Sharing favorite finds from across the archipelago
Japan is well-known for its traditional gardens but I've recently discovered that its botanical gardens can be equally impressive. On a recent trip to Kochi Prefecture in Shikoku in late March, I spent an afternoon exploring the vast grounds of the Makino Botanical Garden, which enjoys a superb location on Mt Godai just a short... Continue Reading →
Bear with my continued Okinawa obsession this week. I really don't know where it's coming from. It's enough to even make me trot off to the grocery store for some goya (bitter gourd) to make champuru (stir fry). If you've ever tasted goya, you know just how serious this obsession is becoming. 🙂 Anyway, in trying to... Continue Reading →
I always try to go to Tokyo in June. It's one of my favorite times of year, flower-wise, and Tokyo has the best concentration of gardens I know of where one can enjoy irises and hydrangeas in their rainy season glory. I wanted to visit the Harajuku and Omote-sando neighborhood to get more pictures and... Continue Reading →
While Tokyo city has its own manhole cover - and a rather dull sakura themed one at that - keeping an eye on the ground can often turn up a different pattern beneath your feet. Case in point, the manhole cover below that I found one day in Hamarikyu Garden: It's not terribly exciting, I'll give... Continue Reading →
Back in the summer, I managed to get in a trip to the first (for me) of Japan's top three gardens - Korakuen, in Okayama City. While I enjoyed the visit and thought the garden was lovely, I wasn't sure if it really deserved the moniker of "top 3". (There was a bit too much... Continue Reading →
Whew! What a busy week and a half it has been. For those of you who follow me on Facebook (simply search Uncover Japan), you'll know that I've spent the last ten days exploring central Japan. I got to revisit Takayama, one of my favorite small towns in Japan, and ventured to Shirakawa-go and Kanazawa... Continue Reading →
There are thousands of temples in the greater Kyoto area, more than a person can ever hope to see even in several years of living in the city. So what makes Saihoji - also known as Kokedera, or the Moss Temple - so special? And why am I putting it under the "Experience" category. Read... Continue Reading →
I'm just back from a lovely weekend in Kyoto where I thankfully managed to miss the worst of the masses of cherry blossom viewers. The blooms weren't out yet, except for a few lovely trees in Gion and at the Imperial Palace, but the city still looked as attractive as ever. I haven' t touched... Continue Reading →
Welcome to tea week! No, there's no official pronouncement anywhere that makes this week the one to celebrate all things chado (the way of tea) related, but a quick glance through some of my old pictures the other night reminded me of one of my favorite experiences of the past three years - leading the tea... Continue Reading →
Japan is a seafood nation and rightly so. Being made up of over 4000 islands, we kinda have a lot of water here. But Kyoto is a landlocked city and for centuries, the transport of truly fresh fish from Japan’s coasts through the country’s mountainous interior was impossible. As a result, Kyoto was forced to... Continue Reading →
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