Anything related to traveling in Japan
A question that I am often asked is “is it easy to see Mt. Fuji?”. To be truthful, in my experience, the answer is “no”. A big part of seeing Mt. Fuji is always depending on the weather. One of the best places to see Read More …
Located in southwest Shibuya is the town known as Daikanyama. The location is known for its elegance, may it be boutiques, cake shops, restaurants and cafes, but it was a town redeveloped after the end of the bubble economy. While the origin of Daikanyma is Read More …
Located near JR Shinjuku Station is Terrace City, which receives a good does of Christmas illumination but also lasts through Valentine’s Day. While not long, part of the beauty of this area is its pink lights which brings out a lot of couples and families Read More …
The Rikugi-en Gardens is one of the beautiful traditional Japanese gardens in Tokyo. Rikugi, which means “Garden of the Six Principles of Poetry”, while the “en” means park consisting of a small pond, trees and a hill. The construction of Rikugi-en was around 1695-1702 and Read More …
I’ve written about visiting Tokyo Dome City to check out the illumination for the past few years. And this year’s theme is to feature Illumination via Japanese style for the “Tokyo Dome City Illumination ~Edo no iki Nihon no hana~” event. Part of the fascinating Read More …
Across the street from Tokyo Station is the Shin-Marunouchi Building and also the other Marunouchi Building. The region around Tokyo Station is known as the Marunouchi area where other buildings such as the Brick Square, Tokyo Building Tokia, Iiyo! and Marunouchi Oazo also exists. But Read More …
Ebisu is one of the more popular districts in Shibuya and was founded back in 1928 as a community developed around the Japan Beer Brewery Company (now known as Sapporo Breweries Limited) which was known for Yebisu Beer in 1890. Named after the Japanese god Read More …
Located in Shibuya and Minato, Tokyo is the avenue known as Omotesando. Mentioned and confused by foreigners as a city, Omotesando is an avenue featuring zelkova trees and a stylish area that is home to shopping areas such as Omotesando Hills (featuring Saint Laurent Paris, Read More …
Located in Roppongi in Minato, Tokyo is one of the largest development projects in Tokyo, Roppongi Hills. Opened back in 2003, the place is known for its major TV studio, museum, cafes, restaurants, shops and the 54-story Mori Tower. It’s also a popular destination during Read More …
Returning to Yoyogi Park is the Shibuya “Ao no Dokutsu” at Yoyogi Park that will be up from November 30th to December 31st. Not far from Harajuku, the area is popular for it’s blue Christmas lights. The whole place is illuminated in blue and may Read More …
One of the coolest shopping areas in Japan is Caretta Shiodome in Minato, Tokyo. It’s the location of the Advertisement Museum, the Sky View on the 46th floor overlooking Tokyo, the location of the Dentsu Shiki Theatre UMI, Turtle Fountain and many cool restaurants. It’s Read More …
Visiting Tokyo around November/December is an amazing experience if you are a Christmas fan who is attracted to Christmas lights. Granted, where Christmas is seen as a religious holiday for some, spending time with your family and loved ones and days off of work and Read More …
Last but not least, it’s going through the red torii gates leading to Otome Inari Jinja. As mentioned in the first post about Nezu Shrine, while slightly modeled after Fushimi Inari Jinja, it’s not as alluring as the Kyoto-based shrine but for Tokyo, it’s still Read More …
Leading directly to the honden right up front in the center is the Karamon (Chinese gate) which can be found at numerous Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples and Japanese castles. Connected to the Karamon is a Sukibei (lattice-windowed wall) wall surrounding the honden. Both of these Read More …
You probably heard that Japan will be kicking off a “Sayonara Tax” beginning in January 2019. With the increase of tourism in Japan (28.69 million international tourists in 2017) and Japan ranked #4 out of 141 countries in the “Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017”, Read More …
The main building at Nezu Shrine in Bunkyo ward is the Honden (main hall) built in a ishi-no-ma-zukuri Shinto shrine style. While the honden can be seen from the outside, it’s not as easy to get a look at the haiden (worship hall) or heiden Read More …
As I continue to explore Nezu Shrine in Bunkyo ward, you will find a few interesting things around the two-storied romon (the tower gate which was built back in 1706). For one, you’ll see a bridge which is quite popular for wedding photos or scenery Read More …