IJT Japan NewsThe latest member of our Japan team to write something for the blog is Akiko san. One of our newest members in the Japan office, Akiko is a keen traveller. The Japanese people are always keen to buy gifts (Omiyage) for friends and loved ones when they head off somewhere on their holidays. Akiko is [...]
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Travel Advice | Tagged: 'Don Quiote', 'Japanese souvenirs', 'Tokyu Hands', Japan, Shopping, souvenir | 4 Comments »
“Aizu people are moku moku; we quietly put up with things”, the lady explained. I listened while chewing. She`d just served me a stick of deep-fried battered garlic cloves. The lady was working in a stall on Iimoriyama hill. It`s a popular sightseeing spot. On an autumn afternoon almost 150 years ago, 19 teenage boys committed harakiri there, an event now celebrated in [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: aizu travel, byakkotai, fukushima travel, gaman, hara-kiri, samurai, white tigers corps | 6 Comments »
Whilst many people are considering where to take their families on holiday this summer, many of them will not have even considered Japan as a family destination. As the Organ family (James, Susana, Daniel and Anna) discovered when they travelled to Japan back in May, Japan is safe, nowhere near as expensive as they had [...]
Filed under: Culture, Sightseeing, Travel Advice, Uncategorized | Tagged: 'Family travel' 'Japan family adventure', 'Japan family travel', Culture, Family, Food, kanazawa, Kyoto, minshuku, takayama, tokyo | 7 Comments »
Clearing out some books at home I rediscovered an old friend, the 1962 Fodor‘s Guidebook to Japan (and East Asia), that I picked up in a charity shop a few years back. Looking back to see what was being recommended to Japan visitors nearly 50 years ago is fascinating. It is also interesting to see [...]
Filed under: Culture, Sightseeing, Travel Advice | Tagged: 'essential Japan', 'Fodors guidebook', 'Tokyo travel', 'travelling in Japan', Japan | 6 Comments »
Looking through all of the tours on the Inside Japan Tours website, I began to realise how hard it would be for me to choose a tour if I wasn’t leading them. There are so many fantastic places in this tiny country and every single one of them is completely different from the next. Still, [...]
Filed under: Sightseeing, Travel Advice | Tagged: Bullet Train, essential honshu, Fuji, Geisha, Honshu, Japan, Japanese Monkey, Kamikochi, Kyoto, Maiko, Miyajima, Monkey, Mt. Fuji, Shinkansen, Travel | 5 Comments »
Two years ago, we blogged about the budding cricket league in Japan with the ‘gentleman’s game’ being promoted by a faithful few. With the success of England in the current test series against the mighty India, there have been a few talking points, but Trent Bridge provided one of the biggest. The ‘spirit of the [...]
Filed under: Culture | Tagged: 'Circket in Japan', 'Japanese children', 'Japanese sports', cricket, tsunami | 3 Comments »
This past weekend (July 30/31st) I was invited to represent InsideJapan Tours at the annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival is Colorado‘s largest Asian orientated event, and attracts close to 100 000 people. As the name suggests, the main focus are the spectacular boat races that take place just off shore on [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
