Zooming Japan

• Why the Himeji Yukata Festival is Certainly Worth a Visit 4 years ago When you hear “Himeji” you probably think of the beautiful “Himeji Castle” which is certainly what Himeji is most famous for. However, there are a lot of other things to discover and enjoy! One of them is the annual “Himeji Yukata Festival” (姫路ゆかたまつり) that takes place...
• 6 Things You Can Do If Your Japan Trip was Cancelled due to Covid-19 4 years ago Your Japan trip was cancelled due to Covid-19 and now you’re not sure what to do? No doubt these are crazy times we’re living in. I’ve already had my share of emergency states and chaos when I lived in Japan, e.g. when the triple disaster hit us in March 2011. Back then it was mostly...
• The Remaining 12 Original Japanese Castle Keeps 4 years ago It’s probably not a secret that I’m a HUGE fan of Japanese castles. At this point I’ve been to around 150 of them and there are even more waiting to be explored. With so many castles around, it’s sometimes hard to choose which ones to visit. It’s true that there are some pretty amazing...
• From Tokyo to Okayama (Sample Itinerary for 4 days) 5 years ago If you visit Japan for the first time, Tokyo is usually the place everybody wants to check out. And indeed there are many exciting things to discover in Tokyo – some of them will be introduced today. However, if you stick to the well-known “golden route” (Tokyo – Kyoto – Hiroshima)...
• Goodbye Zooming Japan: Hiatus notification 6 years ago Hello to anyone who’s still reading “Zooming Japan”. I know this blog has struggled with regular updates for the longest time now. And there’s a reason for that. I’ve been putting this off for quite some time now, but it needs to be done.   The original purpose of “Zooming Japan”...

This blog won the Bronze Award for best expat blog in Japan!