Travel

Question: My husband and I flew to San Diego from Honolulu in late winter. His boarding pass gave him PreCheck status; I have paid for my PreCheck status.

Night skies in the Land of the Rising Sun – from Hokkaido to Tokyo to Okinawa – blaze with the brilliance of “hanabi,” or fireworks, nearly every weekend in July and August. In fact, a cursory glance shows more than 80 fireworks festivals nationwide.
 

My journey to abandoned Hashima, widely known as “Gunkanjima” or “Battleship Island,” began with a plea to the Nagasaki government. Could I please, please, please get permission to go to the parts of Hashima that visitors aren’t granted access?

The rainy season on Okinawa officially came to an end June 16. And it ended with a bang! Over a couple of days toward the end of the season, heavy rains splashed down to give the island one last hard time before the heat of the summer.

YOKOTA AIR BASE – The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Atom-Bomb Dome are places I’ve always wanted to visit, both to see, and in some way, understand what happened there. Yet, when I consider there are Japanese living today who experienced World War II, it puts a different light on the fact that I can even travel the country freely.

You wouldn’t think that a mellow town such as Hilo, a Hawaiian-style community — and the rainiest place in Hawaii — could brag on much in the way of passion and betrayal. But that’s what one movie director, the one I bumped into at a film festival party, said he wanted.