Gakuranman.com – illuminating Japan

The final day in my trip was a pretty relaxed one. I decided to head on over to Kaiyukan, the impressive aquarium at Osaka bay. I’ve been there once before some 3 years ago, but with my renewed interest in all things aquatic, a return visit would not go amiss!

Ahh, yappari. Manga cafes are too distracting. With all the free films, drinks, manga and ‘special’ photo books one can’t help but do everything other than sleep. So today, with a mere three hours under my belt I set out to meet fellow haikyoist Florian at 5.30am.

The day was already off to a bad start. I awoke feeling much more refreshed than usual in the manga cafe. Something was definitely off. Reaching for my phone, I checked the time: 7.30am. Bollocks… I’d overslept and missed my train to take me the river Oboke for rafting.

I was planning on going rafting in the wilderness of Oboke today, but I awoke in the manga cafe to the sound of heavy rain outside. I ‘borrowed’ one of the clear, plastic umbrellas left behind by other people at the exit and walked quickly to the station. The staff informed me the local trains [...]

Just a short update today. I think the heat has been getting to me, and the lack of sleep last night probably didn’t help either. I was up until the early hours searching in vain for a way to get down to Kashiwajima, an island South-West of Shikoku renouned for its scuba diving.

I awoke in a relaxed manner after a lazy night’s sleep with the early morning sun on my face. It looked as though it was going to be another beautiful day on Naoshima and I had plenty of quirky art left to see before catching my ferry over to the main island of Shikoku.

I was already on the train and leaving Kyoto at 8.30am after Ryosuke had dropped me off at the station. Today’s aim was Naoshima, the fabled ‘Island of Art’ on the Seto Inland Sea. What’s more, it seems that there is some sort of special art festival going on right now through to October – [...]

I must be crazy to take such a trip right in the middle of Japanese summer. The streets are empty in Tokyo and they’re talking about Gifu reaching the 1997 highs of 40 or so degrees Celsius. But it’s not the first time I’ve set out on a solitary trip in such stifling weather. I [...]

It was my first time visiting the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa. Rather than go to the main island with its legendary aquarium, we decided to head for a small little resort called Ishigakijima, renowned for its fantastic diving.

What’s your best kept secret about Japan? That was the question aimed at fellow J-bloggers for this month’s Japansoc Blog Matsuri. Quite a tricky topic, especially for those who don’t actually live in Japan, but nevertheless, we had 10 awesome entries letting us in on some lesser known parts of Japan.

Here’s a video-photo slideshow of my trip to Yakushima (屋久島), the green island in southern Japan, famed for its ancient cedar trees (yakusugi) and captivating forests. I went there for a 3-day trip with a couple of Japanese friends late summer 2008.

Finally, at long last! I made it to the green island of Yakushima, tucked snugly away below Kyushu in the South of Japan. It’s a chunk of land covered mostly in sugi (cedar) trees, and awesomely huge ones at that, with sage-old weathered limbs gnarled and warped bearing thickets of leaves, all the way up [...]