Tokyo Bay at night
I want to share a few Tokyo discoveries with you as I catch up on the year’s travels by posting long overdue blogs.
It’s a city I know well. I lived there from 2000 to 2002, and I go back nearly every year for a visit.
Writer, Explorer and Travel Philosopher
Summer Festivals in the Barbarian North
May 28, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Hidaka Hibuse festival in Mizusawa
Local festivals are big in Japan. It’s one of the great things about Japanese summer.
There’s the food, of course. My favourite festival foods include yakisoba (fried noodles), yakitori (grilled chicken on skewers), okonomiyaki (savoury pancakes), and of course gallons of draft beer.
Beneath the Sea by Train to Hakodate
September 4, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The famous night view from Mount Hakodate…
I had a chance to visit Hokkaido this summer, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands.
Tachikawa: Where My Writing Life Began
September 23, 2016 by 7 Comments
Tachikawa has grown and changed…
I’ve been running this website since March 2009, and this is my 300th blog. I guess that’s an anniversary of sorts, and it got me thinking about my early years as a writer.
Gunkanjima: The Bond Villain Island in Skyfall
June 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The James Bond island in Skyfall is real…
That mysterious ruined island in Skyfall is real.
If you saw the 2012 James Bond film, you were likely as mesmerized as I was by the scene. Bond and Séverine are prisoners on a yacht, and as they sail towards the villain’s lair to meet their doom, a mysterious island emerges from sea mist.
Nagasaki
June 7, 2016 by 4 Comments
After hours on Nagasaki’s small bar streets…
We arrived in Nagasaki just as the late afternoon light began to slide down the mountain sides, reflecting off the long narrow harbour and casting the first shadows into the crevices of the steep hillsides clustered with dwellings.
Hanami Nights in Shades of Pink
May 18, 2016 by 2 Comments
These beautiful flowers which bloom so briefly reflect the fragile impermanence of all our lives…
The city of Hakata — on the island of Kyushu — has been completely overrun by mainland Chinese.
We’d stopped there for a night on our way between Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And we’d just walked over to the new Canal City shopping complex in search of something to eat.
Landing in Hot Water with Naked Strangers
May 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
A visit to an onsen (“hot spring”) is an essential part of any trip Japan…
A ride was waiting for us at the station when we returned to the mainland from Miyajima.
The Shrine That Floats Over the Sea
May 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The floating torii of Itsukushima-jinja…
We continued our post-Hiroshima adventures down the coast about half an hour by train from the city, where we explored one of the official National Treasures of Japan.
Hiroshima, Mon Amour
May 2, 2016 by 2 Comments
Hiroshima Memorial Park…
Hiroshima was once a vibrant castle town. And the Sarugaku-cho neighbourhood was a lively place of noh actors, artisans, physicians and shops.
Until the day that everyone died.
At 8:15am on Monday August 6, 1945 an American B-29 bomber called the Enola Gay flew over and unleashed the greatest destructive force the world had ever known.
