Destination: Japan
Traveler’s Literary Companion Series Adds Titles on Mexico and Japan
by Frank Bures | 06.06.06 | 12:32 PM ET
When asked how he prepares to travel to a country, Ryszard Kapuscinski said he reads the literature. Of course, not all of us have time to read an entire canon before every journey. Fortunately, Whereabouts Press has made sampling literature from some countries much easier with its Traveler’s Literary Companion series. Building on the strength of previous editions on Italy, Cuba, Vietnam and other places, the publisher has just added collections on Mexico and Japan. While the guides aren’t comprehensive (Haruki Murakami is notably absent from “Japan,” for example) they do offer a good way to get a feel for a place. They’re also a fine introduction to these countries’ writers, from greats like Carlos Fuentes and Kawabata Yasunari, to lesser known authors like Hino Keizo and Bruno Estanol.
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Yahoo! BuzzInside Japan’s “Healing Industry”
by Michael Yessis | 06.06.06 | 12:40 AM ET
Anthony Faiola has an interesting piece in today’s Washington Post about the rise of Japan’s “healing industry,” one of the country’s fastest growing economic segments. “Luxury day spas and high-end massage clinics have grown 11-fold over the past four years into a $1 billion business, according to Yumiko Arimoto, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ,” he writes. “The spas offer treatments such as aromatherapy and Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massages, some costing $300 or more per hour.” It’s a little bit California, Faiola writes, and a whole lot Japan.
No. 3: “The Great Railway Bazaar” by Paul Theroux
by Terry Ward | 05.29.06 | 12:58 PM ET
To mark our five-year anniversary, we’re counting down the top 30 travel books of all time, adding a new title each day this month.
Published: 1975
Territory covered: India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and Japan
Chick Lit Around the World
by Michael Yessis | 03.22.06 | 10:30 AM ET
Rachel Donadio has a great piece in the New York Times Sunday Book Review this week chronicling the popularity of the oft-derided genre known as chick lit in countries around the world. It’s taken hold in India and throughout Eastern Europe. In Scandinavia, it’s marked by a “certain existential angst.” In Indonesia, it has inspired a related genre known as “fragrant literature.”
The Life of a Billionaire Traveler
by Michael Yessis | 03.15.06 | 12:23 PM ET
Oslo, Tokyo and the other places that topped the recent list of most expensive cities list hardly make a dent in the budgets of these private-jet flying, American Express Centurion card-wielding, $25 room service hamburger-ordering travelers. Forbes has an inside look at what it’s like to travel like a billionaire.
Remembering “Japanland” and Other Books
by Jim Benning | 03.13.06 | 9:30 AM ET
The New York Public Library’s list of 25 Books to Remember from 2005 included “Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa,” which we reviewed and also made our 2005 list. Also making the library’s list was “Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger.”
Hokusai Exhibition Generates Wave of Enthusiasm
by Jim Benning | 03.12.06 | 4:20 PM ET
An exhibition of the work of Japanese woodblock print artist Hokusai attracted more than 9,000 visitors a day in Tokyo last year, the highest numbers for any museum exhibition since The Art Newspaper began tracking such data a decade ago, the paper reports. A Los Angeles Times article on the high visitor counts—which careful readers will observe carries a far inferior pun-headline to our own; “Hokusai Makes a Big Splash”? Please—points out that Hokusai fans in the U.S. can see some of his works at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., until May 14.
Cruising: A “Kiss of Death” for Japanese Marriages?
by Michael Yessis | 02.23.06 | 12:51 PM ET
The divorce rate is on the rise in Japan, and some marriage counselors say long-term travel by recent retirees is part of the cause. According to a Reuters story, here’s the logic: Japanese men devote long hours to their jobs, essentially living apart from their families. When these “salarymen” retire they take celebratory cruises with their spouses, where, with a lot of time on their hands in a confined space, they find they barely know each other. Divorce ensues. Marriage counselors are calling the phenomenon “retired husband syndrome” and are prescribing day trips as a treatment.
Oslo Tops List of World’s Most Expensive Cities
by Michael Yessis | 02.01.06 | 10:59 AM ET
Norway’s capital unseated Tokyo, Japan, which had been number one on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s biannual survey for 14 years. Reykjavik, Iceland ranked third on the list, with Osaka, Japan and Paris, France rounding out the top five. The AP has a report on the survey.
Photo by Sarah Schmelling.
106-Year-Olds Set to Travel
by Michael Yessis | 01.04.06 | 1:39 AM ET
Kudos to the three Japanese travelers who are proving that you’re never too old to go somewhere. According to Thanh Nien News, the trio from Okinawa Island will embark on a four-day trip to Vietnam beginning this Sunday.
Memoir of a Passing Geisha
by Jim Benning | 12.09.05 | 1:14 PM ET
In honor of the release of Memoirs of a Geisha in theaters, I thought I’d post a photo I took of a geisha-in-training one chilly December afternoon in Kyoto several years ago. I was strolling down the street a couple of blocks from the teahouses of Gion when I spotted her walking toward me, taking practiced, demure steps.
Geisha sightings were rare during my monthlong stay in the city, so I reflexively reached for my camera and snapped a photo, pretending to capture the busy street beyond. Only later, when I developed the film, did I see that she flashed a subtle grin the moment I took the shot. Perhaps she was on to my trick, or simply amused by the excited gaijin with the camera.
“Japanland” Author Karin Muller’s Top Travel Books
by Jim Benning | 11.22.05 | 11:56 PM ET
We often publish lists of writers’ favorite travel books when we interview them or review one of their books. So when Terry Ward reviewed Karin Muller’s “Japanland” recently, she tried to track down Muller to get her picks. Muller was out of reach, though, and we published the review without them. Then yesterday, Ward received an e-mail from Muller: “I’m so sorry for having been out of touch all these weeks….I know that in our modern age it’s hard to find a place that can’t get email, but the Mekong river in Cambodia apparently qualifies.” Apparently so. Of course, that sounded like a perfect excuse to us. Muller graciously included her three favorite books, and now her list, along with brief explanations, can be found with Ward’s review.
Japan Unmasked
by Terry Ward | 11.07.05 | 7:47 AM ET
Karin Muller's "Japanland: A Year in Search of Wa" chronicles the author's time in the Land of the Rising Sun. Terry Ward writes that it offers insight into the famously closed culture -- and a dose of humor.
The Endless Road Trip
by Michael Yessis | 07.28.05 | 11:40 PM ET
It’s not easy being a member of the Samurai Bears. The Golden Baseball League team, which consists solely of Japanese players and has no home field, is in the midst of a 90-game, 96-day road trip around the American southwest. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing it,” pitcher Takaaki Igarashi said through an interpreter during a postgame interview with Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. “It’s not that it’s really hard. I just get sick of eating hamburgers all the time.” Bolch caught up with the Bears during a recent stop in Southern California, and he chronicles a journey “fraught with comical misadventures and lost-in-translation moments.”
I’m Going to Teach English in Japan, but I’ve Never Been to Asia. Any Tips?
by Rolf Potts | 07.15.05 | 3:06 PM ET
Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel