My last step on Asian soil was at Tokyo’s Narita Airport. The week before I headed home, I was soaking up as much as I could of the Japanese culture, history, sake, and food. It wasn’t long into the wide-eyed lostness of trying to find my hostel that I noticed a grumble in my belly and [...]

This short video of the world’s second largest aquarium in the world — Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan (the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is the record holder, for now, until this beast in Dubai opens next year) — is strangely hypnotic given that it’s a single-shot of a bunch of [...]

Not long ago I wandered wide-eyed through the glory that is Kyoto. The ultra-modern Kyoto station gives way to an incomprehensible density of temples and shrines. It makes it feel like the steel and concrete city fell away, as if it never sprouted in the first place. Kyoto, I learned, [...]

This BBC article actually made me tilt my head a little and sigh, “wow,” under my breath (that hasn’t happened in a while). A company has just announced the invention of a pair of glasses that, when paired with a microphone and translation software, will project real-time translations into your [...]

If there was one thing I could have changed about my recent trip to Japan, it would have to be the date. I say that only for the sole reason that it wasn’t sumo tournament season. The ancient form of wrestling holds tournaments at specific times of year; specifically, not while I’m there. [...]

By Jon Wick To see more shots of my recent adventures through Japan, Vietnam (and once I have some free time, Korea), please visit my Flickr photostream.

Japan’s reputation is true; it is expensive as you’ve heard. Matt pretty much nailed it with this post, but it doesn’t have to break the bank (but don’t expect a SE Asia kind of cheap). With my own trip now concluded, I thought I’d share some first-hand knowledge I’ve learned [...]

I’ve never been to Norway, until that happens, I won’t know what it’s like to visit the place of your ancestry. For the last couple days, this question has been spinning through my mind as I took my little Sony camera through the streets of Tokyo. Not quite the futuristic, [...]

The first day or two of any trip to a new country, you really just spend some time getting your bearings. Here in Japan . . . not gonna happen. There’s just too much to do, too much to see, and so little time. With rumors of a typhoon still [...]

As I wrap up my time in Asia, I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to squeeze in a trip to one of the most idyllic of Asian destinations out there: Japan. A few hostel reservations have finally been made between my scouring of the guidebook, forums, and posts here. With [...]