Sendai Tanabata Matsuri, Mother of all Tanabata Festivals
The mother of all Tanabata Matsuri festivals in Japan. You haven’t seen a Tanabata festival until you see the one in Sendai held annually on Aug. 6th–8th. The colors, variety,…
Aomori Nebuta Matsuri and Hirosaki Neputa Matsuri
Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is one of Japan’s most famous summer festivals and one of my all-time favorites. Held for a few days in early August, it’s an evening parade of…
No more Hakata ningyo doll shops in Hakata Station
The city of Fukuoka’s most famous traditional craft and tourist souvenir is the Hakata ningyo doll. They are fired clay figurines sculpted and painted into a wide variety of traditional…
What makes Nagara River Ukai Cormorant Fishing in Gifu special
Held in the evening under torchlight on Nagara River, ukai is a traditional fishing method with a master fisherman on a wooden boat using leashed cormorants. The cormorants dive for…
Horyuji Temple’s Budokan Connection
Nara Prefecture has the distinction of having Japan’s highest number of National Treasure buildings. A whopping 64 of them. This is almost 30% of Japan’s 227 National Treasure buildings/complexes. Kyoto…
Sanriku Fukko National Park, Iwate
The old Rikuchu-Kaigan National Park (陸中海岸国立公園) along the rocky Tohoku coast centered on Iwate Prefecture whose old samurai provincial name was “Rikuchu.” It extended from the city of Kuji (久慈市)…
Monkfish in Kita-Ibaraki, tastier than it looks
The coast of Kita-Ibaraki (pop. 42,000), the northernmost city in Ibaraki Prefecture on the border with Fukushima Prefecture, is one of Japan’s prime fishing grounds for monkfish, a type of…