The Cape Toi Fire Festival
“I don’t see anything.” “Just wait for the next wave. Ok, now go! Move your hand around!” A tiny spec of blue suddenly appeared under…
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Takanabe Sunflower Festival
At different times in my life, August has either represented the approaching autumn, or the coming spring. And as if to echo those transitions, it…
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In Pictures: Miyazaki Cherry Blossoms
“Cherry blossoms in spring, they mean everything…” coos the Night Beds’ Winston Yellen on the sixth track of Country Sleep. A truer line could never be…
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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)…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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