Category
Travel
ActivitiesTravel
Not every trip to Japan is built around a single activity, and this section covers the rest: cultural travel, eco-tourism, adventure travel, onsen and hot spring culture, and the practical planning that ties a trip together. Start with our Best Time to Visit Japan guide if you’re still deciding when to go, or our guide to Takaragawa Onsen in Gunma if a great hot spring is part of the plan. This is also the broadest section on the site, so use the subcategories below to narrow in on a specific region, culture, or travel style.
Adventure Travel
Outdoors on the Cheap
During tough times, and Japan has seen its fair share recently, people have a tendency to tighten their belts or stay indoors. Ye...
Onsen
Episode 7: The Most Beautiful Girls in Japan
“Well, those Tokyo girls are hip, I really love those clothes they wear. And Okinawa girls with the way they talk they knock me ou...
Art and Film
Niijima Shorebreak
My first trip to Japan hadn’t produced any pictures worth talking about. The weather didn’t cooperate, and the water clarity at th...
Snowboarding
Photo Essay: Winter in Shiga Kogen with Olympian...
Going Deep from Shiga Kogen to Manza Onsen "My Japon trip was awesome! Deep snow with good forest to ride even when it wasn’t ...
People
Ai Futaki Makes Her Niche
Growing up on the western coast of Japan, Ai Futaki loved the sea. Her neighbors, the Ama diving women famous for their pearl gat...
Onsen
Episode 6: Monkey Magic
All right. The Naked Stranger gets it. He digs, man. Animals behaving like people never stops being entertaining. Seeing a do...
The Naked Stranger
Episode 5: The 39 Most Beautiful Villages in Jap...
Where are the most beautiful villages in Japan? The Naked Stranger pondered this question when he recently picked up a pamphlet a...
Adventure Travel
Bonin Blue
They call it “Bonin Blue.” Here I hovered, 60 feet under, surrounded in sapphire. Below, large boulders littered the sea floor. I...