What a year 2014 has been, not only for us here at Unique Japan Tours, but for Japan Tourism in general. It was only announced last month that the number of foreign visitors to Japan topped 11,000,000 in the first
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Travel
Musings from Japan Sakura Trip March 2013
Written by: Gail Gold who joined a self guided tour including Tokyo, Kyoto, & Takayama.
Japan, to me, is where the future meets the past. You see it every day in every aspect of life. The first thing that struck …
Tsumago to Magome Traditional Samurai Postal Route
Spectacular scenery but word of warning – leave your baby behind!!
Myself, my husband (Japanese), and my soon to be two year old daughter arrived at Nagiso station after a one hour train ride from Nagoya. The journey from Nagoya …
Looking good at almost 100
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First-time visitors to Tokyo often ask where the centre of Tokyo is. Answers vary according to the person who you are talking to but the plain fact is that there is no one true centre for this
…Taking a break from Tokyo
Few people would associate Tokyo with mountains. However, after just an hour’s train ride heading west out of Tokyo and you will find yourself in a lusciously green mountainous area. Welcome to Mount Takao. Visited by over 2.5 million people
…Fortresses of breathtaking beauty
Many people say that much of modern-day Japan exists because of its samurai roots. The samurai may no longer exist but a symbol of their power and strength does: castles.
Estimates vary in the number of castles still standing today
…Giving goes a long way in Japan
Immaculately wrapped gifts are the norm in Japan
Anytime a Japanese person goes abroad, he or she will go armed with a long shopping list – not of things for themselves but those for their loved ones, friends, work
…Celebrating O-bon in style
Traditionally, Japanese people like to take their holidays on mass. One of the biggest holidays of the year is O-bon or the Festival of Bon, which normally falls around mid-August of each year.
A Japanese Buddhist custom held in honour
…A theatrical workout for the senses
Take kabuki and remove from it the gorgeously colourful costumes, entrancing music and fantastical stories and what you are left with, in its bare essence, is a living, breathing traditional art form.
Any visitor to Japan that goes to watch
…A dazzling display to excite the senses
They say that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, then, how many words do you think the photo here is worth? Too many to count, I reckon.
It would be futile to try to describe a fireworks display
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