1) Asakusa and Senso-ji Asakusa is a mostly pedestrian section of Tokyo with various stores, restaurants, souvenir shops, etc. At the northern end of Asakusa is the Senso-ji temple, a large complex with food stands, cherry trees and various buildings. As with any significant shrine, there are aisles of vendors geared toward tourists. We stayed in Asakusa and found it to be a very good neighborhood to base ourselves. Above, bottom left, the pagoda and main hall of the shrine.

One of the bigger cities on Kyushu with over half a million people, Kagoshima is a nice place to spend a few days. Jump to our Food , Hotel , or Shopping sections on this page. Sengan-en This is one of the final residences and gardens used by the Shimadzu clan at the end of the Edo period and after the Meiji restoration in 1868. Both the house and gardens are spectacular. It’s easy to spend several hours here even though the gardens are relatively compact, between eating lu

Fukuoka, the capital of Fukuoka prefecture, is the biggest city on Kyushu. There’s a lot to see, do and eat. We spent a total of 5 days in Fukuoka and still didn’t see everything we wanted to. For details on restaurants in Fukuoka, check out our post " Food in Fukuoka " 1) Dazaifu Tenmangu This large temple complex and the Kyushu National Museum (below) are located in the town of Dazaifu, a suburb of Fukuoka. This temple is dedicated to learning and education so many people

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...

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...

13 things to do in Hanoi , Vietnam 1. The Night Market in Old Town This night market, aka the Weekend Market, is located along Pho Hang Dao/Pho Hang Ngang/Hang Duong/P. Dong Xuan (these are all the same street; the name changes several times) on Friday-Sunday from 6 – 10 pm. It runs about a kilometer in length. You can find clothes, shoes, souvenirs, sunglasses, etc. Many food vendors set up on street corners but we wouldn’t call this a food-oriented market. A better