Places we love

Gero Onsen: We Didn't Take a Bath. We Loved It Anyway.

Gero Onsen: We Didn't Take a Bath. We Loved It Anyway.

On our way from Takayama back to Kyoto, we finally stopped in Gero Onsen — a town we'd wanted to explore for years. We came to understand its hot-s...

Amanohashidate & Ine: Japan by the Coast, Not Kyoto by the Sea

A station advertisement first sent us towards Amanohashidate and Ine in the summer of 2024. Three visits, two seasons and one unforgettable snowy j...

Omihachiman: Old Japan, Closer Than You Think

Less than an hour from Kyoto, Omihachiman has old merchant streets, a beautiful canal and the kind of everyday quiet people often travel much furth...

Tokyo: Beyond The Obvious

We started at the University of Tokyo and kept walking — through Nezu Shrine, the old streets of Yanaka, Ueno and eventually the chaos of Ameyoko. ...

We Went Looking for Hydrangeas. We Found a Different Side of Nara.

An Instagram reel sent us deep into Nara during Japan's rainy season. What began as a search for hydrangeas became a day of fog-covered temples, un...

Shinhotaka Ropeway in Summer: Beautiful, But We Need to Go Back

A summer journey from Takayama into the Japanese Alps, where Shinhotaka’s dramatic double-decker ropeway and 2,156-metre views impressed us — but a...

Shibu Onsen: The Snowy Onsen Town We Walked Into

We skipped Nagano's famous snow monkeys and walked through the snow from Yudanaka to Shibu Onsen instead. What we found was an old hot spring town ...

Narai-juku: The Nakasendo Town That Stayed With Us

We first visited Narai-juku on a bitterly cold winter morning from Matsumoto, long before Beyond Tokyo existed. Years later, after exploring Magome...

Okayama Korakuen: Why Timing Changes a Japanese Garden

We reached Okayama Korakuen late on a hot June afternoon and discovered something we've learnt repeatedly in Japan: with gardens, when you visit ca...

Magome & Tsumago Without the Hike: Is It Still Worth Going?

The famous way to experience Magome and Tsumago is to walk the old Nakasendo between them. Travelling with a five-year-old in peak summer, we didn'...

Tomonoura: A Place We're Still Figuring Out

We travelled to Tomonoura expecting to understand why this little Seto Inland Sea port appears in so many travel journals. We found beautiful old s...

Kurama: Where We Go When Kyoto Gets Too Crowded

Less than an hour from Kyoto, Kurama feels like another world. A little train into the mountains, old Tengu legends, a quiet village, a riverside w...

Rainy approach to Omiwa Jinja, one of Japan's oldest Shinto shrines near Nara

Omiwa Jinja: The Rainy Journey That Led Us to Japan's Oldest Shrine

Most visitors end their day in Nara. We boarded another train. Four local trains, a day of rain and one sacred mountain led us to Omiwa Jinja—one o...