When I knew I was going to move to Japan I also knew that I would eat all the Japanese KitKat flavors I could get my hands on. This post is part one of many in my adventures chomping my way through the myriad of Japanese Kitkat flavors. Most of the flavors are based around…
Being the tallest mountain in Japan and the seventh-highest peak on an island on Earth, you can spy Mount Fuji from many vantage points in Japan. Viewing Mount Fuji from Fujiyoshida is relatively easy if you get a clear day. Here are the best places in Fujiyoshida to view Mount Fuji from. If it’s not…
I have starred certain temples on Google Maps in Kyoto and one that I hadn’t un-starred yet was Konkai-Komyoji Temple, and the Big-Haired Buddha. The buddha’s hirsute stylings is not part of the official temple name, just so you know. It’s mine. It was under an undecided sky on the day that I entered through…
How does a visit to Monster Street in Kyoto, Japan sound? Monster Street, otherwise known as Yokai (妖怪; monster/ghost) Street, resides in a nondescript area of north west Kyoto city that warrants a ramble along if you’re “templed-out”. It is actually, in the real world, Ichijo Dori. Which probably translates to First Street. Or something. Map…
As you scroll around Kyoto on Google Maps you will see dots of green sprinkled around indicating, one would think, a park of some stature and presence. More often than not, you will find a small sand filled playground. Not somewhere you can go and relax. Kyoto does have some decent and real parks hiding…
So you’ve visited Arashiyama to the west of Kyoto and seen what it has got to offer. Lovely. And if you’ve come this far, maybe you’re willing to come a little further… Take a 25 minute or so meandering walk from the main street in Arashiyama and you will come across one of the most…
I see pink on a plate and I’m eating dessert. And so that’s what your brain thinks when any food is presenting itself in such a lurid and 80s cheap music video fashion. Even more so when it has the consistency and look of trifle topping. Taking a spoonful must mean a fruity berrylicious taste…
2020 and 2021 (most likely) will probably be the only time to see a lot of Kyoto’s temples and shrines without the throngs of tourists. We are trying to take this opportunity to visit ALL THE SHRINES! We won’t. There are over 1600 temples in Kyoto (17 of them are UNESCO World Heritage sites). Here…
Yes, I’m writing this in February. If you’re stuck in Kyoto around Christmas in the year 20?? (I’m guessing blogs won’t exist come 2100) then you can’t do wrong with waddling up to Hyatt Regency in Kyoto for some tasty and surprisingly affordable Christmas Day fodder to snuffle into to. As we were in Kyoto…
It might reverse-surprise some of you that English is not particularly focused on as a main form of communication in Japan. Speaking as a mono-language western white idiot, I can’t criticize this too much. Alas, I can’t help my primal monkey-brain feeling all high and mighty when I see grammatical errors from Japanese companies who…