Uncharted Japan

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Why Uncharted Japan

I’m John Haynes and my wife, Josephine is the fourth generation in her family to have been born in Japan with her great, great-grandparents having arrived in September 1861 from New York only a few years after Japan opened to the west. Her ancestors served as missionaries there when Ronin (former Samurai) still roamed the countryside.  It was very much unlike today’s Japan.  Therefore her family has a very long history retaining many contacts and the family still keeps the family home there north of Nagano.  No one of whom I’m aware in the Japan travel community online or on Youtube has such a background.  We both love Japan and enjoy sharing our experience with others.  Read on to learn more.

From The Blog

Osaka EXPO 2025 Is Here!

This will be the biggest event in all of Japan in 2025.  Its Osaka Expo 2025 and it has been twenty years since the last time an expo was held in Japan, and likely another twenty years till the next.  Therefore, if you are visiting Japan, you simply must include a...

Record Number of Tourists For 2024

The Japan National Tourism Organization announced this week that Japan saw a record number of foreign tourists visiting Japan in 2024.  For the year just ended, approximately 36.8 million foreigners came to Japan, and it sometimes feels as if they are all in Kyoto at...

The Most Beautiful Garden in Japan

Japan is well known for its amazing gardens.  There are several types that follow different criteria and one of the finest, yet most overlooked is the Adachi Gardens and Museum just outside the town of Matsue.  Matsue is located on the Sea of Japan on the southwestern...
An  Excellent Day Trip From Hiroshima

An Excellent Day Trip From Hiroshima

Hiroshima is one of the more popular destinations in Japan, and for good reason.  Of course there's its unique history with the atomic bomb drop on August 5, 1945 which is memorialized at the Hiroshima Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Dome.  Then there's the iconic...

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The Best Open Air Museum in Tokyo?

The Best Open Air Museum in Tokyo?

We recently discovered the Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum on the edge of Tokyo.  It was an exceptionally nice find.  If you have only one day or two in Tokyo and want to get a true sense of its history through its architecture and culture, then you simply...

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Christmas Lights:  Japanese Style!

Christmas Lights: Japanese Style!

During December, the larger cities of Japan go all out when it comes to Christmas lights.  Over here, they call them Winter Illuminations and generally run from mid November through mid January.  Some of them, such as those of Nabana no Sato run into Spring.  Its an...

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