Go Explore Japan

Go Explore Japan We are a travel company unlike any other.

We not only build an itinerary we even have Travel Advisors on the ground in Japan to help you avoid common mistakes and make sure you spend more time wandering and less time wondering.

08/31/2026

Have you ever visited a place that felt like home the second you arrived? Tell me your favorite spot in Japan down in the comments!

08/31/2026

If you want the best night views in Dotonbori without the massive shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, walk one bridge down over the canal. The water reflections of the lanterns and the yellow Don Quijote Ferris wheel are unbeatable from here.

08/29/2026

Right past this massive post-and-beam community center in the middle of nowhere is the road leading deep into Japanese Paper Village (和紙の里) territory. Centuries of handmade washi craftsmanship tucked between rice fields and forested peaks. Would you take a detour for traditional craft history, or stay on the main tourist trail?
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08/29/2026

They call it the "Land of the Rising Sun," but the west coast sunsets hit completely different. Silence, ocean breeze, and golden hour over the sea. Be honest: are you waking up at 5 AM for a sunrise, or are you catching views like this every single evening?

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08/29/2026

Even the sacred deer need to beat the heat. Chozuya basins are usually meant for shrine visitors to cleanse their hands, but the locals clearly get free refills. Would you let him get away with it?

08/29/2026

In Japan you always always want to adhere to the cross walk signal. Japan is like a machine where everything works according to the rules. Cars will go full speed thru an intersection in a green because they expect everyone will follow the rules and stay out of the cross walk if it's not their turn. When pedestrians have their turn they will walk across the street not even glancing to see if cars are coming because they expect the cars to stop. Everyone follows the rules so everything works. If you visit Japan ... follow the rules or you might get hit by a car while trying to cross when it's not your turn.

This video isn't mine, I'm not sure who created the original but I saw it as a good opportunity to point out that in Japan rules matter. In America you will see people cross when it's not their turn all the time. I wouldn't recommend trying that in Japan. Let's all stay safe on our travels 😊😊

08/28/2026

My first viral video 😆

I wrote this song for my son. It's about our first trip to Japan. It's called "where memories stay".

08/27/2026

While I'm working on the Fukui Prefecture video I won't have much time for editing anything else but I wanted to share some raw unedited video of the castle in Fukui. You may hear me struggling to breath, I'm sorry about that 😆. It was crazy hot and I just walked up a hill so ... yeah. Just turn the volume way down and enjoy the view of the castle. The finished video will be much better, I hope 😆

Just to be clear, the photo is AI content, not the words. I hate when Facebook puts "AI content" on a post like I didn't...
08/26/2026

Just to be clear, the photo is AI content, not the words. I hate when Facebook puts "AI content" on a post like I didn't do anything at all.

What is meiwaku o kakenai? — 迷惑をかけない

There isn't a perfect English translation, but the basic idea is: Think about how your actions affect the people around you and try not to make things harder for them.

In the US we call this "common courtesy".

Once I started understanding this idea, a LOT of things about Japan started making more sense to me. Why are trains usually so quiet? Why do people form orderly lines? Why do people pay attention to where they're standing? Why is it important not to spread your luggage across a crowded train? Why do people try to stay out of the way when stopping to look at their phones?

They're all different situations, but there's a common idea behind them: Other people are sharing this space with me, so I should consider them too.

That doesn't mean Japan is some magical place where everyone is perfectly polite. It isn't. Japanese people break social rules too. Tourists make mistakes. I've made plenty myself. Nobody should expect a visitor to understand every unwritten rule of another country.

But that's also one of the things I love about traveling. You're not just going somewhere new to look at temples, eat food and take pictures. You're getting a chance to experience a different way of looking at the world.

Sometimes that means realizing that something you considered strange actually makes a lot of sense once you understand the thinking behind it. You don't have to agree with every Japanese custom. You don't have to imitate everything Japanese people do. And you definitely don't have to be afraid of making a mistake. Just pay attention, ask questions, be curious, and remember that the people around you are trying to go about their everyday lives while you're experiencing their country on vacation.

To me, being a good traveler isn't about knowing every rule. It's about caring enough to learn.

That's what I want Go Explore Japan to be about — not just showing you WHERE to go in Japan, but helping you understand the country you're visiting. Because the more I learn about the WHY behind Japan, the more interesting Japan becomes.

It's my first morning back in Tennessee after my month-long trip to Japan. I already miss it... but I also really missed...
08/26/2026

It's my first morning back in Tennessee after my month-long trip to Japan. I already miss it... but I also really missed my biscuits & gravy. 😆

I picked up a few new stickers for my laptop while I was there, and now it's time to start working through all the videos I filmed over the last month.

I'm not a great editor, and I don't know if I'll ever have a hundred thousand followers, but I'm going to do my best to make these videos something worth watching. I'll try to get them finished as soon as I can, but today I think I'm just going to take the day off and think about all the places I went and everything I experienced.

A big part of editing is figuring out how you want to tell the story.

Storytelling is kind of an art here in the Smoky Mountains. We've been passing down stories for a long time. My family has lived in the Smokies for eight generations now, including my kids. I guess now our stories are just being passed along a little differently in the digital age.

I mention all of that because I want to make these videos good. I want to tell the stories right. So my posts may slow down a little while I work on them.

I'm no social media guru or professional filmmaker. I'm just a guy who loves to travel, explore new places, and tell stories. It takes me about a week just to edit one 30-minute video. 😆

So I appreciate your patience. 🙏 And when I finally get these videos finished and posted, I hope you'll leave me a comment and tell me what you thought.

That's actually one of the things I miss most about doing tours here in the Smokies. After almost every tour, people would stand around afterward, ask questions, talk to me, and tell me how much they enjoyed the stories.

You don't get that quite as much online... or at least I didn't until recently.

Lately, I've had a lot more people commenting on my videos and telling me they enjoyed them, asking questions, or sharing their own stories. That has honestly helped push me to keep making videos and to put more effort into making them enjoyable and worth your time to watch.

And on top of all that, I've got to write my full Kyoto guide with restaurant recommendations and a bunch of other stuff. I also have a few itineraries to work on for some new families who booked trips with us, so my plate is going to be pretty full for the next few weeks.

Yeah... I'm long-winded. 😂 I may not be a tour guide anymore, but I'm still from East Tennessee, and we like to talk. 🤣

Videos will be coming soon, I promise.

And seriously, thank you to everyone who watches, comments, asks questions, or just spends a few minutes following along on my adventures. It makes sitting in front of a computer editing for hours feel a whole lot more worthwhile. 🙏🇯🇵

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