Japan
Ryokan, Japan
One of Japan’s most beautiful and exclusive ryokens or traditional inns, the Iwaso Ryoke is also one of the oldest, built over 150 years ago. Iwaso is situated in a very beautiful part of Momijidani Park, and when it was first constructed the owner built a tea shop and planted the area with maples trees. Iwaso [...]
Capsule Hotel, Japan
Working late and back in the office early tomorrow? Had a bit too much to drink to get home safely? In Tokyo that problem has been solved with the invention of the ‘capsule hotel’. Those two words many not make much sense when used together but they mean just what they imply – a hotel [...]
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
The Fukuoka Asian Art Museum is the only museum in the world that systematically collects and exhibits Asian modern and contemporary art. The works in the collection of the museum are not imitation of Western art or repetitions of traditional works. Instead they seek to overcome the existing framework of art, being made by artists [...]
Edo-Tokyo Museum
The Edo-Tokyo Museum provides a fascinating insight into the history of Tokyo and its people, back to its roots as the small 15th century fishing village of Edo. The permanent exhibitions show artefacts, reproductions and scale models. Among the highlights are a life-size replica of the Nihonbashi Bridge and replica of a Kabuki Theatre accompanied [...]
National Bunraku Theatre, Japan
Bunraku is a traditional form of puppetry where narrative and nuance are the stars and which originated in 17th Century Osaka. It’s stylishly presented using sophisticated articulated hand carved puppets between two and four feet in size accompanied by chanting and shamisen music. The most impressive puppets have faces with many tiny moving parts or faces [...]
Kabuki theater, Japan
If you’ve never come across Kabuki before you’re probably still familiar with the look of it – the heavily made up faces painted white with their emotions drawn on in symbolic colours, the traditional costumes and complex sets behind actors who appear to be posing like a Japanese screen print? Kabuki is performed almost as a [...]
Gion Matsuri, Japan
If you want to experience traditional Japan the best place to visit is Kyoto during July for the month long Gion Matsuri celebrations. 32 enormous traditional carved wooded floats covered in ancient tapestries, some up to four storeys high and ten tonnes in weight, parade through the town as the celebrations reach a climax on [...]
Japan Cherry Blossom Festival
The Cherry Blossom Japan Festival is an Asian festival which takes place from January to May across the different areas of Japan depending on when the blossoms open up. In Tokyo get to either Shinjuku Gyoen or Ueno-Koen. In Kyoto get to Maruyama-Koen. Try getting to the mountains of Yoshino for the most spectacular views in Japan. This is [...]
Impression of Modern Art in Japan
This tour is specially designed for traveler with an eye for modern art and design in Japan. Enjoy some of our selection of unique musuems all over Japan. Japan has a wide range of art, from ancient pottery to contemporary “pop” art. In addition to traditional art such as Buddhism art or ukiyoe, outstanding modern art works have been created [...]
Nature Lover’s Hokkaido
This five day private tour is created to experience the abundant wildlife of Eastern Hokkaido for nature lovers. By private car, you will explore several national parks such as Kushiro, Shiretoko and Mashu. The area boasts the Japan’s dairy products and seafood. Kushiro Wetland is under the Ramsar Treaty to protects the wetland and wild animals, [...]
Rural Japan
This tour will introduce you to rural Japan and her people while staying with a Japanese family. Of course you will see some amazing sights but the point is to sit down and talk with Japanese people, learn how Japanese live, and experience something beyond traditional sightseeing. Our rural home-stay tour will give you stories [...]
Nezu Museum, Tokyo-Japan
It may not have the size or status of other Tokyo galleries, but the Nezu Museum now has the style thanks to a three-year makeover at the hands of celebrated Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. First opened in 1941 on the sprawling Nezu family estate in Tokyo’s Minato district, the museum has become as popular for its [...]
Setouchi International Art Festival, Japan
Until recently, the tiny islands of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea were known for their copper and fishing industries, and not much else. But thanks to the vision of reclusive billionaire Soichiro Fukutake, the small archipelago is developing a reputation as a forward-thinking art hub. Aimed at revitalizing the area through contemporary art, the first installment [...]
Benesse House, Japan
Savor Japanese art, architecture and luxurious accommodations all in the same place at the Benesse Art Site in Naoshima. Yes, you can actually stay the night in a museum in facilities designed by renowned architect Tadao Ando and gaze out the window at stunning sunrises and sunsets in any of 6 available rooms. All look [...]
The Screen, Kyoto-Japan
In a hotel as small as Kyoto’s The Screen, what matters most is the attention to detail. It’s not simply the fact that it’s a hybrid style, somewhere between a traditional ryokan and a modern design boutique — thought of course that certainly helps. In the end what makes it special is the sheer variety [...]
Park Hotel, Tokyo-Japan
For culture vultures. A modern hotel on the redeveloped side of Shinbashi station that nonetheless tries to stay in touch with old Edo (Tokyo’s original name). Currently offering a special plan that includes a trip to the Edo-Tokyo Museum and Edo-style meals at the Hanasanshou restaurant. If the salaryman bars and izakaya pubs on the [...]
Hotel Charme Meguro, Tokyo-Japan
You don’t need to be in the mood for a night of passion to feel welcome at one of Tokyo’s many love hotels. The protocol is simple: walk in and choose your room from among a panel of photographs with the push of a button. The charge is usually paid on the way out via a [...]
The Claska, Tokyo-Japan
Claska just manages to tip its hat to Tokyo chic while staying on the right side of pretentious. Not so much a hotel as a party venue and art gallery that just happens to have a few rooms upstairs. Booking well ahead is recommended: just nine rooms, all different and with wildly varying rates. Longer [...]
Tokyo Ryokan, Tokyo-Japan
The Japanese equivalent of the family-run B&B, Tokyo Ryokan is a good bet for travellers hoping for a brush with traditional Japan during their stay in Tokyo. Only three rooms, but all suffused with the life-affirming aroma of fresh tatami mats, plus sliding fusuma paper screens and tasteful wooden furnishings. No curfew and guests are [...]
Mystic Beach (Japan)
The white beach that only appears at low tide. Yurigahama Beach has “hoshinosuna (star sand)” which is the shell of foraminifera in the sand. The saying is if you find and pick up same number of hoshinosuna as your age, you will be happy. It is certainly a breathtakingly beautiful scene with mysterious mood, and [...]
Hipsters Club (Tokyo, Japan)
Japan is known globally as a fashion-forward country and Tokyo is its artistic epicentre. Maybe that’s why the Tokyo Hipsters Club was described by its designer as a “pleasantly brutal space… a piece of antiarchitecture by a nonarchitect.” The Tokyo Hipsters Club was created around the concept of ‘aristocracy gone wrong’. Tom Dixon, British designer [...]
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