Category: Tokyo

Went to see the huge Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo – The Making of Harry Potter in Oct. 2023, four months after it opened in June 16, 2023. It was better than…

“The Dream of John Manjiro” or John Manjirō no Yume (ジョン万次郎の夢) is the title of a Japanese musical being staged in Japan nationwide from March 2023 to March 2024 by…

Welcome back Tokyo Marathon! It was finally held at full scale (38,000 runners) on March 5, 2023 for the first time since 2019. Runners from overseas also ran en masse…

Updated: Feb. 18, 2023 Tokyo National Museum (東京国立博物館) in Ueno Park, Tokyo is one of Japan’s most prominent museums. Clustered in six museum buildings, one is the swank-looking Gallery of…

First in a series of blog posts on luxury cruising, cruise ships, and cruise ports in Japan in 2022. In early summer 2022 when COVID-19 cases in Japan were relatively…

Overview of Japan’s luxury cruise ships in 2022 by Philbert Ono, Updated: Sept. 25, 2023 On this page: In 2022, Japan’s three major cruise ships were (largest to smallest) Asuka…

Japan’s largest luxury cruise ship. Asuka II (飛鳥Ⅱ Asuka 2) is the only cruise ship owned and operated by NYK Cruises Co., Ltd. based in Yokohama and a wholly owned…

Distinctive look, famous name, and food. Built in 1990, Nippon Maru (にっぽん丸) is the smallest Japanese luxury cruise ship, but with the most distinctive paint job. Navy blue (almost black)…

Overview of Japan’s cruise ship ports. Being a stretched-out archipelago with a long coastline (34,600 km or 21,500 mi.) and hundreds of inhabited islands, Japan has many sea ports and…

Centrally located in Tokyo Bay and being at the mouth of multiple major rivers, Tokyo has been a busy port town for centuries. However, it did not open up to…