Japan Travel in the Know– category –

If you wanna eat the best bread in Japan, you need to come to Hokkaido because it is the kingdom of the agricultural (wheat) and dairy (milk) industries in Japan. There are many well-known bakeries, and one of the major groups is bakeries opened by bakers breaking away from Maison Kayser.

I've been traveling around the world and staying in many hotels, though most of them were cheap ones. In my experience, Japanese budget hotels are best in cost performance.

In order to gain objective information about hometowns, what helps us is "travel YouTubers." As checking some videos by such YouTubers to introduce Hokkaido, I found very beautiful scenery only seen in autumn. The YouTuber introduced it as a magnificent view that we'll want to see before we die. It's the field of coral grass (the ones consisting of the red field in the first image).

What's the secret to successful fishing? I confess that my human ego prefers bait over the grace of fly fishing. This leads to the salmon homecoming—a majestic life-and-death spectacle in Hokkaido's rivers. I explore the profound ecology of the salmon, arguing that our wooden furniture is made from the ocean's nutrients. I conclude with the amusing human paradox: why you should savor the freshest Ikura (salmon roe) after witnessing the species' great sacrifice.

Last week, I went to Tokyo for business and found all the people in the subway train (in my view) just looked at their smartphones silently. I saw such a scene every day when I lived there, but I realized it was a weird and creepy view where people perfectly make the same posture with no expression on their faces.

Why was I, a former "movie snob," moved by the Science Behind PIXAR? Because CG animation perfectly fuses art and science. For example, PIXAR engineers added "shock absorbers" to virtual springs to naturally animate Merida's curly hair in Brave. Following this logic, we commissioned world-famous architect Sou Fujimoto to design a virtual Hokkaido Rock House (he said yes, probably because he's my high school senior). His design occupies the perfect, non-reproducible space between pure imagination and cold reality—the future of harmonious living.

Travel by train in Japan is safe, punctual in time, etc. There are many advantages, but in Hokkaido, the infrastructure may be gone in the not-so-distant future. Please come here to travel around by rail before that happens.

The small town is called as "a town of miracle." It has no rail line, major route, and water infrastructure in it. Japan is facing a declining population, which is most obvious in rural areas. Nevertheless, the population of the town has been on the increase for these 20 years, surprisingly.

Why is Soba, a grain historically associated with poverty, considered Japan's most elegant noodle—the ultimate first date material? I explore the Paradox of Elegance and the Pavlovian ritual of Shin-Soba (New Soba) season. I conclude with local pride, recommending OKADA, an exquisite Soba restaurant in our buckwheat heartland of Asahikawa—a Tangible Cultural Property where the historic garden view will enhance your appreciation of the elegant grain.

If you can only eat just one food, which would it be, ramen (noodle) or curry? I'm sure we all the Japanese people have asked and answered this stupid question at least once in our life. For your information, I'll take curry, definitely! Anyway, the point is ramen and curry are the top two popular foods in Japan. As I looked up the number of restaurants, ramen is about 24000; curry about 4700, respectively.