Category Culture

Location, Akita, Culture, Events & Festivals, News & Updates, Seasonal Travel, Tohoku, Travel Tips, Weather & Seasons

Akita Kantō Festival 2026: Japan’s Lantern-Pole Spectacle

Several tall kanto poles strung with glowing paper lanterns rise above a large nighttime crowd on Kanto Odori during the Akita Kanto Festival, with performers in happi coats balancing the poles in Akita City.

The Akita Kanto Festival (3-6 August 2026): around 280 bamboo poles strung with ~10,000 lanterns, balanced on palms and foreheads on Kanto Odori.

Nobu
June 22, 2026

Experience, Culture, Travel Tips

Japanese Sentō Guide 2026: Etiquette, Tattoos & Best Baths

The interior of a traditional Japanese sento public bathhouse seen from the changing room, with tiled walls, mirrors, a glass partition marked open-air bath, a low yellow bench and a convex mirror.

How to use a Japanese sento (public bath): etiquette, the 550 yen Tokyo price, tattoo rules, the baths inside, and tattoo-friendly sento in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

Nobu
June 21, 2026

Location, Culture, Hyogo, Kansai, Travel Tips

Takeda Castle Sea of Clouds: When to See It (2026)

The stone ruins of Takeda Castle on a ridge above a thick sea of white clouds at dawn, with blue morning sky and dark mountains behind, seen from the Ritsuunkyo viewpoint in Hyogo.

Takeda Castle, Japan's 'castle in the sky' in Hyogo: when the sea of clouds appears, the Ritsuunkyo viewpoint, the conditions you need, hours and access.

Nobu
June 20, 2026

Location, Culture, Kansai, Osaka, Travel Tips

Osaka Castle: Keep, Stones & Turrets (2026 Guide)

The reconstructed main keep of Osaka Castle rising above green trees, with white walls, green copper roofs and gold-leaf trim, as an ANA passenger jet passes low in the blue sky above the top floor.

Osaka Castle guide 2026: the 1931 reconstructed keep, the 130-ton Takoishi stone, 13 surviving Edo structures, admission ¥1,200, hours and beating the crowds.

Nobu
June 18, 2026

Location, Culture, Kyushu & Okinawa, Miyazaki, Travel Tips

Obi Castle & Castle Town: Kyushu’s Little Kyoto

The reconstructed wooden Otemon main gate of Obi Castle in Nichinan, Miyazaki, a two-storey white-plastered turret gate above heavy black timber doors, framed by trees and the castle's old stone walls.

Obi Castle Town in Nichinan, Miyazaki: the Ito clan's 'Little Kyoto of Kyushu' — the 1978 wooden gate, samurai streets, the combined ticket and obiten.

Nobu
June 18, 2026

Location, Culture, Experience, Kyushu & Okinawa, Saga

Arita Porcelain Park: A Free Baroque Palace in Saga’s Pottery Town

The full-scale replica of Dresden baroque Zwinger Palace at Arita Porcelain Park in Saga, its ornate stone facade and green copper roof reflected in a still pool of water under a blue sky with clouds.

Arita Porcelain Park in Saga is a free theme park built around a full-scale replica of Dresden's Zwinger Palace — with a sake brewery, porcelain workshops and a baroque garden.

Nobu
June 14, 2026

Location, Culture, Kansai, Nara, Shrines & Temples

Yakushiji Temple: Nara’s Twin-Pagoda World Heritage Site

The reconstructed Golden Hall of Yakushiji Temple in Nara flanked by its two three-story pagodas, the vermilion and white Hakuho-style buildings of the World Heritage temple under a clear blue sky.

Yakushiji in Nara's Nishinokyō is a World Heritage temple founded in 680 — its East Pagoda (730) is the only original building left, and its bronze Yakushi Triad is a National Treasure.

Nobu
June 13, 2026

Location, Culture, Experience, Kyushu & Okinawa, Saga

Yoshinogari Historical Park: Japan’s Great Yayoi Village in Saga

An elevated panoramic view over the reconstructed Yayoi-period moated village at Yoshinogari Historical Park in Saga, with wooden palisades, thatched-roof buildings, green rice fields and distant mountains.

Yoshinogari Historical Park in Saga preserves one of Japan's largest Yayoi-period moated settlements — reconstructed watchtowers, a ceremonial hall and a leaders' burial mound on a 117-hectare site.

Nobu
June 12, 2026

Saga, Culture, Experience, Kyushu & Okinawa, Location

Imari Shrine: The Vermilion Gate, the Sweets God & Tontenton

The striking vermilion two-storey tower gate (romon) of Imari Shrine in Imari, Saga, built over a white arched tunnel with stone steps leading up to the shrine, framed by trees

Imari Shrine in Saga: a photogenic vermilion gate over a white tunnel, a rare shrine to the god of sweets, and the Tontenton fighting festival.

Nobu
June 8, 2026

Saga, Culture, Experience, Kyushu & Okinawa, Location

Arita Sera: Where to Shop for Arita Porcelain in Saga (2026)

The long covered shopping arcade of Arita Sera in Arita, Saga, glass-fronted porcelain shops with displays of plates and vases on one side and a paved walkway with planters and trees on the other

Arita Sera: 22 Arita-porcelain shops on one hilltop in Saga, open year-round with free parking — the easy place to buy the real thing.

Nobu
June 8, 2026