The second-oldest temple in Tokyo, a day trip to Jindaijii lets visitors feel transported to the Edo era, without actually leaving the city. Read on to...
A 4th generation Nikkei has inherited his ancestors’ Japanese spirit and found a way to reconcile his life as a bridge between two countries.
As one of the oldest original castles in Japan, completed in the early 1590s, Matsumoto Castle is a star attraction in Nagano Prefecture. It sits proudly...
The Chinese government claims that the Senkaku Islands — very much part of Japanese territory in Okinawa — are attached to Taiwan.
The position of women in the Gion Matsuri tradition has changed over the centuries, but the fact is that the Gion Matsuri could never be staged...
It takes time and much effort to pull the heavy floats the length of the parade route, mesmerizing the crowd with this direct link to Kyoto’s...
"Think of the Yamaboko Junko as a giant, serpentine magnet circulating through the festival zone drawing ekijin spirits of disease into the yama and hoko.”
Beijing’s immense economic stakes in extracting hydrocarbon resources from the East China Sea are directly linked to its self-professed territorial claims.
“I have made it my life’s mission to tell the world, starting with Japan, what a beautiful country this is, and what a rich and inspiring...
From ancient times, horses, especially white horses, were highly revered in Japan, and it was believed that sometimes kami arrived on horseback.
The parade of floats are famous, but decidedly secondary to the evening processions that take Yasaka Shrine’s three deities into the city for a one-week stay.
The Gion Matsuri story crosses many cultural lines. Was Muto-shin really Susanoo-no-Mikoto or a Korean god? And in which country did the Shorai brothers live?
