2026年– date –

Just steps away from Matsushima Bay’s famous pine-dotted islands lies one of Japan’s most magnificent Zen temples — a place so awe-inspiring that even the great haiku poet Matsuo Basho fell silent upon arriving. Zuiganji Temp...

There is a railway in Akita Prefecture that almost no foreign tourist has ever heard of, and that is precisely what makes it extraordinary. The Akita Nairiku Jukan Railway (秋田内陸縦貫鉄道) winds 94 kilometers (58 miles) through the ver...

Imagine sitting on a wooden bench beside a rushing mountain river, watching a basket whiz across a rope overhead and land at your feet — inside, freshly made dango and a cup of green tea, delivered from a shop on the opposite cliff by a ...

Japan’s craft beer revolution began quietly in 1994, when the government slashed the minimum annual production requirement for beer licenses from 2 million liters to just 60,000 — unleashing an explosion of small-batch, artisan bre...

Imagine arriving at a harbor where the smell of the ocean mingles with the aroma of soy-simmered seafood, where fishing boats line up like a colorful fleet from another era, and where every meal feels like a celebration of the sea. That&...

Somewhere in the mountains of Yamagata Prefecture, skiers are gliding down freshly carved powder turns as wildflowers bloom on the ridgelines above them — and it’s the middle of July. This isn’t a hallucination, and it’...

Imagine a small, gently chugging diesel train winding through emerald valleys and across soaring river bridges, while tendrils of morning mist curl up from the glassy surface of the Tadami River below. This isn’t a scene from a dre...

Picture a city where the post boxes are shaped like giant shogi pieces, where every taxi driver can explain the difference between a bishop and a rook, and where once a year hundreds of people dressed in full samurai costume play out a l...

Imagine sitting down to a plate of perfectly charcoal-grilled beef tongue, paper-thin slices sizzling and fragrant, served alongside a rich oxtail soup and a bowl of nutty barley rice. This is gyutan — Sendai’s most beloved culinar...

You’ve taken the shinkansen to Sendai, you’ve done Matsushima, maybe you’ve browsed the beef tongue restaurants along Kokubuncho Street — and now you’re wondering what else Miyagi Prefecture has to offer that isn&...