Nabura Tosasaga: Straw-Seared Bonito, Fifteen Minutes from Flame to Bowl — Kochi
The first time I stopped here, it was December, and I hadn’t planned to stop at all. Route 56 ducks […]
Dogo Onsen and Matsuyama Castle: Why the Crowds Are Still Worth It — Matsuyama, Ehime
It was Golden Week, early May, and the covered arcade of Dogo Haikara Dori had that particular kind of heat
Akanko Ainu Kotan: A Living Street Still Writing Its Own Story — Lake Akan, Hokkaido
By six in the evening, the slope through Akanko Ainu Kotan sounds like a village finishing its workday, not starting
Nakatsu Gorge: The Seven Lucky Gods a Cabinet Policy Built — Niyodogawa, Kochi
At the trailhead, mist off the Nakatsu River carries the smell of wet stone and cedar, and a shimenawa rope
Sakegawa Village: The Totoro Tree Is Just the Beginning — Yamagata
There’s a cedar in Sakegawa Village that stands about twenty metres tall with a trunk over six metres around, forked
Kitanada Station: Where Shimonada’s Silence Still Lives — Ehime
The train pulls away, and for a few seconds the platform at Kitanada Station is loud with its own absence
Akiu Otaki Falls: The Road That Keeps Going After the Waterfall — Sendai, Miyagi
The turn onto Route 131 is easy to miss if you’re following the navigation app, which wants you back on
Onogawa Onsen: The Walkable Hot Spring Town Yamagata Doesn’t Advertise — Yonezawa
The candle inside the snow hut throws an orange light that barely reaches past its own walls, so from the
Beyond Cape Ashizuri’s Postcard Spots: Ryugu Shrine and the Stones of Matsuo — Kochi
There’s a small torii off Route 27, easy to drive past if you’re not watching for it, and past it
Kurate Chaya: The Teahouse That Has Watched Travelers Cross Nakayama Pass for 150 Years — Fukushima
Route 49 climbs out of Koriyama toward Lake Inawashiro in long, patient curves, the kind of road where you settle