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.

Ise Sueyoshi Meal Type: Traditional Kaiseki Though we had the traditional, we were excited to see that this restaurant actively welcomes gluten free, vegan, vegetarian and Muslim meals. They also had a section on the reservation form to describe a dietary need that didn’t fit neatly in those categories. Phone: 03-6427-2314 Email: info.sueyoshi@gmail.com Website: http://isesueyoshi.blog.fc2.com/ Address: 4-2-15 Nishiazabu, Mizuno Bldg. 3F, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0031 (Note the 3

This is a great city for museums, shopping (including antiques!), rich history, and lovely walks. Jump to the Food recommendations here , Hotels here , and Arita day trip here . We were based near the JR station which has many malls all around it and easy transport by bus or tram everywhere in the city. If you arrive at the port (on a cruise) or are near the port, there is a bus stop very close that gives excellent instructions in English and offers an all-day pass for 600 ye

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

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...

Note that Google does not really work in Korea. You can use it to find locations, but navigation is difficult/impossible. Apparently...