Sculpture and Sakura at Tokiwa Park
For the past three years, I’ve called the small coastal city of Ube home. Once a thriving coal-mining town, it’s now the third-largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, mostly known for…
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Hinamatsuri in Shimonoseki’s Samurai Town
Hinamatsuri, also called Girls’ Day, is a doll festival held every year in Japan on March 3. Traditionally known as Momo-no-sekku, or the Peach Festival, it began as a cleansing…
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A Quick Guide to Okayama’s Art Island
This article is featured on GPSmyCity. To download it for offline reading, or create a self-guided walking tour to visit the attractions highlighted, go to Walking Tours and Articles in…
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A Walking Tour of Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter
The city of Kurashiki, in Okayama Prefecture, was once a bustling trade town during the Edo period. The traditional buildings, concentrated along the willow-lined Kurashiki River, have been preserved in…
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A Quick Guide to Kojima Jeans Street
Okayama is best known as the home of Momotaro, a beloved folktale about a boy born from a peach. But the prefecture is also the birthplace of Japanese denim. In…
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Okayama Castle at Dusk
Covered in black clapboards, Okayama Castle is known as Ujo, or “crow castle.” Fittingly, it sits atop one of three hills overlooking the Asahi river. Perhaps even more fittingly, it…
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Meissen At Simose Art Museum
While browsing Google Maps one day, as my cartophilia has me do, a particular site in the area caught my eye. Mostly because I mistook it for my own name…
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Autumn on Miyajima
For someone who grew up with only two seasons (kak hot and a little chilly, respectively), autumn and spring are still a novelty for me. If I had to choose…
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An Update on the Sacred, Starving Deer of Miyajima
In September 2015, after visiting Miyajima in Hiroshima, I wrote about the island’s starving deer population. Just over nine years later, in November 2024, I went back to see what…
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Inside Japan’s Largest Cave
In the heart of Yamaguchi lies the city of Mine. With a population of just over 20,000, it’s one of the more rural areas of the prefecture. But what it…
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The Hidden Gems of Orizuru Tower
Across the street from the Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima stands the 14-floor Orizuru Tower. It’s known for its specialty souvenir store and organic café, which you can easily access from…
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