Category: Japan

Asia Travel Golden Pavilion Temple Zen Garden Kyoto »

Tenth part of my summer vacation video. Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion Temple, Ryoan-ji Zen Garden (both UNESCO World Heritage Sites) and the Daimonji Bonfires in Kyoto, the final part of the O-bon festival on August 16th. Five giant bonfires are lit on mountains surrounding the Kyoto, to guide the spirits of deceased family members, (who visit [...]

Introduction to Travel in Osaka, Japan »

The urban equivalent of the Elephant Man, OSAKA, Japan’s third largest city after Tokyo and Yokohama, yearns to be loved despite its ugliness. It may well lack the pockets of beauty and refinement found in nearby Kyoto , but beyond the unrelenting concrete cityscape, Osaka is a vibrant metropolis, inhabited by famously easy-going citizens with [...]

Introduction to Tokyo, Japan »

On the edge of the Orient, TOKYO – the last great conurbation before the yawning chasm of the Pacific Ocean – is one of the world’s most perplexing cities. On the one hand, gaudily hung about with eyeball-searing neon and messy overhead cables, plagued by seemingly incessant noise, often clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic and packed [...]