October 2023 After the Shinkansen (bullet train) ride down from Tokyo to Kyushu, for our ceramic immersion and discovery of the town of Bikan, followed by an art filled discovery of Naoshima Art Island, we head to central Japan. First…
Adventures in Japan ~ The art island of Naoshima
September 2023 – Naoshima, Japan After our pottery-centric first few days in Southern Honshu, we double down on the combination of art and nature. We take the train to an art lovers dream escape, to a remote island in the…
Adventures in Japan ~ A play in 3 acts ~ Act 1: Ryokan & Bikan
September 2023 (Excerpts from Greenglobaltrek instagram.) For this trip to Japan, our fourth together, we choose to explore new regions of Japan. So we head to the Southern part of the main island of Honshu. Our journey starts by Bullet…
Kyoto Treasures ~ Onsen, ryokan, byobu and yakitori (Part 2)
With our trip winding down soon, seeing as we both have jobs waiting for us in Viet Nam, there are a few things we still have on our “must do” or “must eat” list, and onsen is at the top…
Kyoto treasures ~ Zen, kotatsu, bamboo and tofu… (Part 1)
Nothing quite says Kyoto better than the city’s famed Japanese rock gardens. Often referred to as Zen gardens, the rock gardens offer a scaled down version of a landscape, through carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees…
Finding “Old Japan”~ in Nara
After our short sojourn to Kyoto for a temple market, we are back in Nara for a few more days. Most people whizz in and out of Nara, but we are very happy to have a full five days here…
Temple market at Toji Temple, Kyoto
Toji Temple ~ normally looks like this… serene and peaceful. But today, it looks like THIS…. It’s Temple Market day at Toji Temple in Kyoto, and we travel here by train from Nara for an hour and half. Temple markets…
Nara, Japan ~ of Sacred Deer and Kaiseki.
A sacred deer’s tongue is suprisingly soft. Softer than that of a cow and definitely than that of a cat. A deer slowly and gently licks my hand on our first day in Nara. We are off to a good…