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Road Trippin’ Solo, Part 6: Beppu’s Fiery Hells
Visiting Beppu during Golden Week was not one of my best ideas, especially after spending two peaceful days in the countryside. Traffic going into the seaside town was a mess, and came…
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Road Trippin’ Solo, Part 5: Harajiri Falls
The rain had cleared up by the time I got back from the cave into Bungoono proper, so I took myself off to see the Harajiri Falls, nicknamed the “Niagara of the…
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Road Trippin’ Solo, Part 4: The Underwater Cave
Nature in Japan seems to manifest itself completely at odds with the order and structure of its society; vegetation swallows everything that stands still for too long, bugs and insects grow into caricatures of…
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Road Trippin’ Solo, Part 3: Taketa Castle Town
Afternoons would be my favourite time of day, I thought as I weaved in and out of the streets of Taketa town, if they weren’t so melancholic. The roads had been painted gold…
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Road Trippin’ Solo, Part 2: The Oka Castle Ruins
As I walked up the giant steps to the site of the old Oka Castle, a haunting melody, blasting out from hidden speakers, followed me. The song, called Kojo no Tsuki (or,…
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Road Trippin’ Solo, Part 1: Kuju Flower Park
Two years ago, I would have never considered disappearing into the countryside for 4 days by myself. Growing up in a city where danger is perceived to be lurking around every corner, having backup…
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The Horse Dance Festival
Mark and I have been joking that I should rename my blog “Following Mark around Japan” since the last couple of posts have all been about my adventures with him. And this…
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Himuka Music Camp Festival
Up until Saturday, my music festival experience consisted of five dusty days at Woodstock 9 in the highway town of Harrismith, Free State. So when Mark invited me to celebrate his birthday with a couple of…
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Bokusui Spring Festival
Miyazaki is definitely an underrated prefecture, and one of the more un-known, buried in the depths of Google’s search results, under all the pages dedicated to Hayao and his many castles. But the great thing about…
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Sekino-o Falls and the Oketsugun Potholes
“Woaah!” I exclaimed to Mark. “Are you seeing this?” The red shrine that he was investigating wasn’t enough to distract me from the roar of water falling down. An unexpected stop on our roadtrip to Miyakonojo…
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Doll Festival in Aya Town
At this time of year, special dolls are set out on displays in homes and shops around Japan for the annual hinamatsuri (doll festival) celebration on March 3. I’ve always been a teddy bear person,…
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