I’m crazy for pictures. You put a picture of a cheeseburger in the menu of a five-star restaurant and that’s what I’m ordering. Screw the caviar, unless there’s a picture, it’s losing out to the photo option. Apparently, my quirkiness also works for travel. In particular, I recently came across [...]

Just outside Shibuya Station is perhaps the world’s most famous crosswalk next to Abbey Road’s. Billed as the world’s busiest crosswalk, this mind-numbing stroll is only accentuated by the pulsating video projections overhead. Tokyo’s subway stations are crowded already, but throw in the prospect of a fireworks show, and you’ve [...]

There’s been some buzz lately here in New York about fake signs cropping up in the NYC subway system. Designed to look like official decrees from the MTA, these posters instruct riders to avoid doing those ever-so-annoying things you’d be surprised people actually do, and quite often I might add, [...]

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 [...]

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.

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, [...]

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 [...]

Self-confessed “ramenjunkie” and Culinary Institute grad (and later NYC chef) Ivan Orkin decided to give up his life in the high-end world of NYC dining and pursue his dream by starting up a 10-seater ramen shop named, appropriately enough, Ivan Ramen, in a Tokyo suburb, all for the love of [...]