Today I head to Kamakura (wp) for a day visit of this town. A visit to Kamakura is like a visit to the roots of old Japan. For 150 years in the 12th century this was the de-facto capital of Japan. Rivaling Kyoto, it was the 4th largest city in the world at the time. Today Kamakura is a very pleasant small town about 50km from Tokyo with a multitude of cultural sites to show for its long history.
full story ...

Tags: kamakura, daytrip, temple, history, zen

This weekend I am away for a short trip back into nature, to watch the “falling of the leaves”, something many Japanese are very fond of, and to look at some art too. The place I will visit is Hakone, which is an area around lake Ashi about 1.5 hours train east of Tokyo. This area is also known as one of the Tokyo playgrounds, as it is readily accessible to residents of Tokyo and can even be visited on a day trip.

Since I did quite a few things and saw a lot on this trip, I have split into several posts on

• the Hakone open air museum
• something on the “falling of the leaves”
• and practical infos about staying at a ryokan

full story ...

Tags: hakone, daytrip, forest, lake, temple, shrine

A friend of mine lives in Narita (wp, wt), so I decided to pay a visit this weekend. Narita is probably best known for being the site of Tokyo’s international airport, however, it is also a pretty town with a mountain-village feel to it and a large temple complex.full story ...

Tags: narita, daytrip, temple, town

This weekend I am off to visit another of Tokyo’s major historic sites, the Meiji Shrine (jg, wp). Along with the Sensoji in Asakusa, this is a major sight and should not be missed. full story ...

Tags: meiji, shrine, temple, tokyo

For my first day I decided to go back to one of the places I liked a lot during my previous visit to Japan in 2005, the Sensoji temple in Asakusa. Located in the north-east part of Tokyo, it is one of Tokyo’s top attractions (jg, wp). full story ...

Tags: asakusa, tokyo, temple