My favourite film from the Ghibli studios is Spirited Away. A number of ryokan inspired this anime fantasy, particularly Kanaguya, near the famous Jigokudani monkeys in the town of Yamanouchi.
It’s still early and I leave Tokyo before sunrise. I take the long tunnel and the Aqua-Line bridge to the other side of Tokyo Bay, then follow a small mountain road that loses me somewhere in the heart of Chiba...
Nara Dreamland was an abandoned amusement park. I've just spent a year in Nara (2015-2016), a kilometre from the park, so it's time for me to write a little epilogue.
Mount Yoshino is the most famous sakura site in Japan. With more than 30,000 cherry trees covering the whole mountain, the very idea seems fantastic. But is this really the best site? To get off to a good start, here’s...
These two rocks connected by a thick rope and the little torii on top is one of these mysterious images that inevitably draw visitors to Japan. But if you actually go to see them won’t that strip them of their mystique...
Near the small town of Takeo there rises Mifuneyama, a proud mountain apparently covered with heads of broccoli. But a magical gardener has passed by and poured the juice of soft fruits over them, to announce the...
Just follow me and we'll take a bath together, along with my friend Stéphanie. She’s become the ambassador for sento – public bathhouses – so we'll let her choose a good one for us.
I am not always fair with Ibaraki Prefecture. I always say that there is not much to it besides the occasional haikyo, but it actually does have its charms.
Jordy Meow
