and... Continue Reading →
Just this past weekend, I braved the heat and made a pilgrimage to Kyoto for a solo adventure. I'm not really a fan of traveling Japan in the summertime but I never turn down the chance to get in a chance to visit one of my favorite cities in the world. Having so much time... Continue Reading →
I've been known to make sushi at home on occasion but, given how affordable it is here in Japan, I've gotten too used to having others do all the work while I, ahem, eat the spoils. 🙂 But when a friend of mine arranged a group cooking class at Arigato Japan this past weekend, I... Continue Reading →
The past few weeks have seen a lot of visitors, a LOT of eating and a lot of exposing ourselves to new things that we don't normally do. That happened to include a visit to the Maidreamin Maid Cafe. I've never had a strong desire to visit a maid cafe but I have been a bit curious... Continue Reading →
If you're visiting Shuri Castle in Naha, the capital city of Okinawa, I highly recommend you detour just five minute's to the west to the fantastic hands-on arts center of Shuri Ryusen. Shuri Ryusen focuses on the traditional Okinawan art of bingata. I wrote a little bit about bingata itself in a Crash Course the... Continue Reading →
Think geisha are only in Kyoto? So did I once upon a time. In the intervening years, I've learned that cities like Kanazawa, Tokyo and even Atami on the Izu Peninsula boast their own geisha communities. Most of the opportunities to meet an actual geisha occur only in Kyoto but an enterprising organization in Tokyo... Continue Reading →
I have long had a fascination with wagashi, Japan's traditional confectionary, though it took me several years to actually get the acquired taste for them. I never had more than a passing desire to make them, however, until I saw that Ayuko of Buddha Bellies Cooking School Tokyo was offering a hands-on tutorial of the sweets... Continue Reading →
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