IJT Japan NewsOne of our Tokyo based tour leaders, Axel Derbouraix has recently been discovering a slightly scarier side of Tokyo. Here is what he had to say, Like many boys of my generation, after watching ‘Ghostbusters’, I imagined myself chasing demons and goblins of all sorts. Eventually, fifteen years later, I contacted ‘Haunted Tokyo Tours’ and [...]
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It started with an onsen and finished with a waterfall. The two-day hike in the hills, from Yunomine Onsen to the waterfall at Nachi, frequently took my breath away. Fortunately, there was an abundance of fresh air around to revive me. I spent around six hours on the trail each day. I didn`t need climbing skills, which is fortunate, [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: hatago, hike japan holidays, koguchi, kumano trail, nachi shrine, ogumotori-goe, seigantoji, walk japan, walk japan holidays, yunomine onsen | 7 Comments »
Stop, look and listen: an ocean of green-topped hills; nothing in sight, except blue sky, green forest and the moss-matted trail; no sound except, birdsong and your own panting breath; no thought except, why have I not done this before? The secluded Kumano rises to the south of Kyoto and Osaka. An estimated 3,600 peaks [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: great walks Japan, hiking holidays, kumano trail, walking holidays asia, world heritage walks | 6 Comments »
The Japanese language is so complicated, multi-layered and interesting, even for a novice speaker like me. Here’s a kanji character that I like a lot: 聴く きく kiku to hear; to listen; to ask
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We’re very lucky in Bristol to have a wonderful independent cinema that shows lots of Japanese films which warm my Japanophile heart. So, last night my colleague Natasha and I went to see Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo.
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In an attempt to raise a little bit more money for the Japan Relief fund, a number of us at IJT signed up to take on the challenge of a Half Marathon. The Bristol Crew has one more week to get their legs ready, but mine happened to be today, in the form of the [...]
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“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 [...]
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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 »
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 [...]
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Check out these great T-shirts from Uniqlo. The company will donate approximately 100 million yen (£750,000) from the sales of these T-shirts to the Japanese Red Cross who are helping recovery efforts in Tohoku.
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