It is undeniable that Japan has recently grown into a global tourism superstar. The numbers look tremendous on paper: arrivals increasing year after year, bringing money and energy into the…

What do you think this post will be about? Maybe you’re well read on cuisine and are thinking about the crime that is natto; sticky, slimy, and stinky. Or perhaps…

It promised to rain South of Tokyo, for days on end; no break in the clouds, grey, cold, and miserable. The crowded capital itself too, already hectic with blue skies,…

When I first started studying Japanese five years ago, my Dad, a slightly sceptical man, started funneling funds into a ‘just-in-case-he-doesn’t-give-up’ piggy bank. As the years passed, and it became…

Several weeks ago, when Indi was travelling the hill country of Northern Thailand and had left me to my own devices, I visited a lesser known island off the Coast…

Rebun is a small island off the Northern coast of Hokkaido, often compared to Scotland or Norway. Despite its sheer cliffs and green meadows, it’s mostly known for the more…

For a while now Indi has been talking about going on a pilgrimage. The hikes have been going great, goals reached, peaks climbed. So she wants to increase the challenge,…

The sky was blue and beautiful, a good day was in sight. Despite the poor sleep of our previous night, we were ready to hike up to Mount Gassan. The…

Noon on Yakushima Island. We have been hiking for nine hours, and are still far removed from our destination. Amidst the vines and boulders I spot something surprising right before…

South of the Four Countries and the Nine Provinces there lies an island, touched, neither by the slow but all consuming hand of time, nor by the oft haphazard, chaotic,…