About a kilometer on from Ryozenji, the pilgrim comes to the second of the 88 temples on Shikoku’s pilgrimage route. This is Gokurakuji, the Temple of the Pure Land. The temple has an old connection with a local sect focusing on mountains as places of power and worship, similar to the slightly bet...
Hiroshima has an extensive bus system. While it’s slightly more complicated than the streetcars, routes are clearly marked in English on most maps, including those available from the tourist information desks inside Hiroshima Station and those posted inside the buses. Obviously, you need to know whe...
Home to geisha, kabuki, and narrow teahouses, the district of Gion is considered by many in Japan to be the heart and soul of Kyoto.
Stretching west of Yasaka Shrine, called Gion-san by locals, from the middle-ages much of the neighborhood was given over primarily to teahouses for visitors to the...
At the easternmost point of Shikoku’s Kagawa prefecture, the little town of Hiketa retains much of the atmosphere of an old-fashioned fishing port. Although Hiketa merged with two other towns in 2003 to form the city of Higashikagawa, it remains a distinctive community with a wealth of material his...
Each year six and a half million Japanese travel to the Shima Peninsula east of Osaka to visit what amounts to the Mecca of the native Shinto faith. The Isejingu, or Ise Shrine, is actually an enormous complex, including the Geku, or Outer Shrine, the Naiku, or Inner Shrine, and 123 smaller assoc...
This is Kamakura's most important shrine, built first in 1180 and, after a disastrous fire, againin 1191 by Minamoto no Yoritomo, founder of the Kamakura Shogunate. The Shrine is designated to Hachiman, a Shintogod of war and also the patron deity to the Minamoto clan. Additionally, the souls of...
The Sapporo Okurayama Ski Jump was used as the Large Hill event stage in the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics. There had been a ski jump here since 1931, when a smaller facility was built with help from Crown Prince Yasuhito, the younger brother of Emperor Hirohito. For the Olympics, the ski jump was en...
The story of Mikimoto Island is really the story of Mikimoto Kokichi, who pioneered the production of cultured pearls. Born the eldest son of an udon noodle maker in the Shima Peninsula’s town of Toba, Mikimoto developed a childhood passion for pearls after seeing the famous pearl diving “Pearl Mai...
People in Hiroshima are proud of their streetcars, and will tell you so. The city is the last in Japan to maintain an extensive streetcar system, and many of the trains are old cars purchased when other Japanese cities discontinued or downsized their own streetcar lines.
The streetcar terminal is...
More than living up to its name, this 296 meter building is Japan’s tallest after Tokyo Tower, hosting offices, a hotel, restaurants and shopping spaces. One of the world’s fastest elevators will rush you to the 69th floor in just forty seconds, where you’ll enjoy spectacular views from the Sky Gar...
Buddhism had a profound impact on the Japanese diet, and from the 7th century onwards the consumption of animals was subject to a succession of prohibitions. These varied according to time and place but the general effect was that the common diet contained very little meat.
In Kyoto, both the cul...
Miyajima has more than its fair share of wonderful buildings, but surely Senjokaku is one of the most atmospheric. The name, which means "Thousand Mat Hall" refers to the large, open floor space. Construction began in 1587 on the orders of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but was left uncompleted following his...
It’s happened every New Year's Eve for centuries. After dark, a lone figure stalks up the snowy path to the front door of a house. Knocking on the door, he asks whether anyone in the house is ill, has died in the past year, or is newly married. If the answer to all three questions is no, the mysteri...
If you’ve decided to make the trek to the wonderful Oku Hida Onsen Villages, you may also want to take advantage of the Shin-Hotaka Ropeway.
From its lower terminal in Shin-Hotaka Onsen the ropeway climbs 1,033 meters, the greatest altitude change of any ropeway in Asia, in two stages to its uppe...
From Canadian girl-next-door to maiko in just over an hour. At Maica, they'll transform you in to a geisha in the heart of old Gion!
Did you enjoy playing dress-up when you were a child? Are you interested in the culture of the geisha? Have we got a treat for you!
Geisha, or Geiko as they ...
