An alternative guide to Japan

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Darumayama Kōgen, Fuji Filling the Frame

At Darumayama Kōgen, on the Izu Peninsula, an old volcano offers two sunsets at once: Fuji across Suruga Bay on one side, the Sagami Sea on the other. A walk to the summit.

Urban Exploration

We slip through Japan’s forgotten corridors; silent rooftops, rusted tunnels, and cities paused in time.

@jordymeow

@jordymeow

This week in Japan

315 festivals and events, Nov 3 to Nov 9

Tue 3 Nov Event Now Gionza Village Kabuki Takamatsu (Kagawa-cho), Kagawa · until Nov 8 In the hills south of Takamatsu, villagers stage kabuki at a shrine theatre, keeping a farmers' tradition alive. Tue 3 Nov Matsuri Last day The giant catfish of Omura Shrine Iga (Ao), Mie At the shrine said to pin down the earthquake catfish, a giant catfish float parades with three mikoshi and lion dances. Tue 3 Nov Matsuri Last day Haya Hachiman autumn festival and yabusame Tanabe, Wakayama A mounted archer shoots three targets, then horses gallop the track to old grooms' songs in a farming valley. Tue 3 Nov Matsuri Last day Sumiyoshi Odori at Nagano Hachiman Tanabe, Wakayama Fifteen young men, a fan in one hand and bamboo in the other, sing and dance to thank the gods for the harvest. Tue 3 Nov Matsuri Last day Autumn festival of the ironmakers' shrine Yasugi (Hirose), Shimane The head shrine of Japan's iron gods thanks the goddess said to have taught tatara smelting to humans. Tue 3 Nov Event Last day Kosanji Tea Whisk Memorial Onomichi (Setoda), Hiroshima At Ikuchijima's gilded, eccentric temple, old bamboo tea whisks receive a proper Buddhist funeral. Tue 3 Nov Matsuri Last day Inukai Rural Stage Puppet Show Tokushima (Hata), Tokushima On a thatched village stage, dozens of painted fusuma panels slide past behind Awa puppets in a dazzling scene change. Tue 3 Nov Matsuri Last day Otsumi Kagura Kitakyushu (Moji), Fukuoka Sacred dances in a Moji hamlet, lost in the Meiji era, then relearned by villagers around 1921. Tue 3 Nov Art festival Last day Miyama Craft Week Hioki (Higashi-Ichiki), Kagoshima The Satsuma-ware potters village opens its kilns and studios for five days of crafts and shows. Tue 3 Nov Illumination Now Bonto Lamp Evenings at Torin-in Kyoto (Ukyo, Myoshinji), Kyoto · until Nov 8 Hundreds of small lamps trace patterns in the garden of a Myoshin-ji sub-temple.

+305 more festivals and shows this week All on the app’s map, day by day. iPhone Android

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Offbeat

Dates estimated from past years: check the official site before you go.

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