Osaka – a relaxed business center
Just 35km or 30min train drive from Kyoto (with Shinkanzen, the super express train, it takes 15min) and we are in Osaka, a city of 2.7 million people and metropolin of more than 20...
Category: Japan
Funny English Translations in Japan and thoughts about English
“The Coke of food for specified health use” – that is probably the funniest translation mismatch I could find in Japan. But it is not the only one… how would you relate to the...
Kinkakuji Cho – the golden temple and Nishiki market (Kyoto)
The golden temple – kinkakuji Cho was originally a villa called Kitayama-dai (北山第), belonging to a powerful statesman, Saionji Kintsune. Kinkaku-ji’s history dates to 1397, when the villa was purchased from the Saionji family...
Nara city – tamed deers, huge Budha statues and good Japanease food
Initially I thought that visiting Nara would be a waste of time, and as the train approached the city it looked as an unpleasant industrial city, but once you get off the train you...
Kyoto day 2: Fushimi Inari Taisha mountain and Nijo-jo castle
Fushima Inari Taisha is a spectacular Buddhist track placed in the southern eastern part of Kyoto, just two stations (3km) away from the Kyoto train station, 5 min walk if you take off at...
Kyoto day 1: Kiyozimu temple and Gion suburb
We started our day by walking from Kyoto train station up north toward the Kyoto national museum, and reached the spectacular temple Rengeoin Sanjusangedo on the other side of the street. This historical place...
Kanazawa city and the castle gardens
From Takayama we continued 120km East to Kanazawa city, a city of about half a million people still it looks more developed and cleaner than Auckland. The journey combined a very slow train journey...
Takayama and Shirakawa Go – small mountain towns
Takayama is a small town (in Japanese standards) of about 100,000 people, placed inside the mountains about 300km east of Tokyo. You can get there by train from Nagoya or buy bus, the train...
Top sites to visit in Tokyo
Top places should not be missed when you are in Tokyo: 1. Imperial Palace East Gardens The imperial palace is closed for visitos but the East Gardens, bridges and historical towers are open to...
Small traffic related ideas to learn from the Japanese
As you may know I’m travelling in Japan at the moment and while travelling I have noticed some road related design differences between Japan and New Zealand. Some of the differences are big so...
Tokyo is not so expensive as people say
So we arrived to Tokyo and after 24 hours here and you already noticed that some things are different to what you have been told. The main surprise is that Tokyo is not so...
Tokyo is such an amazing city!
We landed in Tokyo after a long trip from Wellington and a series of events which made the planned 12 hours trip last for more than 2 days. The extreme weather conditions that hit...