(I originally wrote this long before Covid-19 was a problem. I hope that by the time Covid-19 ends, this shopping strip will still be...

In a sweet little town called Ikoma, Nara, I got to eat at a magical place called Coco’s, not once, but twice. Unlike Australia, Japan...

(Image taken from Google Maps. 14/7/20) One of my greatest regrets about my last visit to Japan was that I visited the Yatsuhashi-An but...

Prior to covid-19, Cowra Japanese Gardens was known to have a Japanese festival every year. I attended it twice as a volunteer kimono...

(Having had a look at the Tokyo Disneyland website, they seem to have reopened now. So you can go and visit many of the same pleasures I...

I wanted to make the most of my visit to USJ. So I wanted to get there around opening time and stay till closing time. But I was mostly...

I've mentioned the delightful town of Ikoma, Nara before. But what I didn't learn until my last trip is that it is home to what might be...

It's a sad fact that I didn't learn how close my Tokyo accommodations were to Akihabara till I was in Tokyo, so I didn't schedule...

The very first time I went to see Universal Studios Japan, it wasn’t by choice. I couldn’t understand how Sanrio, Dreamworks and classic...

(This particular piece is somewhat jumbled and confused, since the experience itself was so confusing. I can’t recall or contemplate it...

When I was in the Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum last year, one of the things I saw was a very old traditional umbrella shop. If...

(An image of two true Maiko, or apprentice Geisha. Their hair ornaments and distinctive long, hanging obi knots show their status. Used...

I won't name the last place I stayed during my last trip to Japan. Mostly because I don't want to bring them shame through my brutal...

(Since I first wrote this post, the killing of George Floyd and all of the complex societal problems it brought forth has come to light....

When I went to visit the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum, I didn't know that it was going to be surrounded by a beautiful park...

It turns out that far from being a way of rendering kimono even more irrelevant, the Kimono Forest seems to be bringing fresh business and a

(The zori store where I had my footwear resized, taken by me, 2019.) Have you ever noticed that women who wear kimono seem to be wearing...

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, "Yokai" is a kind of umbrella term for small monsters in Japan. By small, I mean that they...

Yokohama Chinatown is a place I have longed to visit since my girlhood. I had seen it show up in Sailor Moon, as a place where Molly/Naru...

(Image from Utakoi, TV Tokyo, 2012.) I first learned about The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by watching an anime series called Utakoi (2012). You...