We went to Japan in early to mid November a few years ago. I thought long and hard about our wardrobes and what to pack in order to keep it feeling fresh but pack as few clothes as possible.
I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. It was the right combination for the various temperatures and for all the situations we were in.
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You’ve probably come across the term ryokan in your travel books or perhaps you’ve had a friend suggest that you stay in one if you visit Japan.
But what is a ryokan? And how the heck do you pronounce it?
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Whenever you fly into a foreign destination you typically have to learn things in a hurry. This is especially true when you can’t read or understand a word of the language.
Here are 5 quick things we learnt from our two week trip to Japan with hopes that they might save you a few headaches.
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Well, it’s official. We just booked our tickets for our two month stay in Japan next year!
It’s all pretty exciting, but it also means we’ll have to be doing a lot of research for such a long visit.
Since I can work remotely for all of my clients, I can pretty much survive with a laptop and an Internet connection. But staying in touch with a local cell phone is a bigger problem.
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The Japanese take their gardening and landscaping very seriously. You may be surprised at first when you discover that what you thought was a bird up in a tree is really a coverall clad Japanese gardener working on shaping and lovingly pruning the tree.
There are so many beautiful gardens to see in Japan that it’s hard to trim it down to the must-see. But we’ve tried our best. So here we go with our top five gardens in Japan.
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I know what you’re thinking. When you look at the train map above your pulse starts to quicken; your breath comes in raspy gasps; you feel yourself getting faint. No worries. That’s normal when you look at a Japanese Train map for the first time.
The good news is that with a few simple tips you’ll be purchasing train tickets from a vending machine like a pro.
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In Part 1 of our complete guide to travel travel in Japan we took a look at the different classes of trains, in Part 2 we’re going to brave the unknown by looking at how to actually purchase your ticket.
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We’re off the train and back in the office, and as promised, here is our first installment in our complete guide of train travel in Japan.
As I’ve mentioned before, train travel is an extremely efficient way to travel through Japan, and chances are you’re going to be hopping on at least one train in your visit to Japan. But while train travel is efficient, it’s not always going to be easy figuring out how to get from point A to point B. Toss in a foreign language and you have a recipe for confusion.
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Looking for short term accommodations in Japan is relatively easy with a wide variety of choices – from Japanese style inns (ryokans) to ultra modern business hotels – making booking short term stays a snap. But what if you are staying in Japan for longer, say a few months? Now things start to get a whole lot more difficult.
After doing some heavy research for a longer stay in Japan, here’s what I’ve found about booking accommodations for the Osaka and Kyoto area.
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I woke up this morning to news of another tragic bombing in Jakarta where several tourists lost their lives. It’s a sad reality that travel is no longer as safe as it once was.
When my wife and I planned our first Asian trip, we decided on picking up one of Cathay Airlines All Asian passes, as it would allow us to travel to several Asian destinations. As I sat down with big plans to jump from country to country and enjoy as many cultures as I could – reality gave me wake up call.
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