JAPAN TRAVEL
Top four filming locations to look out for
Japanese cinema has a legendary reputation across the world. In the early nineteenth century, such directors as Masahiro Makino, Akira Kurosawa, and Yasujiro Ozu created work that helped to define and still influences modern cinema on an int...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
An amazing way to preserve historic world structures
The second day of our Nikko trip we headed to Kinugawa. I had watched an NHK program on Tobu World Square and wanted to see it for myself.
Tobu Park consists of 102 architectural structures from 21 countries on a 1/25 scale. The ex...

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JAPAN TODAY
 
While Mt. Fuji is Japan’s highest mountain, it’s also one of the most popular destinations for hikers in Japan. So while making your way to the peak of Fuji is an experience you’re unlikely to ever forget, it’s also an experience that many others will have, which somewhat diminishes...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
100 km of coast, culture, and cuisine
The Namahage Ride in Oga, Akita is really an event like no other.
Participants come in from all over the country in order to cycle 100 kilometers around the Oga Peninsula, taking in the beautiful sights, sounds, and flavors of Akita Prefecture on...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Experience all of the charms of Japan in Asakusa
Marugoto Nippon is a new shopping complex that opened only a year and a half ago in Asakusa. It has a very modern Japanese style and does an excellent job presenting the charms that areas of Japan have to offer.
 
This department store...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Take a class in the famous old town of Ouchijuku 
If you make your way out of the samurai city of Aizuwakamatsu toward the south, you will stumble upon a beautiful little area called "Ouchijuku" in the town of Shimogo. This area was a former post town during the Edo Period in Japan, ...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
See and play with six types of cute foxes
Located in the mountains near Shiroishi, there is a ‘village’ that is filled with over 100 animals and 6 different types of foxes. This ‘Fox Village’ is one of the best places in Japan to go and see foxes. The foxes freely roam a preserve whi...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Kiraku’s Katsume residence in Obi, Miyazaki
If a samurai were time-warped from the Edo period to modern Japan, what kind of home would they live in? Let’s explore that question on a visit to a little castle town that still has its old city streets and preserved buildings—a can’t miss...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
A restaurant and a museum under one roof
Sato Yosuke is a chain of udon restaurants that originated in Akita, featuring a type of udon called inaniwa. The noodles are made on location at the main restaurant in Masuda district of Yokote. They have 6 other locations in Akita and two in...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
The world's longest wooden pedestrian bridge
Twenty-five minutes on foot from Shimada in the suburbs of Shizuoka City, Horai Bridge is a long wooden footbridge crossing the Oi River.
The bridge was completed during the Meiji era in January 1879; before then, those wanting to cross th...

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