The Garden of Love
In Shintomi Town, on the road from Takanabe to Saito, is a garden carpeted in bright, pink flowers. During spring, when the shibazakura (moss phlox) is in full bloom, the…
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Boat Tour of Yokohama Bay
Squelch-squelch, squelch-squelch. I could feel water creeping across my socks, slowly drowning my toes. “Urgh, my feet are all wet,” Ian moaned. I looked down to see tiny rivers flowing…
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Celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Tokyo
“I’m pretty sure it will come down this way,” I said to Ian. We’d been waiting on the curb of the tree-lined avenue that runs from Meiji Shrine up to Omotesando.…
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Kagoshima’s Art Forest
Charcoal skies and lime lawns – that’s how I remember my first visit to the Kirishima Open-Air Museum last June. Now, eight months later and in the last months of…
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Nagasaki Lantern Festival
WELCOME TO NAGASAKI! I fist-bumped the air as we drove across the border into Kyushu’s westernmost prefecture – the only one I had yet to conquer on Japan’s third largest…
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Inside One of Japan’s Abandoned Hotels
In Out of the Silent Planet, C.S. Lewis wrote, “The love of knowledge is a kind of madness.” I must be kind of mad, then, because everyone who knows me…
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The World’s Biggest Bronze Statue (Probably)
Having your own little Kei in the inaka of Japan is gold – they’re cheap, easy on petrol and, like all cars, you can jump in on a whim and go…
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The Saga International Balloon Festival Fail
“We’re going to miss the balloons.” “Stop being a Negative Nancy.” “I didn’t drive 4+ hours to miss the balloons. If we miss the balloons, I’m going to be pissed.”…
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Ontayaki Pottery Village
In the final months of my last year at university, I took a trip to Hogsback, a small village in the Eastern Cape, to meet a potter named Anton. He…
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Oita’s Old Merchant Town
“Simone! There’s even more back here! Come look,” Conor yelled from the other room. We were in the Mamedamachi district (豆田町商店街) of Hita City, browsing through what I thought was…
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A Quick Guide to Tokyo’s Book Town
The ever-so distinctive smell of old books is a Floo powder that transports me to my childhood: the water heater in primary school that I spent most winter mornings propped up…
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