Blogs from Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, Asia

One of the absolute best things to do on the train, usually a longer distance on the Shinkansen, is to buy some food at the departing station. Not only is the food interesting and delicious, but it is also reasonably priced and quite varied. Here is a story about ekiben. From Culinary Backstreets: Any journey on the Shinkansen – Japan’s bullet train – is the perfect opportunity to enjoy an ekiben, the iconic bento filled with an assortment of delicacies tucked into a container and eaten in bite-size pieces. The term comes from the Japanese words for station (eki) combined with ben for bento (or “lunchbox”). These little jewel boxes are sold at concessions in train stations across the country and occasionally via pushcarts on trains. Different regions of Japan offer up varieties of local ingredients ... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! After some 20-25 hours or so spent on trains, planes and airports I finally arrived back in Tokyo, almost a full year after my last visit to Japan. This year's trip will be quite different from the previous years' though, because this entire trip will more or less be a long pilgrimage set in five different parts one after another. The first part of the pilgrimage, which will begin tomorrow, is to climb to the summit of Mount Fuji. My initial plan was to do this together with Takae, but unfortunately she can't take time away from her work on Monday. My back-up plan was for us to do a bullet-climb, starting in the morning and ending in the evening, but for that to work I would have needed to stay at ... read more

Hello my fellow travellers! I arrived back in Japan this afternoon after a long flight from Doha. I'm tired and jet-lagged, but happy, and even though the flight was a long one it was a good one because Qatar Airways holds a very high level of service. There was plenty of good entertainment on the flight and the crew brought me as much snacks and drinks as I could handle. They even served Japanese meals on the flight which I think was a really nice touch and a good way to get into the proper setting for a visit back to my favourite country. The flight also gave me a good opportunity to brush up on my Japanese as the man seated next to me didn't speak English and the stewardess that waited on our section ... read more