Apr 12th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Tokyo, Japan, is a city of politeness, cleanliness, culinary enlightenment and notorious expense. This year Tokyo was listed as the most expensive city in the world, with Japan's second city, Osaka, coming in at number two. But Japan being the land of extremes, there are plenty of great thrifty or outright free things to do in the megalopolis – especially now with the yen at the lowest ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Tokyo posts
International Budget Guide 2013: Tokyo, Japan
Apr 12th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
Tokyo, Japan, is a city of politeness, cleanliness, culinary enlightenment and notorious expense. This year Tokyo was listed as the most expensive city in the world, with Japan's second city, Osaka, coming in at number two. But Japan being the land of extremes, there are plenty of great thrifty or outright free things to do in the megalopolis – especially now with the yen at the lowest ...Photo Of The Day: Sakura In Tokyo
Mar 29th, 2013 at 6:00PM:
Cherry blossom season is in full effect in Tokyo. The beautiful, pinkish flowers, sakura in Japanese, are in many ways intertwined with the country's culture. The start of the fiscal and school years falls in line with the blossom season. Virtually all public schools and major company buildings will have at least one sakura tree out front and group pictures are taken at the start of a new ...Video: Japanese Customer Service Is Different From Ours
Feb 27th, 2013 at 2:00PM: In keeping with Japan's reputation as a most hospitable country comes this video from LiveLeak. Two Canadian backpackers are attempting to purchase subway tickets so they can visit Tsukiji Fish Market, but have problems with the dispenser.
No worries! Apparently, in Japan, live, smiling attendants pop out of tiny, hidden slots in automated machines. Perhaps the U.S. should take note, and use ...
Instagramming Food: Fun Or Faux Pas?
Jan 26th, 2013 at 12:00PM: A big topic around the water cooler Twitter this week is a New York Times story on restaurants and food photography. Some chefs like David Bouley encourage snapping photos of your dishes, even going so far as letting you in the kitchen to get the best shot, while others like Momofuku's David Chang have outright banned cameras. Restaurateurs argue that constantly whipping out your phone to document ...Photo Of The Day: A Snowy Tokyo Temple
Jan 25th, 2013 at 7:00PM:
In the heart of the greatest metropolis in the world lies Senso-ji, Tokyo's oldest temple. Founded in 628, it is one of the city's biggest tourist attractions – and rightly so. An ENORMOUS lantern is at the head of a ridiculously long walkway of trinket stalls, which leads to the recently renovated main hall, a registered national treasure. Adjacent to the main hall is this five-story ...Travel Gifts For The Last Minute Shopper That Won't Break The Bank
Dec 24th, 2012 at 1:00PM: With one of the biggest travel gift-giving holidays of the year coming up, not everyone is done shopping. To many gifters, last-minute mode is panic time and tactical shopping strategies kick in. Rather than simply buying a host of generic gift cards (akin to throwing money at the problem), get creative with gifts that show some thought.
A slap in the face saying, "Yes, I do care!" can be had ...The Kimchi-ite: Life As A Foreigner In Asia
Dec 17th, 2012 at 1:00PM:
As a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white American living in Asia, I tend to stand out in a crowd. It's an interesting and bizarre thing that has become a part of my everyday life. Even living in Seoul, one of the biggest cities in the world, where more and more people of different ethnicities come every year, children on the subway stare at me unabashedly, store employees sometimes get ...Why I Came To South Korea: An Introduction To 'The Kimchi-ite'
Dec 11th, 2012 at 11:00AM:
South Korea is not an obvious travel destination, it has no true iconic landmarks and its only recent, distinct cultural exports are kimchi and an amazing horse riding song and dance. When I told people that I would be moving to Seoul, their first question was either "North Korea?" or "....where?" But Korea is a place rich with destinations: immense cities, ski resorts, popular beaches, as ...Video Of The Day: The Making Of Udon Noodles
Nov 14th, 2012 at 5:00PM:
"For Udon and Country" from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo.
It's easy to think of udon noodles as just another delicious kind of food, but, as with most food, there's more to the story than what winds up on your plate. This film by The Perennial Plate focuses on Shimizu San. He's been making udon noodles for the last 45 years at his farm in a small town outside of Tokyo. He not only makes ...
Turn Your Phone Into A Subway Card
Oct 5th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
If you've ever visited one of the more technologically advanced Asian metropolises like Tokyo or Hong Kong, you're probably already familiar with the easy-to-use technology called RFID. It works like this - instead of paying cash for a bus or subway fare, you hold up a simple plastic card (or a chip embedded in your cellphone) to the ticket gate, and voila! You've paid and gotten on your way ...
Free Internet For Travelers In Japan
Oct 1st, 2012 at 3:00PM:
Japan can be an expensive country in which to travel. Food, lodging, along with other goods and services that travelers might commonly buy are often high-priced, compared to American standards. Comparing Internet Wi-Fi hotspots to American standards, Japan is even tougher on visitors, offering few places for service and even less that support multiple languages. But recently, two companies ...Tokyo Celebrates Summer With Their Annual Eel Day
Jul 29th, 2012 at 3:00PM: While many Westerners picture watermelon, daiquiris and ice cream when they think of summer, Tokyo gets excited for their traditional treat, broiled eel. In fact, they even have a special day to commemorate the dish, Unagi no Hi, also known as Midsummer Day of the Ox, or Eel Day.
The annual event, which takes place every year at the end of July, took place on Friday, July 27. Apparently, the ...Stunning Aerial Shots Of Cities From Around The World
Jun 25th, 2012 at 2:00PM: Experiencing an unknown city is always exciting. That's the great thing about travel – it allows you to try new things and explore new places. While wandering through a city on the ground is interesting, it's also worthwhile to see a destination from a unique perspective you normally wouldn't get to view.
Below, you'll find beautiful aerial shots taken above some of your favorite cities. ...Photo Of The Day: Watching The World Go By In Tokyo
Jun 14th, 2012 at 7:00PM:
There are few cities that have the energy of Tokyo. It's one place where you can feel the past and future collide, with traditional teahouses and 1950s-throwback salarymen mixing with girls in cutting-edge fashion and boys with the latest technology. The intensity is dialed up to the maximum at Shibuya Crossing, where Flickr user m24instudio shot today's Photo Of The Day. There you can have a ...Opening A Box Of Japanese Cookies
May 26th, 2012 at 12:00PM:
As I mentioned in a previous post, my wife recently came home from an astronomy meeting in Tokyo and brought back lots of Japanese snacks. One of them was this tempting box of cookies she got at a sweet shop next to the university.
My wife loves Japanese culture. She loves the orderliness and attention to detail, both important traits for a scientist despite media stereotypes, and she loves ...Gifts From Abroad: What To Bring Your Family When You Come Home
May 4th, 2012 at 11:30AM:
My wife and I travel a lot, sometimes together, sometimes separately. We both have careers that require us to travel and while it can be tough to be apart, at least we have the regular ritual of seeing what gifts from abroad are popping out of each other's suitcases!
My wife just came back from an astronomy meeting in Tokyo and brought back this haul of loot. The Japanese are masters of ...Video Of The Day: Tokyo In Slow Motion
Apr 23rd, 2012 at 6:00PM:
Just the same as New York or London, Tokyo is a fast-paced place. Filmmaker and Tokyo local Alex Lee has slowed down the hustle and bustle, artfully showcasing some of his favorite parts of the Japanese capital's most quintessential activities. The short video takes viewers on a trip through the city by foot, train and car, stopping to check out crowded trains, conveyor sushi restaurants, ...
The Art Newspaper reveals most popular exhibitions and museums of 2011
Mar 24th, 2012 at 11:00AM:
The folks over at the Art Newspaper have just released some interesting stats about the art world of 2011. Collecting a huge amount of data from hundreds of museums and galleries, they've discovered some important trends.
First off, the big shows are getting bigger. The top ten most popular art shows back in 1996, the first year they gathered figures, averaged 3,000 visitors a day. Last ...Longreads introduces curated travel reading with Travelreads
Mar 21st, 2012 at 3:30PM: Thanks to the Internet, social media and our various smartphones and e-readers, you no longer have to rely on the airport newsstand's collection of John Grisham novels for travel reading. You can browse the New York Times from your cell phone, read a guidebook on your Kindle or start dreaming about your next trip with an e-magazine like TRVL. If you're a fan of long-form journalism and fiction, ...Students travel to Japan, help recovery efforts
Mar 7th, 2012 at 4:00PM: Travel to Japan was disrupted last year when a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11. The disaster brought an alarming death toll, fear of nuclear explosion and travel alerts cancelling hundreds of flights and stranding tens of thousands of travelers. But that disaster also elicited enormous response from people all over the world who pledged their help to the affected area. As ...
