Travel Tips

Practical travel information to help you plan and travel Japan smoothly.

Location, Experience, Food, Kanto, Tokyo, Travel Tips

Nankintei Kunitachi: 24-Hour Jumbo Gyoza & Big Plates Near Tokyo

The Nankintei Kunitachi branch lit up at night, a green-roofed roadside Chinese diner with glowing red ramen and gyoza signs, a 24-hour notice and a wide car park out front in Kunitachi, Tokyo.

Nankintei's Kunitachi branch is a 24-hour roadside machi-chuka near Tokyo - hand-wrapped 550 yen jumbo gyoza, big fried rice and stamina stir-fries.

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

Yamanashi, Chubu, Location, Nature, Travel Tips

Diamond Fuji from Tokyo 2026-27: Mt. Takao and the City Spots

Tokyo · Diamond Fuji 2026-27 By Nobu · Updated September 2026 · Checked 14 September 2026 against the Takao cable-car operator’s Diamond Fuji page, Sunshine City’s season announcement and MLIT’s viewing-date lists. Status labels below distinguish what is announced for…

Nobu
June 20, 2026

Travel Tips

Cheaper Than Kyoto: 4 Base Cities Where Your 2026 Yen Goes Furthest

The giant green-bronze reclining Buddha (Nehanzo) at Nanzoin temple in Sasaguri near Fukuoka, one of the worlds largest bronze statues, set against lush green hills under a blue sky

Kyoto's lodging keeps climbing and dual pricing is creeping in. 4 cheaper base cities where your 2026 yen goes furthest — Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Okayama, Takamatsu.

Nobu
June 20, 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, Experience, Kanto, Tokyo, Travel Tips

Oi Racecourse Flea Market 2026: Dates, Hours & Access

Crowds of shoppers browsing rows of stalls across the open parking lot at the Oi Racecourse flea market in Tokyo, racks of clothing and tables of goods lining both sides.

Tokyo's biggest weekend flea market at Oi Racecourse: verified October to December 2026 dates (October: Sat 3, Sat 24, Sun 25 and Sat 31), winter hours from 31 October (8:45–14:15 on most dates, four days close earlier), free entry and about 700 stalls.

Nobu
June 20, 2026

Travel Tips, Seasonal Travel

Coolcation Japan 2026: Where I Escape the Heat (Not Crowded Hokkaido)

The clear turquoise Azusa River curving through Kamikochi in summer, framed by deep-green forested slopes and the Hotaka mountains under a blue sky, with no crowds — a cool highland escape in Nagano at about 1,500 metres

Japan's hottest summer on record was 2025, and 2026 looks just as hot. Here's where I go to escape the heat — cool highland escapes, not crowded Hokkaido.

Nobu
June 19, 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, Chubu, Travel Tips, Yamanashi

Should You Climb Mt Fuji in 2026 — or See It Without Climbing?

Diamond Fuji at sunrise from the Asagiri Plateau in Shizuoka: the sun bursting into a brilliant starburst exactly at the snow-dusted summit of Mt Fuji above a green meadow and clear blue sky, a spectacular view seen entirely from the ground without climbing

Mt Fuji's 2026 climb means a ¥4,000 fee, daily caps and a 2 PM gate. An honest look at whether to climb — and where to see the famous view without it.

Nobu
June 17, 2026