You know you are in a sub-tropical, summer climate the moment you see the vibrant flora and early blooms of Japan’s volcanic gardens. On the islands of Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa, one is immediately struck by the luxuriance of flowers, mandarin and citrus fruits, and the city esplanades lined with cycads and phoenix palms. The…

OCTOPUS ORIGINS The shoes that put the company on the map, three years after it had been founded, were famously devised by Mr. Onitsuka one hot summer evening in 1951 as he was enjoying a salad of cucumber and cold octopus. He had initially started out to make basketball shoes in the belief that the…

It’s not here yet, but soon it will come; the hot and humid horror that is summer in Tokyo. Waking up in early July, one may feel that they have been transported to a new and formerly unbeknownst to Dante Alighieri tenth ring of hell. Tokyo is hot. Three simple words that do not do…

The drink is the color of water, only thicker – fragrant, and intoxicating. The cool alcohol is smooth, yet slightly spicy, and warm in your mouth; the bouquet is lightly fruity and complex. A good sake bears about as much resemblance to the paint-thinner export varieties as a traditional kimono does to a nylon dressing…

Though not yet a household name in Japan, with her stunningly exotic looks and feminine physique it’s easy to draw comparisons to former tennis “It Girl” Anna Kournikova or current tennis beauty queen Maria Sharapova. The fact that she is registered with famed Japanese talent agency Horipro, and models on the side, only reinforces these…

There is nothing that compares to the exhilaration, the reality and intense energy that is exuded at a professional MMA (mixed martial arts) fight. Simply the closest thing to two modern day warriors battling it out in a titanic clash of almost unfathomable power, watching a fight is testimony to the physical capabilities and tenacity…

The journey by train from Tokyo to JR Awa-Kamogawa station on the southern Boso Peninsula, is something of a revelation. The coastal cities and towns of Chiba prefecture may be scarred by congestions of sub-standard architecture, urban anomalies and an appalling lack of coordination, but after the settlement of Kisarazu, nature begins to assert its…

One masked figure stands out from the rest. She glides effortlessly across the stage as if she’s weightless and being ushered by a delicate yet decisive breeze. She commands everyone’s attention; the other masked silhouettes are now merely peripheral. The music morphs seamlessly into a contemporary Asian blend, an Okinawan sanshin provides melody and a…

Japanese summers, south of the Tohoku and below five hundred metres, are notoriously hot and tropically muggy. In the heat islands of the major cities, things get particularly steamy: August temperatures in Tokyo are generally over thirty degrees Celsius; nights rarely dip below the mid twenties. Osaka and Kyoto are typically a few degrees warmer,…

Though today’s city is a pleasant, relaxed enough place, Aizu-Wakamatsu’s strongest ties are to its past, a history that it draws nourishment from in the present and uses to fill out the otherwise rather featureless contours of the city. A major castle town on the all important trunk road north from Edo, the city’s fortunes…