• The “Little Kyoto” of Kumamoto

    This article is available offline on GPSmyCity. Download the app for GPS-assisted directions to all the attractions featured. “Please visit Miyazaki again,” a sign reads at the entrance to the…

  • Touring Niagara, Part 2: French Castle

    “It’s snowing!” I yelled excitedly over my shoulder, peeking through the curtains. “Oh yeah?” my sister responded with mild disinterest. You’d swear she never grew up in Johannesburg. The fluffy…

  • The Nishimera Gibier Festival

    “You ate what?” Maria-san asked with surprise. “Wild boar and deer.” She scrunched up her nose in disgust, “Urgh…really?” “Yeah, it was delicious!” “Oh no,” she frowned unconvinced, “I’ve never…

  • Touring Niagara, Part 1: Secret Caverns

    During the summer of 1928, two cows named Lucky and Floyd wandered from a farm outside of Cobleskill, New York and fell to the bottom of a 26-meter (85-ft) hole.…

  • Sumo on a Sunday

    Two crouched rikishi look each other dead in the eye. In perfect symmetry, they rub their hands together, clap once, and then move their arms out slowly to their sides,…

  • Hiking Mount Kaimon

    AIR RESCUE POINT. The small, yellow sign caught my eye as I clambered over another giant boulder. Take note, I teased myself, this is where they’ll have to come to find…

  • Miyazaki’s Winter Illuminations

    At this time of year, the terrifyingly life-like fibreglass statues of Colonel Sanders that guard the entrance to every KFC in Japan are dressed up in red suits and Santa…

  • Blue Impulse at the Nyutabaru Air Festival

    Last Saturday, generals at the Nyutabaru Air Base in Shintomi Town, Miyazaki, constructed and hung a giant teru teru bozu doll from the awning of the Fifth Air Wing offices.…

  • Udo-jingū: A Most Unusual Shrine

    During the Age of the Gods, the daughter of the Japanese sea King Ryujin, Toyotama, lived with her father in the underwater palace of Ryugu-jo. One day, the dragon goddess…

  • A Quick Guide to Yufuin Onsen Town

    This article is available offline on GPSmyCity. Download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to all the attractions featured. In Japan, you’d be hard-pressed to find a city or town…

  • Hiking the Yufudake Trail

    The tears came hard and fast. I had just reached the sign marking the last 800 meters of the Yufudake trail, but instead of feeling elated that I was almost…

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