Travel

The onsen town of Hakone is spread across spring-filled mountains around the foot of Mount Fuji. Hakone is one the most famous onsen hot spring towns in Japan, and is the perfect weekend destination from Tokyo, as it’s less than two hours away by train.

Not far from Kyoto, there’s a village that has been dedicated to the traditional craft of washi papermaking for more than 800 years. Kurotani village is lulled in quiet nature, with streams of clear water running down along the streets, between old Japanese houses. It is in one of these streams that we find Horie Sato, knee deep in water, treading...

Nagano’s mountains can be seen from everywhere in Nagano City. One in particular kept luring me to come on over, with its forested hills, dots of farms and residences, and a red roofed top of a shrine or temple. But there weren’t any visible ways to reach it.

With headliners from The Cure and Beck to SIA and Chance the Rapper, Japan’s two big summer music gatherings are sure to draw a crowd once again this year.

In 2011, Kitashirakawa Batting Center in Kyoto, was closed for good, calling an end to its more than four decades of batting cage glory.

Many travelers visit the island of Iejima to see lily fields, tour the most popular caves, spend time at the beach, find the Ernie Pyle monument or, tour Mt. Gusuku. Few have heard of another important memorial on the island, the statue of Handu-gwa, situated in Shimamuraya Memorial Park.