IJT Japan NewsThis is pretty broad again, but has to be mentioned among the reasons as to why Japan is so great – The people. I won’t go on about the Japanese stoicism and other clichés, but will try and explain a bit about my experience with Japanese people and what makes them so damn nice. This [...]
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Sightseeing, Travel Advice | Tagged: Culture, InsideJapan Tours, Japan, Japanese culture, Japanese toilet, People, Restaurants, Sightseeing, tokyo, Travel | Leave a Comment »
In no particular order in my, ‘Why Japan is so great’ series of posts, I want to praise the public transport in Japan which I have always thought brilliant. Having taken a train from Bristol to Cardiff at the weekend (approximately 44 miles) and travelled back on a Sunday with replacement coach and a couple [...]
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Sightseeing, Travel Advice | Tagged: 'green travel', Culture, InsideJapan Tours, Japan, public transport, Sightseeing, Trains | 4 Comments »
With the one year anniversary of the 3.11 Tohoku tsunami passing us by, I would like everyone to focus on why Japan is so great. Although, I don’t want people to forget the continuing struggle in the north eastern corner of Japan, the west has focused for too long on the disaster and not enough [...]
Filed under: Culture, Sightseeing, Travel Advice | Tagged: Culture, earthquake, Japan, Kyoto, Sightseeing, tokyo, Travel | 1 Comment »
After completing my first year with the company, which proved to be an extremely rewarding one with new challenges and experiences, I ended 2011 in the UK for a month – no surprises with the weather there – murky grey days that stingily offered a measly 36 minutes of sunlight each! Similarly, yet in stark [...]
Filed under: Sightseeing, Tours | Tagged: Hokkaido, onsen, sake, Snow, Winter | 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, Kanitkar, 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, Kanitkar, Sightseeing, Tohoku | 1 Comment »
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 »
Shall I have the wagyu burger? It`s a tough decision. I am 5 minutes walk from the main shrine at Ise. Strolling the back streets outside, I have already eaten a bowl of chubby Ise udon noodles, a minced pork slice and a shark meat onigiri. Conspicuous consumption is addictive. And fun. So joining the spirit of the insatiable crowds, I tuck in.
Filed under: Sightseeing | Tagged: ise, ise jingu, ise shrine, japan pilgrimage, naiku, oharaimachi, okageyokocho, sacred sites japan | 6 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, Kanitkar, Sendai, Tanabata | 4 Comments »
