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Even Indiana Jones Would Get Lost in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station

Jan 25, 2014 by Daniel McBane 25 Comments

Shinjuku Station West in Tokyo

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 […]

Filed Under: Japan Tagged With: transportation, culture, Tokyo, Japan

Viewing Mount Aso’s Crater…For 30 Seconds

Dec 28, 2013 by Daniel McBane 4 Comments

Nakadake crater on Mount Aso in Japan
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Visiting Mount Aso in Japan

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…]

Filed Under: Japan Tagged With: Japan, hiking, mountains

If You Can’t Take The Heat, Get Out Of The Onsen

Dec 21, 2013 by Daniel McBane 4 Comments

Monkey in Jigokudani hot spring in Nagano, Japan
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Visiting Mount Aso in Japan

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…]

Filed Under: Japan Tagged With: culture, mountains, accommodation, Japan

Braving Japanese-Style Accommodation on Mount Aso

Dec 14, 2013 by Daniel McBane 9 Comments

kusasenri meadow on Mt Aso on Kyushu, Japan
This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Visiting Mount Aso in Japan

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…]

Filed Under: Japan Tagged With: Japan, culture, mountains, budget travel, accommodation

Hurry Up and Eat Your Squid Before it Dies!

Aug 17, 2013 by Daniel McBane 8 Comments

Ikizukuri live squid in Karatsu Japan

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 […]

Filed Under: Japan Tagged With: culture, food, Japan

Japanese Smoking Manners Campaign Warns Against Smoke Stalker

Jul 10, 2013 by Daniel McBane Leave a Comment

Japanese Anti-Smoking

Filed Under: Japan, Funny Photos Tagged With: funny image, Japan, funny signs, smoking manners

Spring Themed Japanese Smoking Manners Posters

May 1, 2013 by Daniel McBane 10 Comments

Japanese Smoking Manners

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 […]

Filed Under: Japan, Funny Photos Tagged With: Japan, funny signs, culture, smoking manners, funny image

Funny Bad English on a Japanese Notebook

Apr 17, 2013 by Daniel McBane 6 Comments

Bad English 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 […]

Filed Under: Japan, Funny Photos Tagged With: funny image, Japan, bad English, Osaka, culture, bad translation, language

Winter Themed Japanese Smoking Manners Posters

Apr 10, 2013 by Daniel McBane 8 Comments

Smoking Manners Japan

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 […]

Filed Under: Japan, Funny Photos Tagged With: funny image, Japan, funny signs, culture, smoking manners

Japanese “Smoking Manners” Posters Get Philosophical

Mar 20, 2013 by Daniel McBane 10 Comments

Smoking Manners Sign Japan

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.

Filed Under: Japan, Funny Photos Tagged With: funny image, Japan, funny signs, culture, smoking manners

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Welcome!

As the more astute among you may have guessed, my name is Daniel McBane. I've been traveling and working overseas for almost ten years now and have finally decided to document some of the strange, crazy or just plain funny encounters and observations from my travels. I've also added a travel guide section, figuring I should reward my four readers by providing at least something of use. Read more on my about page.

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