A local's guide to Shimane—Izumo Taisha and the month the gods gather, the original black castle at Matsue, Japan's top-ranked garden, and a World Heritage silver mine.
A local's guide to Tottori—the vast sand dunes on the Sea of Japan, the radium hot springs of Misasa, the Uradome coast, snow crab, and the myth of the White Rabbit.
A Tokyo local's guide to Hie Shrine in Akasaka—its monkey guardians, the red torii tunnel up the hillside, the escalator entrance, and why business people stop here before work.
A local's guide to Saitama—Kawagoe's preserved 'Little Edo' streets, the Railway Museum, Nagatoro's river gorge, and the Chichibu Night Festival, all an easy ride from Tokyo.
Kanazawa was never bombed. That accident of history left behind a city where samurai districts, geisha quarters, and 400-year-old craft traditions exist not as reconstructions, but as living continuations. A Japanese perspective on what makes Kanazawa irreplaceable.
