Japan travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

The ritual of bathing has never been more sublime that at the new, stylish Hoshinoya resort. This is no traditional hot spring. Hoshinoya sits firmly in twenty-first century. Green geothermal energy supplies the underfloor heating, and the surroundings ate seriously contemporary. Dark wood and stone floors replace the familiar tatami mats. Photo by: terururu
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Should you be given the distributing news that you are officially dead, do not panic. You have probably just tied your yukata (house robe) right over left – kimono speak for ”deceased”- and need to retie it. More than 300 years old, Hiiragiya Ryokan is a historic inn that is widely regarded as the pinnacle of style and traditional hospitality. Look closely and you will see the wooden hitching posts, used by traveling feudal lords who arrived on horseback, on the long clay walls. Such grand arrivals might e a thing of the past, but theater comes with the territory, and thanks to the six generations of the same family, service is as sharp as samurai sword. Photo by: Rob Gruhl
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The National Art Center is a unique and innovative art exhibition facility. Opened in 2007 in Roppongi, Tokyo.
The facility has 47,960 m of floor space on a 30,000 m site with four stories above ground and one below. Access is from Nogizaka Station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line.
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Japan is a country with hundreds of ski resorts and plentiful snow. However the language barrier and the country’s distance from Western have long prevented it from becoming a major international ski destination. These days that starting to change, especially at a resort called Niseko.
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Kamakura is an ancient city, just 50 km from Tokyo, but it feels like at the end of the world. There are no high-rise buildings or neon bars there. Once the city was the capital of Japan, during the shogunate from 1185 to 1333, and the fourth-largest city in the world. It’s a wonderful destination, ideal for day trippers from Tokyo, stopping there to enjoy the cooling sea breezes, while they visit the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Photo by: kiri-fuda
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Hakone National Park is one of five parks that make up Japan‘s Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, centered around Lake Ashi, a respectful site in Japan with breathtaking views of the majestic Mount Fuji, which is 3,776 m high. Photo by: ch3nyong
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If you visit Tokyo, who have to decide if you are going to be one of the three million to four million people who pack its trains daily, or you would be on bicycles, navigating streets, lanes and alley and roughly traced paths around the city. The Yamanote charts a loop about 21 miles long through the heart of Tokyo — an iconic commuter line that has stitched the city together since its completion in 1925.
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