On top of Tokyu Plaza shopping center, at the crossroads of Omotesando and Meiji Dori, is a rooftop garden from where I took this shot of Tokyo looking south towards Shibuya.
Walking from Harajuku, through Yoyogi Park towards Meiji Jingu Shrine, we passed this display of huge kazaridaru – barrels of sake – donated by brewers across Japan to honour the gods and …
I’m finally starting to process the shortlist of the photographs I took during our trip to Japan in November last year. From over 1500 photographs taken, more than 1110 passed muster and were pr…
Again we started Day Three in Kyoto early, heading in entirely the opposite direction as yesterday to go to Arashiyama to explore the bamboo groves there. But first, breakfast! Takagi Coffee We found …
Fushimi Inari-Taisha Our second day in Kyoto started early. One of our top priorities whilst in Kyoto was to see Fushimi Inari-Taisha – the one with the orange gates. A ten minute walk from our …
We left Tokyo on Friday morning, catching the shinkansen (“The Bullet Train”) from Shinagawa Station. With our Japan Rail passes, the shinkansen (and other JR trains) are free – we j…
Although we’ve been very lucky (and, like Jack Nicklaus said: “The more I practise, the luckier I get!” – that is, we did a lot of research beforehand), there were a couple of …
Okonomiyaki, effectively Japanese omelettes, are a favourite of ours since we discovered the Abeno restaurant chain in London some years ago – we try to get to Abeno Too near Leicester Square wh…
One of my concerns when we started planning our trip to Japan was the completely alien-ness of the language and, more importantly, the writing. I am pretty good at picking up information peripherally …
Sunday in Tokyo is very much like any other day. There are no religious reasons for shops and businesses to be closed and the streets are as busy as ever. But Gail and I felt like a quiet day was in o…
Let’s get this straight – one of the main things Gail and I were looking to sample here in Japan was the food. So it’s with no real surprise I bring you another food related blog ent…
On our second day in Tokyo, having vanquished jetlag, we set off in search of shopping. First we headed to Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku, a multi-floor electronics store where I had been advised I woul…
I love gyoza, it’s true! (I am infamous amongst a particular group of friends for sitting at the head of the conveyor belt at a certain Japanese restaurant in Barcelona and way-laying every sing…
Or is it Day 1.5? Or Day 0.5? Or Day Three even? I don’t fucking know! It’s currently 13:00 for us, and we’re some 9 hours ahead of GMT. We’ve been on a plane for 12 hours. We …
After a 2 hour delay leaving Granada due to a technical defect with the plane (which required an engineer to come up from Málaga to fix) – apparently the rear door wouldn’t close prope…
I’m not a great traveler, so creating a new category with this 2016 relaunch of my blog is perhaps a bit optimistic. But it’s here for a very specific trip, at least initially – we&#…
