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Farewell Dance for Tanabata
Several months past August, I’ve finally gotten to wrapping up the Hikone summer festival series. I have some ambitious ideas for Where Next Japan, and I’m hoping to provide more interviews, (with...
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Photo of the week: Autumn Spirits
I didn`t need much convincing to go out yesterday, with a gorgeous blue sky and the best of the region`s autumn colours showing. Ametsuboyama, a hill by my house, is dotted with Buddhist temples and...
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Autumn glory
The mountains around Hikone put on a bright show in the last week of autumn. It`s hard to believe the season is almost at an end. I will post more pictures soon – but for now am busy trying to capture...
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Happy Birthday Tenno Heika
The Emperor and Empress of Japan in 2011 – credit Einharch ” Tenno Heika Banzai! “ Every 23rd of December, as the slight, dapper Japanese Emperor emerges to give his annual public speech, the crowd,...
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White Christmas In Japan
Snow lines the top of the torii gate of Hikone Jinja. A chilly Christmas Day in Japan, while no match for the Antipodean holiday, is a chance to enjoy aching familiar traditions that were slightly...
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Why I Love Japan: Crashing Random Festivals
The faint chanting of, “washai, washai” tipped me off that somewhere, nearby, a festival was going on. Mid-morning, Sunday, with a house to clean for visitors, a full load of clothes in the washing...
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The Change Has Finally Come
Something is different in Japan. The air is warmer, and filled with… pink! Pink everywhere in different shades as first the ume (plum), and then the sakura (cherry) and finally the momo (peach) erupt...
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Snowy Shirakawago
Mid-way through spring, though the cherry blossoms have already flown, let’s take a moment to remember the winter that has just passed. Some parts of Japan get a lot of snow Shirakawa is a chilly,...
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Challengers of Sagicho Festival – our first travel documentary
Two teams face off outside Hachiman Himure Shrine Sagicho Fire Festival, one of the three most dangerous festivals in Japan. 13 Districts in Omi-Hachiman participate in their annual event, spending...
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Replanting Traditions
The crew assembles in the shadow of Mitsukuri-yama (箕作山) One May Sunday, in a rice-paddock filled corner of Shiga prefecture, a collection of costumed festival participants posed for the crowd. The...
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Short documentary: Honen Matsuri
The giant, heavy, carved penis that is the centre-piece and focus of this festival. Honen Matsuri, a spring festival in Japan, sounded so amazing, the Where Next Japan team took the day off and went...
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Thrills and spills – Birdman in Japan video
Regular readers of my blog may remember my post last year on the Biwa Birdman, an excellent summer event celebrating engineering ingenuity while spectators and participants alike take a swim. The...
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Ikoma is awesome: Ab muscles and lantern festivals
Ikoma city is built in and around the sides of a mountainous basin between Osaka and Nara. For centuries, the steep climb in meant most people, except pilgrims coming to Hozanji temple, didn’t bother....
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Top 10 Awesome Experiences in Japan: Aomori in Autumn
Oirase stream, Aomori There are many Best Japan lists. Japan is a country where much is amazing: the food, the service, the scenery, the festivals, the food… There’s almost too much to do, and see,...
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Top 10 Awesome Experiences In Japan: Hokkaido Sea Ice
Time for the next in the series of Top 10 Awesome Experiences in Japan. Previously, we were stunned and amazed by the beauty of autumnal Aomori. Now, we travel even further north, to the uppermost...
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Autumn Adventures: Hiking Mt Nijo in Nara
Autumn is a slippery season. Without much effort it slips away and after one weekend you realise that suddenly all the leaves are on the ground, not in the trees anymore. Japan has so many wonderful...
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Nara In Autumn: Taimadera
A photographer checks his equipment, intent on getting the best of the season’s colours. The challenge during autumn in Japan is not finding a gorgeous location, for there are many, but finding a spot...
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Journey to Koyasan
Koyasan is a magical place to visit at any time of the year. In spring, the cherry blossoms run along the train tracks; in summer, there is relief from cool mountain breezes; in winter, snow covering...
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Traditional, Japanese food; Slightly non-traditional, Japanese family
Like many families, the intricate and beautiful New Year’s delicacies are no longer made in the home, but ordered and dropped off just in time to eat. Second Japanese New Years, and I’m starting to fit...
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Kobe’s Night of Lights
The Kobe Luminarie may seem like just another of Japan’s many seasonal illumination festivals. Held for two weeks in early December, it competes with Christmas fairs in Umeda, and the popular Nabana in...
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