More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan

Japan Guide January 2nd, 2014, I arrived back in Kurume to continue with my pilgrimage around Kyushu after having took a break to go home an...

We wanted to visit Okazaki Shrine, but even on the afternoon of the 2nd the line waiting to get in was several hundred meters long. The reas...

Though technically Hatsumode refers to the first shrine visit of the year, and of course there can only be one first, many people, myself in...

Hatsumode is the Japanese custom of the first visit of the new year to a shrine or temple. We were up in Kyoto visiting Yoko's family, a...

The new year so far has been cold and windy with snow flurries and sleet. I've stayed in my nest close to woodstove. Yesterday there was...

My first experience of New Year in Japan was in Kyoto. We decided to visit the nearby Shimogamo Shrine a little after midnight for hatsumode...