For several centuries, Asakusa (located in northeastern Tokyo) served as the cultural – if not political – playground of the capital. This small fishing village was initially situated on the outskirts of the city. It originally grew up around Senso-ji Temple and the adjacent Asakusa Shrine, two houses of worship that were also founded by…

Kohama, a small island of just 436 inhabitants at last count, follows the classic small island layout of the Yaeyamas: a functional, largely uninhabited port, a circular road, and a village located smack-bang in the middle of the island – a sensible precaution against typhoons and inundations. Kohama village is a classic study in small…

It sounds like a modern-day fairy tale. A beautiful girl with a less-than-privileged upbringing somehow finds herself transported to a distant land, where her angelic voice earns her fame and fortune. Though Himeka may not yet be a household name, this Quebec native is poised to be the next big thing on the Japanese pop…

The night is cool, but warm enough to feel that the country has shaken off winter’s chill and that spring is well and truly here. Under the frothy waves of blossoms the air is festive, bursting with the sounds of conversation, the tipsy laughter of other picnickers, and occasional bursts of song. Above, the trees…

When the Yomiuri Giants won the Japan Series last autumn, the sigh of relief from millions of fans and the domestic media was almost audible. After a gap of seven years in which relative upstarts and ‘minor’ names such as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and Chiba Lotte Marines from the Pacific League lifted aloft…

Saitama has nice little mountains and pretty rivers, but not having beachfront property seriously diminishes the prefecture’s status on the recreational scale. Kanagawa is famous for its beaches and rolling hills. But fame has a hefty price in terms of fighting the weekend crowds. For down-to-earth fun, Chiba is the place to go. CHIBA IN…

For centuries, the Japanese – like many in Europe and elsewhere with a similar length of recorded history – never ventured far from their birthplace. Subsistence farming was for so long the norm in both regions and for much of the rest of the planet, leading to local area specialties forming regional staples and a…

Japan’s affluence grew in the late seventies and throughout the eighties. Hordes of people moved out of their cramped apartments and into more palatial dwellings. With the dream houses and condominiums came the pets – a surefire way of announcing to your friends and neighbors that you were in the money. And so started Japan’s…

 Where there are shrines, temples and other holy places in Asia, invariably there are markets. In this respect, Japan is no exception. Commerce flows, as it were, in through the temple gates and then out, a cordial division of profits that is to everyone’s satisfaction. You could sneak through the back streets of Dazaifu in…

How do you spot the sole artist in a room? Besides the telltale clues like a sketchpad and beret (well, I’m kidding about the beret), he’ll likely be chuckling to himself about some joke that’s lost on left-brainers. Or perhaps he’ll be pointing out the bad design that prevents your spoon from scooping out the…