Think of Japanese trains, and the high-speed shinkansen will probably come to mind before anything else. But some of my favourite journeys were on much slower rolling stock, like the […]
The Mojikō area of Kitakyūshū (in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture) is known for its collection of beautiful Western-style pre-war buildings: a legacy of its past as a major trading port. It […]
I’ve been to Kitakyūshū before, but that initial foray was so brief that I had no choice but to come back. And I’m glad I returned, because I found myself […]
Fukuoka Airport (FUK) is by far the busiest international gateway on Kyūshū, and one of the busiest in Japan. Even so, it’s hard to believe how close this airport is […]
Every spring, the ruined enceintes of Fukuoka Castle take on a special blush of beauty, with the bare branches of its flowering cherry trees stirring magnificently into life.
It might come as a surprise to many of us – as it certainly did to me – that the very first Zen temple founded in Japan isn’t located somewhere […]
It’s a fact that needs no repeating, but I’ll repeat it anyway: I love Japanese castles. And with a tiny sliver of sunlight still left after my day trip to […]
Close relatives of the Lords of Kumamoto once lived within a stone’s throw of the enormous castle that loomed over the heart of this southern domain. But when the sweeping […]
Traditional stroll gardens, such as the splendid specimen we visited in the previous post, are all well and good for reinforcing your typical Edo-period daimyō‘s reputation as a man of […]
Show-offery was serious business amongst the ruling class of Edo-period Japan. Since this was an age long before sports cars or private jets, one culturally refined way to outdo the […]
