100 Things We’ve Learned in 100 Days
1. While it’s probably true all around the world, breasts are literally worshipped in Japan – the Jison-in temple in Wakayama is covered in boobs. 2. If you tell a Japanese person something unexpected, an involuntary noise will escape from them: “Eiiiiiiigghh!” If you tell them something truly extraordinary, it will become deeper and longer: ...
The Bridge to Heaven
One thing we’ve noticed about the Japanese: they can be frightfully competitive with one another. All over the country even the most humble of prefectures must claim to be the biggest/fastest/strongest/best in something, whether that’s soba making or sake brewing or rice growing etc and so on. But one thing we’ve noticed is that nowhere ...
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Five, Seven, Five
My home town of Ayr isn’t known for much, although, over the years, we’ve had one or two famous denizens. The bloke who invented tarmac, for one; a tan-and-white cow for another. By far and away the most famous, though, is Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. Ring any bells? Maybe not, but if nothing else, ...
Farewell To Autumn
Just a few days ago, we were sweating it out on the coast of Shizuoka. I spent half the day surfing; the other half trying to fend off the humidity. It was so warm that autumn hadn’t really taken hold – the ocean was still perfectly bearable (granted, with a wetsuit) and the leaves hadn’t ...
Kusatsu: It’s Not Just For Christmas (or Autumn Part Two)
The town of Zao Onsen, back in Yamagata prefecture, was a nice wee place – we just happened to arrive there at the wrong time of year. So it was with some trepidation that we arrived in Kusatsu in Gunma. On a grander, slightly more Swiss scale, this is a very similar town. Healing waters ...
The Fear Factor
Anyone who’s ever travelled to a UNESCO World Heritage site knows the feeling – hell, anyone who’s ever been to any tourist attraction of any note knows the feeling. Just for a second, you wish you could have the place all to yourself. But you can’t, because the world is overpopulated, the number of tourist ...
Autumn – Part One
Because we’re loving sorts, today we thought we’d bring you two blog posts. This first one is because we literally couldn’t contain the pictures we took of our first autumnal colours today. This time of year is especially exciting for us as it’s been a very, very long time since we saw anything like it. ...