The Great Wisteria Festival
About 80 km (49.7 mi) outside of Tokyo, there’s a 94,000 m² flower park, which is roughly the size of 17 American football fields. And inside the park, sits a…
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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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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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Searching for Sakura
After leaving the snow in Nagano behind, and spotting hundreds of tree lilacs on the drive from Nikko to Ibaraki, John and I were starting to feel spring fever. Which…
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Toshogu Shrine Nikko
More than 1 000 years ago, a Buddhist priest named Shodo Shonin crossed the Daiya River on his way to Mount Nantai and founded the first temple at Nikko. Today,…
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Kegon Falls
If you’re prone to motion sickness, the road up to Kegon Falls is a challenge. Ascending 400m in just a few kilometres, it snakes around 20 hairpin bends (yes, 20!)…
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Ushiku Daibutsu: The World’s Tallest Buddha
At an unbelievable 120 m (394 ft) high, the Ushiku Daibutsu in Ibaraki is certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest Buddha figure in the world. To put it’s…
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Flower Paradise in Hitachi Seaside Park
Less than two hours outside of Tokyo, Hitachi Seaside Park is one of the best places to view flowers in Japan. With seasonal gardens that sprawl across 1.9 sq km (0.3…