Inside Abandoned Nara Dreamland
“There’s no way my butt is going to fit through there.” Mark and I were staring at the small hole in the fence and I wondered nervously if this was such…
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The Garden of Love
In Shintomi Town, on the road from Takanabe to Saito, is a garden carpeted in bright, pink flowers. During spring, when the shibazakura (moss phlox) is in full bloom, the…
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A Boat Tour of Yokohama Bay
Squelch-squelch, squelch-squelch. I could feel water creeping across my socks, slowly drowning my toes. “Urgh, my feet are all wet,” Ian moaned. I looked down to see tiny rivers flowing…
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Celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Tokyo
“I’m pretty sure it will come down this way,” I said to Ian. We’d been waiting on the curb of the tree-lined avenue that runs from Meiji Shrine up to Omotesando.…
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Kagoshima’s Art Forest
Charcoal skies and lime lawns—that’s how I remember my first visit to the Kirishima Open-Air Museum last June. Now, eight months later and in the last months of winter, the…
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Nagasaki Lantern Festival
WELCOME TO NAGASAKI! I fist-bumped the air as we drove across the border into Kyushu’s westernmost prefecture—the only one I had yet to conquer on Japan’s third largest island. Ian, Vidy…
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Inside One of Japan’s Abandoned Hotels
In Out of the Silent Planet, C.S. Lewis wrote, “The love of knowledge is a kind of madness.” I must be kind of mad, then, because everyone who knows me…
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The World’s Biggest Bronze Statue (Probably)
Having your own little Kei car in the inaka of Japan is gold—they’re cheap, easy on petrol, and, like all cars, you can jump in on a whim and go…
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Saga International Balloon Fiesta
“We’re going to miss the balloons.” “Stop being a Negative Nancy.” “I didn’t drive 4+ hours to miss the balloons. If we miss the balloons, I’m going to be pissed.”…
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Onta Pottery Village
In the final months of my last year at university, I took a trip to Hogsback, a small village in the Eastern Cape, to meet a potter named Anton. He…
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Oita’s Old Merchant Town
“Simone! There’s even more back here! Come look,” Conor yelled from the other room. We were in the Mamedamachi district (豆田町商店街) of Hita City, browsing through what I thought was…
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