I first heard of the Miracle Fruit Cafe while watching the technology show Beyond Tomorrow. One of the hosts, Hayden Turner, visited the cafe during an episode in Japan.

First off, what is a miracle fruit anyway? The “miracle fruit” is actually a berry that when chewed before eating makes sour foods taste sweet. Yes, [...]

The BBC presents a fun interactive guide to learning key Japanese phrases and etiquette. The guide is perfect for someone making their first visit to Japan – and not planning to stay.
You can try your hand at learning basic phrases though a quiz and then download the phrases as an MP3 to listen and practice [...]

Instead of salivating over the exquisite food featured on travel shows, get out your maps and start visiting the places yourself. We’re highlighting three shows on Japan that got our taste buds going.
Wonder if the restaurants really are as great as they look? Visit and let us know what you think.
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in [...]

Attention all you Japan lovers out there, help us find great travel information. After living in Japan for awhile, you’ve probably hit all the temples and museums recommended in the English-language travel guides. Then what? It’s time to start visiting the places the locals go, but where do they go? What’s the best beach? What’s [...]

If you often travel within Japan you probably know there are many hotels to choose from. The main types of accommodations include:

• Hotels/ホテル – A full service hotel, usually geared towards tourist
• Business Hotels/ビジネスホテル – A hotel with bare essentials in service for traveling business men, rooms are smaller. Business Hotels are similar to a Holiday Inn Express or a Comfort Inn, but rooms are smaller of course
• Love Hotels/ラブホテル – Themed hotel for two people of the opposite sex….hourly and nightly rates available

The Sumida-gawa cruise to Odaiba is great way to see many of Tokyo’s famous Shitamachi-area and bridges in a short amount of time. The journey starts by boarding a small ferryboat from Asakusa near the Asahi Beer Headquarters. Tickets run about ￥1,000 and the trip will take around 1.5hours one-way

A few years ago I took a train to Omiya station in Saitama to do some shopping. While walking through the concourse I came across an interesting poster for Gold’s Gym. As a native English speaker, it is only natural that it caught my eye.
Yoga Pirates, What the heck are those?
This is when I burst [...]