After a wonderful kaiseki lunch course, I set out to check out the local sites of Koriyama. Located in the center of Fukushima prefecture, it is accessible by shinkansen in a little over an hour from Tokyo. The city itself has many shopping centers and a large park called Kaiseizan-koen (more on that later). Though […]
Kaiseki is the traditional Japanese course consisting of a seasonal ingredients prepared in a variety of different cooking methods. The emphasis is on fresh ingredients and the cooking methods only highlight the natural flavors. Originating and still popular in Kyoto, now kaiseki can be eaten all over Japan, typically in ryokan or at banquets. For […]
Chances are if you visit Tokyo, you will undoubtedly visit Asakusa and the very colorful Senso-ji Temple. And though it is crowded, it features a look and feel of a Tokyo that got stuck in time. It is quaint. It is bustling. And it has a little bit of everything for a traveler to experience. […]
Last stop of this five day journey was Iwate. After delicious seafood in Hokkaido, apple blossoms in Aomori, I had one more mission to seek out a golden temple. But first, noodles. From Hirosaki, I took a direct bus to Morioka, the biggest city in Iwate. I was only spending the night there before heading […]
Aomori, the blue forest, is located on the very top of Honshu. It’s famous for apples and of all things, miso curry milk ramen with butter. I crossed the Tsugaru Strait from Hakodate by ferry and arrived in Aomori City late in the afternoon. Before heading to Hirosaki for the night, I went for a […]
Seafood for breakfast? When it’s this fresh, of course! With Goryokaku Park and Mt. Hakodate the night before, I was already thoroughly satisfied with my time in Hakodate. I planned to leave Hokkaido by ferry and cross the Tsugaru Strait to go back to Honshu, but before leaving I couldn’t say no to another serving […]
After seeing Mt. Hakodate from Goryokaku Tower, I headed out there to get a view of the city on the isthmus below. My plan was simple: go out there and get a good spot for when the sun goes down. But as this is one of the top three night views in the world, the […]
Hakodate is located on the southern peninsula of Hokkaido and the terminal point for the new shinkansen that connects Hokkaido with Honshu. I had changed here the other day and worked my way back down after a couple of nights in Sapporo and Otaru. My plan was to return to Honshu via ferry from Hakodate […]
About 45 minutes northwest of Sapporo by train is the small port town of Otaru. About 100 years ago it became a point of trade for Hokkaido with Russia and the United States, the easternmost part of Russia being just across the Sea of Japan. Due to this very practical reason several western style warehouses […]
Now it’s time to go to Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan and largest prefecture. It has a culture all of its own, one of myth, of legend and, of course, delicious food. I took the recently opened shinkansen that connects the main island of Honshu to Hokkaido under the straight of Tsugaru. From Tokyo […]