There is Japan, and then there is Osaka! This is like going from Bebek to Beyoglu on steroids, Bath to central Newcastle on a friday night, Boston to Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Osaka is the younger, less well dressed, noisier Japan. One street is a glitzy Champs Elysees and then running parallel and…

It is the surprises that you that give you most joy and food for thought. I wanted to list some of these: 2. The eastern plain of the country is dead flat and I mean dead flat, geographically how did this happen, or has it been levelled? 3. I had expected houses to have ornamental…

I love food but I am not one of these people who sets their travels by the Michelin guide. I wish I was that person, but I suppose other interests take precedence. All that said….WOW….have we had some fantastic food here. I set out to try every variety possible but I suspect only touched the…

Japan is the only country in the world with more pets than children. An interesting statistic when you see how well behaved their kids seem to be and dare I say it mature for their ages. No screaming or sulking seen and then they go from edible adorable babies to the supercool in a matter…

Most things on a trip like this are planned but then the unexpected can happen. Namely, because either you didn’t do your homework or as time goes on you get more confident ( read – over confident). So the plan to go in to rural Japan was scuppered after booking a hire car in Japan…

Nara was high on my list of places to visit, as the old capital of Japan before Kyoto, and Kyoto before Tokyo. The draw: greenery after the cityscapes, the silka sacred deer in the park, World Heritage Sites and Japan’s biggest Buddha housed in one of the biggest wooden structures in the world.. Not one…

Kyoto may have two of the most photographed spots in Japan and both were on today’s plan. The first, the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Only bettered by the gardens of the adjacent Tenryu – Ji Zen Buddhist Temple. The gardens at this time of year show a beautiful array of brightly coloured flowers along with the…

After two glossy cities Tokyo and Nagoya, and another supersonic train journey, it was refreshing to arrive in Kyoto. Here all your visions of Japan are revealed: temples, cherry blossoms, wooden houses, geisha, ornamental gardens, amazing food and multicoloured kimonos. Kyoto has all of this, and before you know it you have walked 15,000 steps,…

I was aware that Japan produced a huge amount of anime, Japanese animation, but I had not realised, until coming here, how important cartoon characters are to them and how they ‘spill’ in to their every day lives. Cartoon characters are everywhere! Wherever there is a shop sign, or a commercial hoarding there will be…

さようなら東京 I not sure that I fell in love with Tokyo, but I did fall in love with the Japanese people. I don’t think that I’ve been anywhere else where it is the people that dominate, not the place.  The Japanese have a quiet level of sophistication and a refreshing amount of uniformity that makes…