Travel Oct 26, 2018

Unveiling Kinosaki Onsen's Heian Period treasure

With a lively local culture and seven public baths spread out between Kinosaki Onsen Station and the base of Mount Daishi, Kinosaki warrants a full weekend to unwind.

Travel Aug 31, 2018

The Tango Peninsula: A grand day out for the geologically inclined

The remote Tango Peninsula might be off the typical traveler's itinerary for Kyoto Prefecture, but its scenic views, unique geological formations and stunning coastline make this "Kyoto by the Sea" a worthwhile trip.

Food & Drink Jan 27, 2018

Okinawa soba: Noodle of the island king still popular today

Food & Drink Oct 7, 2017

Hokkaido's Hakodate is heaven for gourmands of all stripes

Hakodate occupies a unique place on the Japanese landscape, both literally and gastronomically speaking. Facing the Tsugaru Strait from its position on the southern shores of Hokkaido's Oshima Peninsula, the city grew from a small Ainu fishing village to become, in 1854, Japan's first port ...

Travel Sep 15, 2017

Views both old and new of Aomori's Tsugaru

Cut off by the Ou Mountains to the south and far removed from any center of power, Aomori Prefecture's remote Tsugaru Peninsula was largely left to its own devices until the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1573-1603). In the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), different factions of the Tsugaru ...

Food & Drink Jun 3, 2017

Tokyo Beer Week underway with events across Tokyo and Kanagawa

Behind the usual assortment of fresh produce and their derivative goods at the UNU Farmers' Market in Aoyama last weekend, Tokyo Beer Week 2017, which runs through June 11, was quietly kicking off by offering nearly four dozen taps of craft beer from in ...

Food & Drink | NEIGHBORHOOD HOP SPORTS Feb 24, 2017

Koenji's alehouses and brewpubs put the craft back in beer

Often touted as Tokyo's apex of cool, Koenji is a maze of narrow mixed-use streets, where the city's trendsetters, en route to hip cafes, cross paths with pensioners browsing cheap vegetables and various knickknacks. Koenji is a neighborhood that seemingly has it all, or at ...

Food & Drink | NEIGHBORHOOD HOP SPORTS Jan 27, 2017

Finding craft beer in the shadow of Tokyo's high-rise offices

For the first few days of each year, Tokyo is relatively quiet. Businesses are shuttered for the New Year's holiday, and many of the city's inhabitants retreat to family homes in the countryside to unwind with loved ones. Neighborhoods that are typically crowded with ...

Food & Drink | NEIGHBORHOOD HOP SPORTS Dec 23, 2016

Sugar, spice and all things nice in Roppongi's craft beer bars

Depending on who you ask, Roppongi is either Tokyo's most sophisticated neighborhood or its seediest. Yet everyone can agree it's one of the city's most international. Each night, expats, emigres and immigrants wend their way through a landscape of restaurants, hostess bars, art galleries ...

Food & Drink | NEIGHBORHOOD HOP SPORTS Nov 25, 2016

A journey to the center of Tokyo's crowded craft beer scene

It may be located in the center of Tokyo but people always seem to be passing through Kanda on their way to someplace else: north to Akihabara, east to Asakusa, south to Tokyo Station or west to the Imperial Palace. This liminal neighborhood can ...