I recently learned that Japan boasts 45 of the world’s 50 busiest train stations, including the first 23 (source: rocketnews24.com) . The top three are all located in western Tokyo, a few stops apart on the Yamanote circle line. The busiest sits in the middle and sees almost 4 million visitors per day. Welcome to […]
Viewing Mount Aso’s Crater…For 30 Seconds
The next morning, we hopped on a bus and headed up toward the most active of Mount Aso’s craters. We were dropped off at the bottom of a rope way, from where we could either walk the rest of the way to the crater or pay 1000 yen for a roundtrip ticket and ride up. I’m sure [read more…]
If You Can’t Take The Heat, Get Out Of The Onsen
Once we got to the hot spring, it was time to split up. You may have noticed I was the only guy in the picture from the first part of this series, so I had to head off to the male room to sit in some water on my own. The whole experience was uncomfortable in [read more…]
Braving Japanese-Style Accommodation on Mount Aso
Accommodation is easily the biggest expense when traveling in Japan, but you can cut down on your costs quite a bit, if you are willing to move away from the standard western hotel or hostel experience. In most cities and towns, the best value is found at a minshuku. This stripped-down version of a ryokan (traditional [read more…]
Hurry Up and Eat Your Squid Before it Dies!
I know you’re not supposed to play with your food, but in this case, our food seemed to be playing with us. The two squid lying on the pile of ice before us pulsated and changed from a translucent white to a dark red with every heartbeat. Dark pupils jumped around in large eyes. Whenever […]
Japanese Smoking Manners Campaign Warns Against Smoke Stalker
Spring Themed Japanese Smoking Manners Posters
I figured it’s time for some spring-themed smoking manners posters. This first one refers to the pollen problem in Japan, which really does get pretty bad, thanks to the Japanese Cedar. Most visitors end up suffering quite a bit, even if they don’t generally get allergies in their home countries. Luckily I never had a […]
Funny Bad English on a Japanese Notebook
Going through my bags recently, I found this notebook I bought a few years ago in Osaka during my last visit to Japan and I thought the little saying was hilarious. As is usually the case, it is unintentionally hilarious due to a bad English translation. In this case it’s only slightly off. Let me […]
Winter Themed Japanese Smoking Manners Posters
Fellow blogger Erica Jordan recently brought an article to my attention about a new strategy being adopted by the anti-smoking organization “Legacy”. Rather than focus on the health consequences of smoking as they’ve been doing, they are now attacking cigarettes as litter. My immediate thought was: “That’s not new!” That sign is one of almost […]
Japanese “Smoking Manners” Posters Get Philosophical
After the intentionally funny “smoking manners” poster I put up last week, I decided to go with an unintentionally funny—and deeply philosophical—one this week. I’ll post a few more of these in the future, but don’t worry, I won’t go through all 70 or so in the long-running ad campaign by Japan Tobacco.