IJT Japan NewsJapan is different in so many ways to the west. Everyday is a new experience, whether it be with food, manners, shopping or travelling on a train. Everything is different and usually the breath of fresh that makes travelling so fun and interesting…especially so in Japan. One of our tour leaders, Steve Parker, thought he [...]
Filed under: Culture, Tours, Travel Advice | Tagged: Culture, Food, InsideJapan Tours, Japan, Japanese culture, Travel | 3 Comments »
This is the final instalment from Uday and the Kanitkar family who travelled to the Tohoku region for the ‘Big Three’ festivals in August this year. By the way, we haven’t mentioned that before the family had headed north for the large dose of festival action, they had already been in the cultural capital of [...]
Filed under: Culture, Events, Family Holiday, March 11th Tsunami, Sightseeing | Tagged: 'family holiday', Culture, earthquake, Festival, Festivals, Japan, Japanese culture, Matsushima, Nebuta, Sendai, Sightseeing, Tanabata, Tohoku, tsunami | 2 Comments »
I lived in Japan for four years and have travelled there many many times over the last 7 years since living back in the UK, but this was the first time to travel as a family – Me (James), Vanessa and little Max. We decided to travel to New Zealand to see family and thought [...]
Filed under: Culture, Family Holiday, Sightseeing | Tagged: 'family holiday', Culture, InsideJapan Tours, Japan, Japanese culture, Sightseeing, tokyo, Travel | 5 Comments »
An earlier post featured Uday and his family who travelled to the Tohoku region in summer to witness some of the biggest festivals in Japan. After supplying some great photos from their time at the Kanto festival in Akita, Uday has followed it up with a look at the Neputa festival in Hirosaki – not [...]
Filed under: Culture, Events, Sightseeing | Tagged: 'Neputa', 'travelling', Festival, Festivals, Japan, Japanese culture, Sightseeing, Tohoku | 1 Comment »
The Japanese are great at teamwork. No one goes home until the boss leaves the office; the team is more important than the maverick individual on the baseball field and so on. I think the Japanese are also great at making every day things a bit special; anyone seen those roadworks barriers that are in [...]
Filed under: Culture, Opinion | Tagged: 'extreme sports', 'Japan style', 'walking' | 3 Comments »
One of our guides in Kyoto is the very lovely and talented Ayako Kiyono san. Kiyono san knows her stuff when it comes to Kyoto and has shown hundreds of our travellers around the old Imperial capital. Kiyono san wanted to write about one of her favourite places…. Fushimi Inari – Kyoto The head quarter [...]
Filed under: Culture, Sightseeing | Tagged: Buddhism, Culture, Fushimi Inari, Japan, Kyoto, Shinto, shrine, Tori | 2 Comments »
I often get jealous of the things that our customers do. We arrange for people to have drinks with a Geisha, spend a day with a master sword smith, hike with wild bear in the alps, dive with Manta Ray in the tropics and snow board perfect powder in the north to name a few [...]
Filed under: Culture, Events, Sightseeing | Tagged: 'Japanese festivals' Tohoku, 'Kanto festival', 'Nebuta festval', Akita, Aomori, Festivals, Japanese, Japanese culture, Sendai, Tanabata | 4 Comments »
Takayama is a small town in the foothills of the Japan Alps. Far from the sea and any major cities, for many foreign visitors, a stay in this remote river town is their only chance to see rural Japan.
Filed under: Culture, Sightseeing | Tagged: asahimachi, Center4, Don cafe, mini archery, nightlife Takayama, Red Hill, sake brewery, sake sampling, takayama | 4 Comments »
I once met the Emperor of Japan! Well, kind of… At least he and his wife rode past me in a car and waved.
Filed under: Culture, Sightseeing | Tagged: akihito, emperor, Empress, imperial palace, Michiko, Sightseeing, tokyo | 3 Comments »
As with all of the InsideJapan Tour leaders, Steve Parker brings his own skills, knowledge and expertise to a group tour of Japan. A trip across Japan with Steve never fails to be inspiring, but our man has been bringing out the poetic side of travellers….after a couple of drinks of course. Here’s his latest [...]
Filed under: Culture, Sightseeing | Tagged: 'Japan tour', 'Japanese poetry' 'Japan unmasked', haiku, poetry | 9 Comments »
