Explore Usuki, Japan's UNESCO City of Gastronomy with preserved ginger treats and cuisine once dined on by the samurai!
Mika CunninghamMarch 13, 2024
Sakurajima may be one of Kagoshima's most famous sights, but venture a little off-the-beaten-path and you'll find no shortage of…
Mika CunninghamFebruary 10, 2023
ℹ Advertorial There are few places where the allure of culture, nature, modernity, and tradition come together as they do…
Mika CunninghamDecember 16, 2022
There’s hardly a traveler to Japan who hasn’t thought about, read, or traveled to Kyoto’s cultural capital or Hyogo’s Himeji…
Mika CunninghamMarch 29, 2022
If a visit to Japan in winter has escaped your radar until now, cozying up in local restaurants as you…
Mika CunninghamMarch 29, 2022
Ask me where my favorite place to visit is in Kyushu, and without hesitation, I would tell you it’s the…
Mika CunninghamMarch 9, 2022
It’s no secret that I love Oita. Of course, I might be a little biased, but as a resident here…
Mika CunninghamMarch 9, 2022
From the picturesque canals of Kinosaki Onsen to Amanohashidate's pine-covered sandbar, the Kitakinki (北近畿) region has everything necessary to make…
Mika CunninghamJanuary 5, 2022
Whenever I think back on my first experiences of Japanese train travel, it’s never the 300 kph speeds or the…
Mika CunninghamJanuary 5, 2022
If a spacious botanical garden or a tunnel of pink cherry blossoms conjures up images of warmer months in Japan,…
Mika CunninghamFebruary 8, 2021
From pictorial villages of traditional thatched-roof houses to one of Japan’s beloved onsen hot spring towns, a visit to Gifu Prefecture…
Mika CunninghamFebruary 8, 2021
As wireless connectivity becomes an even more indispensable tool for many overseas travellers, Japan has answered this call by steadily…
Mika CunninghamJuly 11, 2020
With Japan's famously efficient public transportation systems and its down-to-the-minute punctuality, it's no wonder why it's the number one way…
Mika CunninghamJuly 10, 2020
You're in the middle of preparing for your exciting trip to Japan – the last thing you may want to…
Mika CunninghamJuly 9, 2020
It's an indisputable fact that the Japanese people love their seasonal blossoms, and the yearly blooms of wisteria are no…
Mika CunninghamApril 4, 2020
Ohhhh, hand-made paper. I remember going through and feeling my mother's old collection of Japanese washi papers as a kid,…
Mika CunninghamMarch 19, 2020
When I was a kid, my mother thought it was best to keep my brother and I occupied with a…
Mika CunninghamMarch 19, 2020
In the beautiful stretch of coastal scenery in northern Kyoto prefecture (京都府), lies a port town of lovely red brick buildings…
Mika CunninghamMarch 14, 2020
“Watch out for those deer!” I whispered, as a herd suddenly skipped across the road in the dark. It was…
Mika CunninghamMarch 14, 2020
GAH! MONKEYS!!! It was quite the surprise to stumble into a group of wild monkeys at Hibiki Terraced Rice Fields,…
Mika CunninghamMarch 14, 2020
Japan is a country of lists. Top five cities. Top ten shrines. Top 100 ramen joints… you get the picture.…
Mika CunninghamMarch 14, 2020
I might not have been the image of grace stomping along in my inch-high geta sandals. But it completed my…
Mika CunninghamMarch 13, 2020
I have a confession to make: I hate haunted houses. As a kid, the looming fear that something would come…
Mika CunninghamMarch 13, 2020
It was a day of wind and rain — not exactly the ideal weather for a photoshoot in Hyogo Prefecture's…
Mika CunninghamMarch 13, 2020
"Itadakimasu!” With my stomach already dangerously at capacity, I dove into my last order of soba (buckwheat) noodles in the…
Mika CunninghamMarch 13, 2020
Perhaps it's an obvious statement, but allow me to make it anyways: Japan loves its sakura. With a sakura blossom…
Mika CunninghamJanuary 31, 2020
When I think of the onsen rich prefecture of Oita, three distinctive features come to mind: I think of the…
Mika CunninghamNovember 20, 2019
