If you’re looking for something completely different — something remote, wild, and unspoiled — look to the cluster of islands on Honshu’s west coast, the Oki Islands, and let Japan surprise you. There are four main islands — the biggest, called Dōgo (Okinoshima), and three Dōzen islands (Nishinoshima, Chiburijima, and Ama).

Some of the oldest merchants still have shops that trace back their history to hundred of years ago, and they are true artisans who take pride in producing one thing. Products range from traditional Japanese sweets to pickles.

The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, the Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, and the Peace Park were born out of the collective yearning to communicate what it’s like to live through a nuclear explosion so that hopefully, these horrific experience will never be repeated. Sakue Shimohira, who survived the bombing of Nagasaki, said, “I think the basic idea of peace is to have some understanding of others’ pain.” It is in this spirit that we started our journey at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

Tofu originated from China possibly from a kitchen mistake. Soybeans were probably dried, soaked, mashed then boiled into a thick soup.

I have often read that Japan is a culture in which things “become” (naru bunka) in contrast to the West which is a culture that “does” things (suru bunka). Nowhere is this more evident than in the art of kimono and the Japanese tea ceremony.

Every year, Hidaka City celebrates the joy and excitement of kite flying with its annual kite festival.