Oishi Park — The Kawaguchiko Flower Park with a Different Bloom Every Month
A free lakeside park on Lake Kawaguchiko where shibazakura, nemophila, lavender, and kochia each take turns in front of Mt. Fuji through the year.
Tag japan travel
Lake Saiko 2026: The Quiet Fuji Lake, Four Campgrounds, and the Fish That Came Back From Extinction
Lake Saiko is the quiet middle child of Japan’s Fuji Five Lakes. It’s the fourth one west of Tokyo, sitting between its busier neighbors — Kawaguchiko to the east (all hotels and sightseeing boats) and the smaller, wilder Shoji and…
Saiko Iyashi no Sato Nenba: What ¥500 Buys You at Yamanashi’s Rebuilt Thatched-Roof Village
There’s a moment on the approach — after the bus turns off the lake road, after the parking lot, after you hand over ¥500 at the ticket window — where you look up and realize the thing you’re about to…
Hiruzen Highlands: Japan’s Alpine Middle, Jersey Cows, and a Weekend No One Talks About
Hiruzen is one of those places Japan seems to have decided, for a season, to try being Switzerland. Rolling pasture, Jersey cows with serious eyelashes, a three-peak ridge in the distance that takes most of a day to walk end-to-end.…
GREENable HIRUZEN: Kengo Kuma’s Traveling Pavilion Lands in Okayama’s Cow Country
Drive forty minutes north of Okayama on the Yonago Expressway, get off at Hiruzen IC, turn left at a farm stand selling milk, and you come across something you don’t expect to see surrounded by dairy pasture: a three-story wooden…
Japan Essential Tips 2026: Etiquette, Apps, New Rules, and What Actually Matters
Japan is one of the easiest countries to travel in — once you know the small rules that aren’t in the guidebooks. Since 2024 several practical things have shifted: a tourist card got discontinued, Kyoto closed off private alleys, Mt.…
Japan Budget Guide 2026: Real Daily Costs, Smart Savings, and What Changed This Year
A week in Japan in 2026 costs anywhere from ¥60,000 to ¥350,000 depending on how you sleep, eat, and move. The yen is still weaker than it was five years ago, which helps international travelers — but the country has…
Lake Motosu: Chasing the Fuji on the 1,000 Yen Bill
Lake Motosu (本栖湖) is the westernmost, deepest, and most pristine of the Fuji Five Lakes — and the lake on the back of the Japanese 1,000 yen bill. The exact viewpoint is the Nakanokura Pass Observation Deck (中ノ倉峠展望台), reached by…
Fushimi Jikkokubune Canal Cruise: A Complete Guide to Booking and Riding
In Season Apr–May The late-sakura & fresh-green canal window is now. Reservations getting tight for Golden Week weekends — see the crowd-timing guide. Gliding past traditional sake breweries and weeping willows, the Fushimi Jikkokubune Canal Cruise offers a unique perspective…
A Full Day in Fushimi: Sake Breweries, Ryoma’s Legacy & the Waterway That Connects It All
Take the train from Kyoto Station and a few stops later you are in Fushimi, a town of willow-lined canals and old sake breweries rather than another temple district. You can walk the streets where Bakumatsu-era figures hid out, ride…