• A Walking Tour of Obi Castle Town

    This article is available on GPSmyCity. Download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to all the attractions featured. After Naked Man Festival, we decided to drive the hour south to see…

  • Naked Man Festival

    When I returned to Japan after Christmas break, I found it only a couple of degrees warmer than I left it. Averaging a high of 13°C a day (about 55°F),…

  • Christmas Lights in Miyazaki

    For a country that doesn’t really celebrate Christmas, Japan sure knows how to do Christmas lights. They are the romantic backdrop for Christmas Eve – a night celebrated like Valentines Day,…

  • Nyutabaru Air Festival

    I’ve barely left my apartment these past two weekends—a last-ditch effort to tighten the purse strings before my big trip to New York later this month (12 days and counting!).…

  • Exploring Aya Town

    On the fourth day of Matthew’s visit—and the last day we would be able to sightsee together—we decided to visit Aya. An hour or so west of Takanabe, the town is…

  • Garden of Statues in Heiwadai Park

    One of my colleauges sent me on a little treasure hunt one typhoon day. The students weren’t at school and I was sitting at my desk wondering why the teachers bothered to…

  • Takanabe Lantern Festival

    On any given weekend in Japan, there is at least one festival on somewhere to be enjoyed. Of all the ones I have been to, Takanabe‘s Lantern Festival is one of my…

  • Cosmos in Kobayashi

    It was supposed to be a jam-packed weekend: John was coming down for a visit, Monday was a holiday and there were three festivals to enjoy. Instead, Typhoon Vongfong came…

  • Takachiho Revisited

    When I first visited Takachiho back in July, it left quite an impression on me. I knew I wanted to go back and explore more of the area, so when…

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