Hagi, the Calm Before Meiji
An old castle town on the Sea of Japan: empty lanes, white walls, and citrus in the samurai gardens, in the place where Japan tipped into the Meiji era.
Alone at Dōgo Onsen: The Empty Bathhouse
One of Japan's oldest baths, in Matsuyama, with its Spirited Away looks. I got to stand inside the Dōgo Onsen Honkan alone during COVID, photographing a bath with no bathers.
Off the map
The Stuck Toyota Land Cruiser
Along an abandoned road in the Boso Peninsula mountains, a rare Toyota Land Cruiser Cygnus rests in silence — a true haikyo-car slowly reclaimed by the forest.
Behind the Bars of Nara Prison
Red brick, star-shaped wings, tiny cells and a future luxury hotel: at Nara, confinement simply changed its clientele. A visit to the empty prison before its next life.
Easy walk
Fukiware Falls: The Echoes of Water
Tucked in Gunma's countryside, the "Niagara of Japan." A powerful story of water carving rock, with local snake legends to discover.
Ogijima, the Crooked Island
Ogijima, a tiny Seto Inland Sea island off Takamatsu: a steep village clinging to the slope, sovereign cats, Setouchi Triennale art and an 1895 granite lighthouse.
Shōrinzan Daruma: The Market and the Flames
Every 6–7 January, Shōrinzan Daruma-ji in Takasaki holds its great daruma market — before returning the past year's wishes to the flames in the otakiage fire.
Comiket: A Day at the World’s Biggest Manga Fair
Comiket is the world's largest doujinshi fair: half a million fans, twice a year, at Tokyo Big Sight. What it is, the next dates, and how to actually go.
Megijima: The Demons Have Retired
Megijima, the oni island of the Seto Inland Sea: a beach, an ageing village, stone walls and a startling retro American cinema, 20 minutes by ferry from Takamatsu.
