Friday, Aug. 1, 2008

The symmetrical beauty of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, the meditative colossus of Kotokuin, and the Zen-inspired splendors of Kenchoji and Enkakuji may win Kamakura inscription on the World Heritage List. Comparatively unknown are its Western-style buildings constructed after Kamakura became accessible from Tokyo by rail in about an hour in 1889. Those meriting preservation receive the designation "Scenically Important Structures."

Friday, July 25, 2008

Tourist hordes descend upon Kyoto's geisha districts, and while some visitors catch a glimpse of a maiko (apprentice geisha, who are known as geiko in Kyoto dialect) hurrying to an elite restaurant, very few will ever meet one for private entertainment. Even Kyoto residents will commiserate, repeating the phrase often heard in the city's exclusive restaurants: "Ichigen-san, okotowari" — "New customer, no admittance."

Friday, July 18, 2008

There are lots of yureizaka (phantom slopes) in Tokyo, and at least seven of them have been spooking lily-livered pedestrians since the Edo Period (1603-1867).

Friday, July 11, 2008

Ahhhh! — that's the sound an overheated urbanite makes after cooling off in midsummer at Japan's finest whitewater rafting location, Tokushima Prefecture's Yoshino River. Its two gorges, the Oboke and Koboke, draw day-tripping beginners as well as more experienced enthusiasts...

Friday, July 4, 2008

Like white-water rafting without the raft, canyoning offers you the chance to spend your holidays neck-deep in water, plunging down waterfalls and navigating whirlpools.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Ask any question you want in Langkawi and you will get a friendly response. But you may not get an answer. Take the following exchange I had with a musician who was leaving the Beach Garden restaurant as I was strolling in there in search of a late supper on my first night in the hot spot of Pantai Cenang:

Friday, June 27, 2008

Whenever I travel to Tokyo I make it a point to spend at least a good part of one day on a visit to Shibamata in Katsushika Ward. This lovely neighborhood tucked away in the remote northeastern corner of the city on the banks of the Edogawa River still retains some of the flavor of the Edo Period (1603-1867).

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Thursday night in Swansea and it's a full house. Outside, it's the kind of night that Dylan Thomas would have described as "starless and Bible black." Inside, text-messaging teenagers and polite pensioners count the seconds to the interval and the ritual stampede for ice-cream as the Swansea Little Theatre Company trots through another performance of Thomas' signature work, "Under Milk Wood." They stage the play here each year for the annual Dylan Thomas Festival and pack out the tiny waterfront theater — Thomas himself trod the boards for the company in the early 1930s.