Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond TokyoLet’s go to an amazingly bookish Japanese inn! Is there anywhere better to curl up with a good book than a Japanese hot spring inn that inspired over a dozen famous Japanese poets and novelists in the early 1900s? Literary lights gathered for months atContinueContinue reading “DEC 2025”
Tag Archives: Japanagram monthly overview
NOV 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond TokyoWho wears it better? Kosan-ji temple or the maple trees? Orange is not for everyone, but I think you’ll agree that the Kosan-ji temple rivals its Japanese maples for sheer, bodacious, ability to garb itself in the spirit of pumpkin spice this time ofContinueContinue reading “NOV 2025”
OCT 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond TokyoLet’s hike to a dragon shrine and a killer waterfall! If you’d like to see just how only-in-Japan trekking over the river and through the woods can be, look no further than the Haruna Shrine and Fukinoware Falls in Gunma Prefecture. It’s just a shortContinueContinue reading “OCT 2025”
SEP 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal SecretThe coolest summertime cafe in Japan Lately I’ve been dreaming of this cafe at the Hiyoshi Taisha shrine in Ōtsu. It’s been living rent-free in my head for years, because I can’t imagine anything more refreshing than sipping an iced something in an open-airContinueContinue reading “SEP 2025”
JUL-AUG 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond TokyoCome with me to the northiest north! Okay, I know this isn’t the Norwaygram, and I apologize to be coming to you from a place that is SO far beyond Tokyo this month. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I wasContinueContinue reading “JUL-AUG 2025”
JUNE 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond TokyoLet’s explore an amazing Japanese design site that turns landscape into art! All my friends told me I should run—not walk—to see the Enoura Observatory. Not one of them could quite explain why. Or even describe what it was. Once I got there, though, IContinueContinue reading “JUNE 2025”
MAY 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal SecretWhat makes these crazy wisteria the most Japanese flower spectacle of all? It’s no secret that Japan produces some of the worlds’ most eyepopping flower extravaganzas—like, yeah, cherry blossom season—but there’s an especially Japanese kind of master gardening that you can only see duringContinueContinue reading “MAY 2025”
APR 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Why, Japan, Why?Why don’t we all wear kimonos instead of Control Tops and neckties? Okay, just for a moment, clear your mind of cultural biases and entrenched Western ideas about beauty, and consider how much more comfortable and attractive we all might be if weContinueContinue reading “APR 2025”
MAR 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:Better cherry blossoms through science! Nothing makes people more anxious than trying to guess the perfect time to go see cherry blossoms at their peak. But Japan has a fix for that! Projection mapping technology has been harnessed to turn it into an experienceContinueContinue reading “MAR 2025”
FEB 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:Weird only-in-Japan ways to stay warm in winter! How do you keep from freezing when the temperature takes a dive and you live in a house that’s insulation-challenged (if not downright colder inside than outside)? No surprise, there are only-in-Japan solutions for all yourContinueContinue reading “FEB 2025”
JAN 2025
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond Tokyo:Let’s stay in a Japanese inn with seven outdoor hot springs baths by a river! Ginkon-yū Onsen is one of the most magical places I’ve ever been, and I can’t resist taking you along to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime delights of the treehouse bath, theContinueContinue reading “JAN 2025”
DEC 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond Tokyo:Hokkaido: Like the Alps…but with volcanos If spending time in glorious mountains where you might be surprised by steam spouting from the ground around every bend sounds like heaven to you, get thee to Hokkaido when it’s NOT snowing!…read more • Japanese Home CookingDumplingContinueContinue reading “DEC 2024”
NOV 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:Diving into swirling leaves and swimming fish You don’t have to brave the elements to see the most spectacular autumn leaves in Japan anymore! Shinagawa Aqua Park teams up with the Naked, Inc. projection mapping artists to conjure up new immersive delights in everyContinueContinue reading “NOV 2024”
OCT 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond Tokyo:A real-life vine bridge and other unknown Shikoku delights! Shikoku delivers so many great experiences that you can’t have anywhere else. The Kazurabashi Vine Bridge would make Indiana Jones pause before attempting to cross its swaying 45-meter length with between-the-toes glimpses of…read more •ContinueContinue reading “OCT 2024”
SEP 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:Green and Serene: Design secrets of Japanese gardens If there’s one thing we need right now in this brutally continuing summer, it’s a stroll in a Japanese garden. But how can they be such an oasis of cool and calm in the midst ofContinueContinue reading “SEP 2024”
AUG 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:Japanese glass bells: the sweet sound of summer The sweet chimes of fūrin bells aren’t just a pretty summer soundtrack! In the dark days before AC was invented, they were one of the major weapons against the relentlessly hot and steamy Japanese summertime…read more • Why,ContinueContinue reading “AUG 2024”
JUL 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • The Thing I Learned Today:The weird things you can buy in Japanese vending machines Coffee, tea and soft drinks are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what a few coins can buy you from vending machines in Japan…read more • JapaneseContinueContinue reading “JUL 2024”
JUN 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • The Thing I Learned Today:The Mingei Movement celebrates the high art of ordinary things in all new ways From brooms to lamps to dishware, what makes Mingei art so different from all others is that every piece is useful—not merely decorative—and is made by ordinaryContinueContinue reading “JUN 2024”
MAY 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond Tokyo:Come for the art island, stay for the tea garden You came, you saw, you appreciated all the art on Naoshima. But the memory that will stick with you from Takamatsu—the city you thought of as merely the jumping-off place for the art islandContinueContinue reading “MAY 2024”
APR 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Beyond Tokyo:Let’s stay in a traditional Japanese farmhouse in the countryside! Rural farm life is alive and well in the beautiful Japanese countryside, and if you’ve ever dreamed of staying in one of those curvy-beamed, straw-plastered, traditional farmhouses, well, now you can!…read more • Why,ContinueContinue reading “APR 2024”
MAR 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:Let’s hike through the heirloom cherry blossom preserve! The best kept cherry blossom secret in Tokyo is a fabulous preserve where seventy-two types of heirloom cherry trees grow wild. Unlike the crowded beauty spots in the city, you can walk for miles without encounteringContinueContinue reading “MAR 2024”
JAN-FEB 2024
Click on photo or link to read the feature • The Thing I Learned Today:All about Nihonga: A master reveals the secrets behind Japan’s ancient form of painting If there’s an incredibly difficult way of making something and it takes a lifetime to master, you can be sure Japan has perfected it. That is especiallyContinueContinue reading “JAN-FEB 2024”
NOV-DEC 2023
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Why, Japan, Why?Santa gets a Japanese makeover It’s no secret that Japan is known for coming up with some, er, interesting interpretations of Xmas traditions, but none are more amusing than their seasonal takes on old Saint Nick himself…read more • The Thing I LearnedContinueContinue reading “NOV-DEC 2023”
SEP-OCT 2023
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:Halloween costumes I would regret I love Halloween in Japan, because the costumes are so hilariously and bafflingly unlike something ANYONE would wear to a party where I come from. Let’s plunge into the most baffling of the baffling and the most inexplicable ofContinueContinue reading “SEP-OCT 2023”
JUL-AUG 2023
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:Splashparks: Tokyo’s secret summer delight You don’t have to be a kid to fling socks and shoes to the wind and dip your hot, tired feet in these inviting summertime streams, pools and fountains. Best of all, these are all in public parks, soContinueContinue reading “JUL-AUG 2023”
MAY-JUN 2023
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret:It’s Fluttering Fish Flag Season! Few sights are more delightful than a school of fish flags fluttering against the spring sky. They only appear in the month before Children’s Day on May 5, so now is the time to seek out the biggest andContinueContinue reading “MAY-JUN 2023”
MAR-APR 2023
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret: Hacking cherry blossom season: How to beat peak pricing and crowds, while still enjoying maximum pinkness You go to Japan for cherry blossom season expecting it’ll be all picnics under the spreading boughs of pinkness, but even if you manage to book ticketsContinueContinue reading “MAR-APR 2023”
JAN-FEB 2023
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret: Feast your eyes on these Japanese New Year’s decorations From December 28 to January 7, Japanese new year decorations hang on every door, beckoning in good luck and prosperity for the coming year…read more • The Thing I Learned Today: Why do JapaneseContinueContinue reading “JAN-FEB 2023”
NOV-DEC 2022
Click on photo or link to read the feature • Seasonal Secret: Design Festa: Your one-stop shop for predatory purses, zombie nesting dolls & more Twice a year, Design Festa takes over the Big Site convention center in Odiaba, and artists selling everything from zombie matroyshika to predatory purses gather to outdo each other…read moreContinueContinue reading “NOV-DEC 2022”
SEP-OCT 2022
Click on photo or link to read the feature • First of all…say hello to an all-new Japanagram feature! Instead of a book giveaway this month, I’m delving into my personal treasure trove of Japanese collectables for the… Japan Swag Giveaway From hilarious limited edition capsule toys to Japanese new year’s ornaments, each month oneContinueContinue reading “SEP-OCT 2022”
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