NIJO MARKET AREA Nijo Market is a great place to see local fresh seafood and other Hokkaido products, as well as eat some of those items....

We went to Hakodate for three nights as an extension of our Sapporo trip--targeting an uni-rich area. There was a cruise ship in port and...

Noboribetsu is an onsen town about an hour south of Sapporo along the coast. It borders the Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The onsen...

Day trips from Sapporo is a separate blog post. Shopping Perhaps because Sapporo is snowy for much of the year, there is a great deal of...

1) Yoichi/Otaru How to get there from Sapporo You can take the train (Airport Rapid Express) or bus (Chuo Bus) to Yoichi and/or Otaru. ...

I ran in both Kyoto and Tokyo. See below for more info about running in those cities. Running in Kyoto There are two places in central...

​1) Heian Shrine (Heian-jingu) This is a large temple complex in Higashiyama north of Yasaka-jinja built in 1895 to commemorate the...

Sanjocho Neighborhood We mostly explored food and necessities in Sanjocho (google map location), but there are also many clothing,...

Running in Kyoto There are two places in central Kyoto that I found good for running: the grounds of the Imperial Palace (aka...

Neighborhoods in Kyoto One of our long-term ideas is to spend 1-3 months a year in Japan – we love the food, culture and lifestyle. So,...

Arashiyama Arashiyama is a region of west Kyoto with many temples, shrines and other attractions. It’s a great day trip from central...

Tokyo Running Like any big city, Tokyo has its ups and downs when it comes to running. It’s hard to run in any city unless it’s very...

Koya-san Why you should go: Koya is a UNESCO site and an important Buddhist location. Access requires several forms of transportation:...