Like this post? Help us by sharing it! Award-winning travel writer (Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Wanderlust) Paul Bloomfield recently explored western Honshu with us, where history and ghost stories feel ever present. From the sinister medieval bastion of Matsue to Tsuwano’s Edo-era scenes and Hagi’s samurai past, he follows Yamaguchi’s quieter routes, ending in Nagato Yumoto […]
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On the trail of the samurai
Like this post? Help us by sharing it! With a major samurai exhibition coming to the British Museum this year, and a new Shōgun series is on the way, The Telegraph writer John Gimlette went looking for the real thing in Japan. He travelled on our Samurai Footsteps itinerary – and found the samurai legacy […]
Exploring Coast to Coast in Aomori
Like this post? Help us by sharing it! So often in Japan, you know an experience is going to be memorable, even before you do it. That visit to majestic Kiyomizudera in Kyoto, for example; the climb up Mount Fuji; a night out in Tokyo’s karaoke bars. Other times, these moments are more accidental. And […]
How to hanami: Our guide to cherry blossom season in Japan
Like this post? Help us by sharing it! Cherry blossoms – or sakura – are one of Japan’s most recognisable seasonal markers, rich in symbolism as well as beauty. What began as a pastime for Heian-era nobles later became a symbol of impermanence for the samurai – a metaphor for dying young in battle, […]
Korean’s Beotkkot, Japan’s Sakura: what cherry blossom teaches us
Like this post? Help us by sharing it! Each spring, two neighbouring countries become wreathed in cherry blossom. While the flowers may look similar, the meanings they carry – and the ways they’re experienced – tell very different stories. Japan: The quiet weight of tradition In Japan, cherry blossom (sakura) is not just a seasonal […]
Perspectives of Hiroshima: through its people
Like this post? Help us by sharing it! Four different views of the city, through four different guides. Hiroshima is a place with many stories to tell: those of a city devastated by the world’s first atomic bombing, those of its victims, its survivors, and its aftermath. There are the stories of Hiroshima’s recovery and […]