A helpful travel guide for anyone planning on visiting Hakone Japan. Includes tips on taking the train, Hakone Ropeway, cable car, and sights to see.
Hakone is located less than 100km from Tokyo and is a popular day trip or weekend destination. Most people visiting Hakone take the Hakone Circle Route, which goes around the area in a circle using five different modes of transportation, train, cablecar, ropeway, boat, and bus. If you’re visiting Tokyo, I’d highly recommend at least a day trip to Hakone. The scenery is beautiful, and just riding the transportation is fun too!
If you’re staying in Tokyo near Shinjuku station, the best value is to buy the Odakyu Hakone Free Pass for 5000 Yen. The free pass covers all of the transportation from Shinkjuku to Hakone, and all of the cablecars/ropeways in Hakone as well.
Posted 3 days, 21 hours ago at 11:08 pm. Add a comment
This video travel guide highlights the Temples and Shrines of Nikko in Japan.
The shrines and temples in the Nikko area are a Unesco world heritage site, and is one of the most popular day trips for tourists in Tokyo. The shrines and temples of Nikko, together with their natural surroundings, have for centuries been a sacred site known for its architectural and decorative masterpieces. They are closely associated with the history of the Tokugawa Shoguns. This video shows the main attractions in Nikko which are the Futarasan-jinja shrine, the Tôshôgu shrine, and the Rinnô-ji temple.
In this video we take a tour of some of the most spectacular Cherry Blossoms in the Tohoku region of Japan (near Sendai).
In this Cherry Blossom video I discuss the Japanese tradition of Sakura Matsuri. Sakura Matsuri translates to “Cherry Blossom Festivals.” In Japan there is often a “street fair” that is setup in the area in which the cherry blossoms boom. The Sakura Matsuri is most popular at night for eating, and of course drinking. Another popular tradition in Japan during the time of Cherry Blossoms is “Hanami.” Hanami translates to “flower viewing”, but is often a picnic under the Cherry Blossom trees. In the video I also show some of the traditional food eaten during Cherry Blossom season including yakitori and takoyaki.
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago at 4:27 pm. Add a comment
The Forbidden City in Beijing China is the old imperial palace for the emperors from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty.
This video shows highlights from the Forbidden city. The Forbidden City is right next to Tian’men square. A quick tour of the Forbidden City can be done in a few hours, but you could easily spend an entire day. The palace itself has 8,707 rooms. It’s impossible to see it all, but it’s definitely a sight to be seen!
Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago at 9:51 pm. Add a comment
This video features scenes from Taipei 101 — one of the world’s tallest buildings, XiMenDing — the hangout area for teenagers in Taipei, a visit to MaoKong for some traditional Chinese tea, and a visit to a Night Market. The video concludes with a visit to LongShan Temple, and an overview of food typical to Taiwan, including Xiao Long Bao from Din Tai Fung, Shaved Ice from Ice Monster, and Banana Milk.
Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago at 10:20 pm. Add a comment
The Temple of Heaven complex is a popular tourist destination in Beijing China.
This video shows highlights from the Temple of Heaven and Temple of Heaven Park. Surrounding the temples is a large park that is popular for residents of Beijing, and within the center of the park are two really cool round buildings, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Definitely worth a stop on a trip to Beijing.
The DongHuaMen Night Market in Beijing China is the place to eat all sorts of strange things.
This video of the DongHuaMen Night Market shows off the highlights of the market. Scorpion on a Stick, Starfish on a Stick, and Sheep’s penis on a stick, just to name a few of the really weird food items on sale here. The night market is located on WangFuJing, which is considered to be the main tourist street in Beijing. Every stall in the nightmarket has Chinese and English signs and menus, so it’s pretty friendly for tourists. Although I’m not really sure that *I’d* eat anything there.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 9:42 pm. Add a comment
This video shows highlights of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. On my visit to Beijing, I of course wanted to check out the Great Wall. After reading numerous trip reports, I decided that the section at Mutianyu although lesser visited, would be better because it is less touristy, and has some pretty cool watch towers.
From our hotel at the JW Marriott, we took a group tour that picked up at our hotel, stopped at the Ming Tombs, visited a Chinese Medicine Store, stopped at a Jade Factory, had a pretty mediocre Chinese lunch at the Jade Factory and then arrived at the Great Wall at about 2pm.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 6:51 pm. Add a comment
QuanJuDe in Beijing China is the most famous Peking Duck restaurant in the world. Is it worth the hype? Watch the video to see!
One of the main branches of Quan Ju De on WangFuJing. The restaurant is massive: five stories of roast duck goodness. It’s tasty, but it’s definitely not cheap. The single duck, plus side items for 2 people worked out to be 299 CNY. Or about 45 USD. Definitely a cool experience to go if you’re in Beijing. And a place you can eat that you won’t worry about getting sick .
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 10:26 pm. Add a comment
The Giant Ferris Wheel in the Palette Town shopping Center in Odaiba, Tokyo Japan was the world’s tallest ferris wheel when it was built in 1999. Standing at 340 feet tall, it was surpassed by the London Eye in 2000. In this video I take a ride on the Ferris Wheel. Check out the video:
This unique thing about this ferris wheel is that it has 4 “clear” gondolas. The entire gondola is made of clear plastic, so passengers can see straight down below the feet. I really cool experience, provided you aren’t afraid of heights. The ride takes 16 minutes, and costs 900 yen.
Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 9:05 pm. Add a comment
I think this post somehow disappeared when I was upgrading to the latest version of wordpress, so here goes again.
I’ve re-encoded a group of my older videos for web viewing, the first of which is a trip that the wifey (or then pre-wifey) and I took to Japan in 2005. We visited Osaka, Kyoto, Hakone, and Tokyo.
Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium in the Namjatown is a portion of the theme park dedicated to Gyoza (potstickers) from all around Japan. Namjatown is in the Sunshine City shopping center in Tokyo, and is well worth a visit for the gyoza lover! In this video I visit Gyoza Stadium, and sample a few different gyoza stands. Which gyoza is out the best? Watch the video to find out!
15 minute walk from Ikebukuro Station
Hours: Daily 10:00 to 22:00 (entry until 21:00)
Admission: 300 yen (Namjatown)
Located inside the Namjatown in the Ikebukuro Sunshine City complex, the Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium features various gyoza dishes by famous restaurants from across Japan. The theme is Tokyo of the 1950s.
Posted 1 year, 6 months ago at 9:07 pm. Add a comment
Yamadera, literally “Mountain Temple”, is a temple in Yamagata Japan that requires climbing a staircase of over 1100 steps to reach the top! Checkout the video to see the climb, and the Ryūshaku-ji Temple (立石寺) at the top!
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 6:29 pm. Add a comment
In the city of Utsunomiya in Japan, they are crazy about gyoza! Inside and outside the train station are many restaurants that specialize in gyoza (potstickers). There’s even a gyoza statue! This video highlights “gyoza street” inside the train station, and two of the restaurants outside of the station.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 7:19 pm. Add a comment
The Miharu Takizakura (三春瀧桜) in Japan is a cherry blossom tree that is estimated to be over 1,000 years old. Perhaps even 1500 years old. It’s an amazing sight, with an equally amazing amount of tourists who come to see it. This is truly a sight to be seen! Considered one of the three best cherry trees in Japan! It is located near Fukushima in Japan… a couple hours from Tokyo.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 7:39 pm. Add a comment
Matsushima (松島) is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (shima) covered in pines (matsu) – and is ranked as one of the Three Views of Japan. This video shows the views from the boat tour of Matsushima Bay, and also highlights three of the Islands that are accessible on foot. Matsushima is accessible via a 20 minute train ride from Sendai.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago at 3:00 pm. Add a comment
In April, Tanya and I went to Japan to check out the Cherry Blossoms. One of our first stops was the Shiogama Shrine 鹽竈神社 . Shiogama (塩釜) is located about 20 minutes via train from Sendai in the Miyagi Prefecture– and about 2 hours from Tokyo. We visited during April, which is Cherry Blossom season. We also had a tasty snack of odongo at the shrine which were some chewy rice cake things seasoned with red bean, soy sauce, and sesame.
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 2:09 pm. Add a comment
The Meiji Shrine is right next to the Harajuku station in Tokyo Japan. The Meiji Shrine is quite an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, and has over 100,000 trees on the shrine grounds.
Posted 1 year, 10 months ago at 6:42 pm. Add a comment
Yokosuka is a Navy town in Japan about 45 miles south of Tokyo. Yokosuka is home to both Japanese and US Navy bases. But I think Yoskosuka is most famous for “The Honch” — or the pedestrian street full of bars .
Posted 1 year, 10 months ago at 4:01 pm. Add a comment
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