Yabu: A Beloved Set-Meal Diner in Fujiyoshida, by Mt Fuji
A plain, generous set-meal diner running since 1971 in Fujiyoshida on the Yamanashi side of Mt Fuji — ginger pork, tonkatsu and a little dish of fruit, from around ¥1,000.
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240+ field-tested travel guides across every Japanese prefecture, by Nobu — written from places he has actually stood in.
Field Notes from Every Prefecture
Every place I’ve walked. In one feed.
240+ articles, written from the places I actually stood in. Filed by region, by season, by what the trip is really about.
Shoya: Pork Hoto by Lake Yamanaka, in the Shadow of Mt Fuji
Hoto is Yamanashi's thick miso-and-pumpkin noodle stew. At Shoya, a hoto specialist on the shore of Lake Yamanaka, the pork version comes bubbling in an iron pot.
Kintaro Soba: Mountain-Yam Noodles at the Foot of Mt Fuji (Gotemba)
Gotemba's old mikuriya soba is bound with mountain yam, not water. Kintaro, a farmhouse soba house minutes from Mt Fuji, serves it with a shrimp-tempura rice box.
Nidec Kyoto Tower 2026: The View from the Only Skyline in Town
Kyoto · Kyoto Station · Observation Nidec Kyoto Tower 2026: The View from the Only Skyline in Town Most travelers walk past it on the way out of Kyoto Station. The 100-meter observation deck is the one place you can…
Obasute Rice Terraces: Japan’s Moon-in-Each-Paddy Hillside
More than a thousand flooded rice paddies mirror the sky above Chikuma, Nagano — Japan's first farmland named a scenic beauty. When to go, how to get there, and what tagoto-no-tsuki really means.
Kawagoe Photo Spots: A Dawn-to-Dusk Photo Walk
A photographer's guide to Kawagoe: the best photo spots in Little Edo and exactly when to shoot each — come at dawn or blue hour and beat the crowds on the warehouse streets.
Kurazukuri Street: Kawagoe’s Warehouse District (Ichibangai)
Ichibangai, Kawagoe's Kurazukuri street: about 30 black clay-walled Edo warehouses born from the 1893 fire, the 1792 Osawa House, the bell tower and red postbox — what to see and when.
Toki no Kane: Kawagoe’s Bell Tower (Times, History & Photos)
Toki no Kane, Kawagoe's ~16 m wooden bell tower in the Little Edo warehouse district, rings 4 times a day. Its history, ringing times, how to photograph it, and what's nearby.
Lake Suwa, Nagano: Mt. Fuji Views, Fireworks & Things to Do
Lake Suwa in Nagano: see Mt. Fuji over the lake from Takabocchi and Tateishi Park, ride the 16 km loop, catch the August 15 fireworks, and soak in Kamisuwa Onsen.
How to Photograph Sea Sparkle: A Local Photographer’s Settings
How to photograph sea sparkle: a local photographer's camera settings, the phone trick, why it looks fainter in person, and where to shoot it in Japan.