Struggling with figuring out where to stay in Tokyo? I totally get it. There are so many neighborhoods and hotels to...
Japan Articles
15 Surefire Tips for Planning Your First Trip to Japan
Preparing for a trip to Japan can be more overwhelming than preparing for a trip anywhere else in the world. You’ve...
Takayama Itinerary: Travel Back in Time to Old Japan (2024)
When you visit Takayama, it feels like you’re stepping back to a time when Japan was ruled by shoguns and samurai....
Kyoto Itinerary 4 Days: A City of a Million Temples
Does Kyoto really have a million temples? Actually, it only has 1,600 temples. But when I was in Kyoto, it sure felt like a million. Even before I...
The 4 BEST Day Trips from Tokyo
Looking to take one or more day trips from Tokyo, but don’t know where to go? It can be confusing. Lots of blogs list 10 to even 25 cities to visit...
Kanazawa Itinerary: 2 Days in the City of Samurais
In this itinerary post, I’m going to show you how to spend 2 days in Kanazawa, a city famous for its stunningly restored samurai and geisha...
Matsumoto Itinerary: Exploring Japan’s Coolest Castle
In this Matsumoto itinerary guide, I’m going to show you EXACTLY how you can see all the must-see places in Matsumoto in just one day. This...
A Ranking of the BEST Books by Murakami
This post is for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of reading a Murakami book yet and can't decide on which book to read first. It’s also...
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running – Review
Books on Japan What I Talk About When I Talk About Running By Haruki Murakami My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars “Someday if I have a gravestone and I’m...
Men Without Women – Review
Books on Japan Men Without Women By Haruki Murakami My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars “Perhaps an even more distressing prospect for Habara than the...
Top 10 Must-See Places to Visit in Kyoto
“If Japan were a human being, then Tokyo would be its brain, Osaka its stomach, and Kyoto the heart.” – a famous saying about JapanHow many great...
The Best of Kyoto: Tenryu-ji Temple
“Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.” - Rumi If I ever return to Kyoto (cross my fingers), Tenryu-ji is a...