Category Location

Travel destinations in Japan, organized by region.

Yamanashi, Chubu, Experience, Food, Location

Yabu: A Beloved Set-Meal Diner in Fujiyoshida, by Mt Fuji

A ginger-pork set meal at Yabu in Fujiyoshida: glazed shogayaki pork with shredded cabbage and scrambled egg, a bowl of rice, miso soup, pickles and a small dish of fresh fruit on a black tray

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.

Nobu
June 2, 2026

Yamanashi, Chubu, Experience, Food, Location

Shoya: Pork Hoto by Lake Yamanaka, in the Shadow of Mt Fuji

A black iron pot of pork hoto at Shoya by Lake Yamanaka: flat, wide wheat noodles simmered with pork, pumpkin and vegetables in a thick miso broth, on a wooden tray with rice and pickles

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.

Nobu
June 2, 2026

Shizuoka, Chubu, Experience, Food, Location

Kintaro Soba: Mountain-Yam Noodles at the Foot of Mt Fuji (Gotemba)

Tenju Kintoki at Kintaro soba in Gotemba: a red lacquer box of rice topped with large shrimp and vegetable tempura, with side dishes of greens, pickles and matcha salt at the foot of Mt Fuji

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.

Nobu
June 2, 2026

Kyoto, Kansai, Location, Travel Tips

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…

Nobu
June 2, 2026

Nagano, Chubu, Experience, Location, Nature, Seasonal Travel, Weather & Seasons

Obasute Rice Terraces: Japan’s Moon-in-Each-Paddy Hillside

The Obasute rice terraces in Chikuma, Nagano, photographed at first light in late May, with every flooded paddy on the hillside mirroring the dawn sky in a mosaic of silver and gold light above the Zenkoji plain

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.

Nobu
June 2, 2026

Saitama, Culture, Kanto, Location

Kurazukuri Street: Kawagoe’s Warehouse District (Ichibangai)

A large black clay-walled kurazukuri merchant warehouse on Ichibangai street in Kawagoe, with a heavy tiled roof and ornate gables, cars passing on the road in front under a clear sky.

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.

Nobu
June 2, 2026

Saitama, Kanto, Location

Kawagoe Photo Spots: A Dawn-to-Dusk Photo Walk

Kawagoe's Kurazukuri warehouse street at blue hour, completely empty, lit by street lamps with the dark silhouette of the Toki no Kane bell tower rising at the far end under a deep blue sky.

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.

Nobu
June 2, 2026

Saitama, Culture, Kanto, Location, Travel Tips

Toki no Kane: Kawagoe’s Bell Tower (Times, History & Photos)

The Toki no Kane bell tower in Kawagoe, a three-storey wooden tower lit gold by the morning sun, rising above the black-walled kurazukuri warehouse street under a clear blue sky.

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.

Nobu
June 2, 2026

Nagano, Chubu, Experience, Location, Nature, Seasonal Travel, Weather & Seasons

Lake Suwa, Nagano: Mt. Fuji Views, Fireworks & Things to Do

Mount Fuji silhouetted against an orange dusk sky beyond Lake Suwa, with the city lights of Suwa, Okaya and Shimosuwa ringing the dark water, seen from the hills above the lake in Nagano.

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.

Nobu
June 1, 2026

Toyama, Chubu, Food, Location, Nature, Seasonal Travel

Firefly Squid in Toyama Bay: Japan’s Other Glowing Sea

Pre-dawn scene on Toyama Bay where firefly squid glow electric blue in a fixed fishing net beside two boats of onlookers, with a green deck light reflecting on the dark water of the Sea of Japan.

Firefly squid (hotaru-ika) glows blue in Toyama Bay every spring. The pre-dawn boat tour, the museum live show, the rare mi-nage stranding, when to go, and where to eat it.

Nobu
May 31, 2026