Tea Time
“Fancy a cuppa?” “Ooh yeah, I’d love one.” “How do you take it?” “Milk and two, ta.” Then Person A slinks off to the kitchen, tosses a generic tea bag in a cup, drowns it in boiling water, stirs it around briefly, hauls it out, plops in the two sugars and milk, then takes it ...
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Follow the White Rabbit
These days, unless you’ve got a degree in history, and a PHD in archaeology and an agreement with the Department of Antiquities and half a dozen other bits of paper, then it’s unlikely you’re going to be a bonafide treasure hunter. Of course, 100 years ago it was very different: people – moneyed Europeans and ...
Come Rain or Shrine
In general the weather in Japan has been amazing for us. It feels like 90% of the days have been gloriously sunny, temperate and wonderful for pictures. Today was not one of those days – and I think it felt all the more dreich because the rest have been so good. Yesterday, the gloomy weather ...
People Power
Today we left Osaka city centre and headed to the east of the sprawl. This area has drawn artistic souls from around Japan – and even further afield – to come and create. While their trades aren’t related to each other at all, each of them has a irrepressible creative spirit that we couldn’t help ...
Nara Say Nara Again
…It bit me! At least I thought it did. There was definitely a flash of teeth. Were my jeans wet with the monster’s drool? It was hard to tell, but still: the horror! We shuffled off, a good deal perturbed by the experience, and after that avoided the unrelenting deer. Rather than contemplate the world’s ...
Nara Say Nara
So far as capitial cities go, Nara’s shift as the top dog was pretty brief. For just 74 years from 710AD it was the ruling city of all Japan, including a five year holiday when power was transferred to what is now Osaka. Actually, moving the capital was a standard practice at that time: each ...
A Dyeing Art and Miso Healthy
From the neon modernity of Tokyo and its surrounds, we couldn’t have ended up anywhere much more different than sleepy Chichibu. There are traditional buildings on every other corner, the air is crisp and clean, and we are surrounded by mountains. We have jumped out of the fire and into a cool pine-scented bath. It’s ...
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 ...
The Tranquil Hill
I can think of no other country in the world that feels so simultaneously futuristic and steeped in history as Japan. Without ever having come here, I always imagined that Japan essentially existed five years in Europe’s future. Yet no right-minded wee boy would fail to fantasise about the machinations of the samurai and ninja. ...