A Japan Journey of the Tourists, by the Tourists, for the Tourists —
A journey to discover the charms of Japan is not something simply handed to you. It is a unique story waiting to be woven, where travelers themselves take center stage and experience everything through all five senses.
-
Shirakawa-go: Inside Japan’s Snow-Country Gassho-Zukuri Village
Quick answer: Shirakawa-go is a small mountain village in Gifu Prefecture famous for its gassho-zukuri farmhouses — steep, thatched-roof structures built to shed the region’s heavy snowfall and once used to raise silkworms in…
-
Zenkoji Temple: The Buddhist Sanctuary With No Sect of Its Own
Quick answer: Zenkoji was founded roughly 1,400 years ago, before Japanese Buddhism had split into the various sects that exist today (Zen, Jodo, Shingon, and so on) — which is exactly why it remains…
-
Matsumoto Castle History: From a Sengoku Outpost to Japan’s “Crow Castle”
Quick answer: Matsumoto Castle’s black, five-story main keep was built around 1593–1594 by Ishikawa Kazumasa and his son Yasunaga, on the site of an earlier fort called Fukashi Castle. It’s one of only two…
-
Erinji Temple: Takeda Shingen’s Zen Teacher and a Fire That Became a Legend
Quick answer: Erinji is a Zen temple founded in 1330 by the celebrated priest Muso Soseki, whose garden here predates his later, more famous work at Kyoto’s Tenryuji and Saihoji (Kokedera). Two centuries later…
-
Takeda Shrine History: Worshipping a Warlord at His Own Front Door
Quick answer: Takeda Shrine sits on the exact spot where the Takeda clan — including the legendary 16th-century warlord Takeda Shingen — actually lived and ruled, a fortified residence called Tsutsujigasaki-yakata. The shrine itself…
-
Ichijodani Asakura Clan Ruins: Japan’s Buried “Kyoto of the North”
Quick answer: Ichijodani was the fortified castle town of the powerful Asakura clan, who ruled Echizen Province (today’s Fukui) from here for five generations and 103 years starting in 1471. In 1573, Oda Nobunaga’s…
-
Eiheiji: Inside Japan’s Head Temple of Soto Zen Buddhism
Quick answer: Eiheiji, deep in a cedar forest in Fukui Prefecture, is one of the two head temples of the Soto school of Zen Buddhism, founded in 1244 by the monk Dogen. Around 150…
-
Higashi Chaya District: Inside Kanazawa’s Historic Geisha Quarter
Quick answer: Higashi Chaya is the largest and best-preserved of Kanazawa’s three historic geisha districts, established in 1820 when the Kaga Domain consolidated scattered teahouses into official licensed quarters. Its two-story wooden chaya (teahouses)…
-
Kenrokuen and Kanazawa Castle: One of Japan’s Three Great Gardens and the Maeda Clan’s Stronghold
Quick answer: Kenrokuen and Kanazawa Castle sit directly across from each other in the heart of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, and together tell the story of the Maeda family, who ruled the wealthy Kaga Domain…
-
Takaoka Daibutsu and Zuiryuji: The Great Buddha and National Treasure Temple of Toyama
Quick answer: Takaoka, Toyama, is home to two very different monuments left behind by the Maeda clan: the Takaoka Daibutsu, a 15.85-meter bronze Great Buddha ranked among Japan’s three most famous, and Zuiryuji, a…
-
Gokayama: Toyama’s UNESCO Gassho-Zukuri Villages of Ainokura and Suganuma
Quick answer: Gokayama is a cluster of remote mountain villages in Nanto, Toyama Prefecture, where farmhouses built in the steep-roofed gassho-zukuri (“hands in prayer”) style have stood for up to 400 years. The two…
-
Shibata Castle: The Edo-Period Castle Town Guarded by Three Dolphins
Quick answer: Shibata Castle, in Shibata City, Niigata Prefecture, was built starting in 1598 by the Mizoguchi clan and remained their seat for the entire Edo period, taking roughly 50 years and three generations…