Japan Archives - Rachel's Ruminations

Sapporo Snow Festival: A Winter Wonderland in Hokkaido, Japan

Louis — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 15:53:59 +0000

Read here about the annual Sapporo Snow Festival, Hokkaido, Japan, where you can see hundreds of amazing snow and ice sculptures.

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Tokyo, Anime, and My Son

Rachel Heller — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 16:01:23 +0000

Disclosure: The following is a sponsored post; I received payment for writing it and including a link. All opinions, however, are my own! My 17-year-old son, Robert, is not a traveler. That’s not to say that he hasn’t traveled, however; we’ve dragged him along with us on vacations all his life. Rather, he just isn’t...

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A Free View of Tokyo from Tokyo City Hall

Rachel Heller — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 15:32:17 +0000

The classic destination for a big view of Tokyo is Tokyo Tower, which looks like a cross between a communication mast and the Eiffel Tower. What stopped me from visiting it was the cost: ¥1200 (€8 or $9) to go to its main deck at 150 meters (492 ft) and ¥2800 (€19 or $21) fee to reach...

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Traveling by Train in Japan: 8 tips

Rachel Heller — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 14:50:20 +0000

For those of us who do not know Japanese, traveling by train in Japan can be a bit daunting, to say the least. Here are some tips for Japan travel that will allow you to negotiate the Japanese rail system, including reading signs, without knowing any Japanese at all. Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links....

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Gion Corner: The Simplicity of Japanese Musical Art

Rachel Heller — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 15:47:27 +0000

A show that’s produced for foreign tourists can be an insulting oversimplification of local culture, or it can be an interesting peek into that culture. I wasn’t sure which I was getting when I agreed to go to a performance by Kyoto Traditional Musical Art Foundation at a venue called Gion Corner, in the famous...

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5 Tokyo Gardens

Rachel Heller — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 14:21:13 +0000

I’m not particularly into gardens. I enjoy them, but don’t enjoy gardening. I visited a few gardens in Tokyo partly because I was curious about Japanese gardens in particular, and also curious as to how they are used by people in such a big city. But mostly I went to them because I wanted to...

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Takayama Hida Folk Village

Rachel Heller — Sat, 29 Aug 2015 08:23:28 +0000

More than 30 Hida traditional houses have been moved to form this open-air museum in Takayama: Takayama Hida Folk Village.

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Strolling Yanaka in Tokyo

Rachel Heller — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 14:17:17 +0000

Tokyo is best known for its big-city-ness: huge, new, shiny, crowded, and exciting. I found it overwhelming in terms of noise and crowds, and also in terms of choices: where to go, what to do, what to eat, where to sleep. Add to that my functional illiteracy—I can’t read Japanese lettering or say more than...

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What to do in Himeji on a day trip from Kyoto: Himeji Castle and Engyoji Temple

Rachel Heller — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 08:19:25 +0000

As I stepped off the train for my Himeji day trip from Kyoto, I said to myself, “I’ll look for the tourist information office first and ask how to get to the castle.” (Yes, traveling solo for so long, I did sometimes say things like this out loud!) While there are other things to do...

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A day trip to Matsumoto, Japan

Rachel Heller — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 15:51:34 +0000

While the main attraction is the 16th-century Matsumoto Castle, there are other things to see as well on a day trip to Matsumoto.

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