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Sometimes an escape from the Tokyo summer is essential. What a delight this year to explore Vancouver and Victoria in Br...
05/08/2026

Sometimes an escape from the Tokyo summer is essential. What a delight this year to explore Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.

Highlights:
🚴‍♀️ Rode a bike around Stanley Park
đź«Ť Spotted orcas in Howe Sound with Prince of Whales Adventures
🧀 Chowed down on a food tour of Granville Island Market with Vancouver Foodie Tours
🚤 Rode the tiny False Creek ferry
🦬 Sampled Indigenous food at Salmon n' Bannock Bistro
🛩️ Took a seaplane to Victoria
🥮 Walked through narrow Fan Tan Alley in Victoria’s Chinatown with A Taste Of Victoria Food Tours Inc.
🍸 Had cocktails at the Empress Hotel
🌻 Wandered the beautiful Butchart Gardens

I’ve been so busy eating my way through North America this past week that I completely missed highlighting a Japanese cu...
29/07/2026

I’ve been so busy eating my way through North America this past week that I completely missed highlighting a Japanese culinary custom - Doyo no Ushi no Hi (quite literally “the day of the ox in the period before a seasonal change”).

In the past, all days - as well as years, months and even two-hour blocks of time - were associated with one of the twelve zodiac animals. And the doyo period referred to the 18 day period before a new season would begin. Yup, that’s right - according to the old calendar, autumn began around August 3. How I wish that were true now!

For this post’s purposes, we’re talking about the tradition of chowing down on a bowl of grilled river eel during the summer doyo period in the hopes of beating the heat.

It all started when an eel seller in the Edo Period (1603-1868) came up with a great advertising campaign to boost sales in the typically sluggish summer season. The rationale is a tad complicated, but if you eat foods beginning with a “u” sound (unagi, umeboshi, udon), you’ll feel as cool as the month of December, which was known in the old calendar as the month of the ox (or “ushi” in Japanese - hence the “u” conncection).

The original seller’s marketing genius lives on today and supermarkets are filled with filets of eel in the weeks leading up to the yearly event.

Since the concept of “doyo” is tied to the zodiac, some years we have two days of the ox that fall in this span. This year, we only had one day - July 26.

If you want to go out for eel anytime of year, consider a trip to Narita (the town, not the airport). Numerous eel eateries line the main road leading to the famed Naritasan Shinsho-ji temple. Kawagoe, in Saitama Prefecture, is also famous for eel, as is Yanagawa in Fukuoka Prefecture. For those in Tokyo, Shibamata is also a great option.

July is the month of Gion Matsuri in Kyoto, and we’re only a day away from one of the festival highlights - the Yamaboko...
16/07/2026

July is the month of Gion Matsuri in Kyoto, and we’re only a day away from one of the festival highlights - the Yamaboko Junko on July 17th.

This parade of almost two dozen massive floats has its origins in an epidemic that struck the city of Kyoto in the year 869. To appease the gods and cleanse the city, the emperor at the time requested that the head priest of Yasaka shrine host a procession to rid Kyoto of its plague.

The Yamaboko showcases two styles of massive floats (“yama” and “hoko”). You can witness preparations for the parade in the three days leading up to it, as teams gather to construct and perfect the floats, often working - and playing - long into the evening. Then, on the day of the main event, grab a spot on the sidewalk along the parade route and watch the slow-moving spectacle.

*All photos are from Gion Matsuri in 2015.

Those who head to Sensoji temple in Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood tomorrow (July 10th) will have their prayers count thou...
08/07/2026

Those who head to Sensoji temple in Tokyo’s Asakusa neighborhood tomorrow (July 10th) will have their prayers count thousands of times more than usual. It’s a tradition known as kudoku-nichi, where a temple designates one particular day of the year when a visitor’s prayers are worth more than normal.

At Sensoji, that day is July 10 and it coincides with the temple’s annual hozuki, or Chinese lantern plant, market.

The fair’s timing is not entirely a coincidence. A long-held belief in Japan states that if one swallows a hozuki fruit whole (with water), any ailments would be cured. So why not swallow it on a day when prayers count so much more … the belief being that healing powers are amplified as well.

The hozuki fair actually runs July 9th AND July 10th, so if you want to avoid some of the crowds but still see the beautiful plants, head there today.

In the 1950s, a group of school children in Chiba under the direction of a botanist unearthed a lotus seed that was late...
06/07/2026

In the 1950s, a group of school children in Chiba under the direction of a botanist unearthed a lotus seed that was later suspected to be 2000 years old. When replanted, the seed sprouted into a massive pink bloom (named the Oga lotus). Today, it wouldn’t be summer in Japan without these gorgeous pale pink flowers appearing in ponds and gardens across the archipelago.

Lotus flowers have long been connected to Buddhism. The emergence of these beautiful pink blooms from the muck and dirt of the pond bottom is equated to achieving enlightenment. It symbolizes rising above human suffering, reaching a state of transcendence.

You’ll see lotus flowers everywhere in Japan, not only in bloom in the summertime. Nichiren Buddhist temples often use the symbol of the lotus as a decoration, and Buddhas from all sects are often seen sitting on a lotus flower. There is even a symbolic lotus on the “lightening rod” at the top of the pagoda of Asakusa’s Sensoji temple.

These photos are from the Ancient Lotus Garden in Gyoda, Saitama. It’s a beautiful place to enjoy these showy blooms.

On July 7th, Japan celebrates one of its more colorful cultural festivals - Tanabata (also known as the Star Festival).T...
04/07/2026

On July 7th, Japan celebrates one of its more colorful cultural festivals - Tanabata (also known as the Star Festival).

The festival is based on the old Chinese legend of a weaver princess named Orihime (the daughter of the Sky King) and a cowherd named Hikoboshi. They represent the stars Altair and Vega, a popular sight in the summer sky in the northern hemisphere. Known to be lovers, the two became so consumed with each other that they apparently began neglecting their godly duties. As punishment, they were banished to opposite sides of the galaxy. The two stars now spend the entire year separated by the Milky Way, only to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month for a long-awaited rendezvous.

You may have noticed bamboo cuttings outside shops, in front of department stores, near train stations and next to shrines. People write their wishes on colorful strings of paper known as tanzaku and attach them to the bamboo tree in the hopes that these wishes will come true.

In days past, Japan followed the old lunar calendar, meaning Tanabata really fell in mid-August. Because of this, some cities in Japan still celebrate Tanabata later in the summer. So if you miss the fun in early July, head north to Sendai in early August for one of Japan’s biggest Tanabata Festivals.

Here in the Tokyo region, however, you can enjoy large-scale Tanabata decorations in cities like Hiratsuka, or smaller celebrations at certain shrines (Tokyo Daijingu is a favorite).

01/07/2026

Summer is certainly a vibe in Japan. Colorful tanabata streamers, shaved ice, wind chimes, lotus flowers … that’s just a sprinkling of what the warmer months bring. Grab your sun umbrellas, charge up your portable fans and come to Japan for an unforgettable season.

Hydrangea are known as “Ajisai” in Japanese, a word that means “a gathering of blues”. The varied color of a hydrangea f...
07/06/2026

Hydrangea are known as “Ajisai” in Japanese, a word that means “a gathering of blues”. The varied color of a hydrangea flower also gives rise to its other name of “nanahenge”, or seven transformations.

Flowers were powerful symbols to the upper classes in feudal Japan, but this is one bloom that most samurai avoided. The multiple hues of a single hydrangea flower head signaled a fickleness and changeability that just didn’t sit well with the samurai and their loyalty code. In fact, hydrangea weren’t widely planted for casual viewing enjoyment until after World War II when Kamakura’s Meigetsuin temple started the trend.

06/06/2026

Where should you go hydrangea hunting in Tokyo this June?

🔹Myōrakuji Temple (Shukugawara Station)
Though technically across the river in Kawasaki, this hydrangea temple makes an easy morning or afternoon outing from central Tokyo. Hydrangea of different colors sprawl across the hillside against the photogenic backdrop of a bell tower.

🔹Myokakuji Temple (Keio Yomiurland Station)
Bushes line the steep steps up to Myokakuji, and more hydrangea can be found both near the main hall and around the cemetery.

🔹Tamagawadai Park (Tamagawa Station)
Just steps from Tamagawa Station is this hillside park, constructed partly on an ancient Kofun (burial tomb). About 3000 hydrangea in a variety of colors cover the slopes here. There is also a lovely little water garden.

🔹Asukayama Park (Oji Station)
The slopes of Asukayama Park touch up against the tracks for the JR train lines, but a small walking path cuts in between. In June, that walking path is lined with around 1300 hydrangea bushes.

🔹Hakusan Shrine (Hakusan Station)
This shrine in central(ish) Tokyo has beautiful blue and purple hydrangeas in an easy to reach location.

01/06/2026

June in Japan means the arrival of rainy season and days filled with …
- Iris and hydrangea gardens in bloom
- Temple reflections in leftover puddles
- Prepping the seasonal batch of plum wine
- Seeing the new crop of rice planted in the paddies
- Hanging a teruteru bozu to wish for good weather

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