Get your hands dirty!  Well, maybe not dirty but get some paint on them and learn about Japanese traditional crafts by making some yourself in the historic city of Kyoto. You will walk away with a better understanding and appreciation for the art forms than you will get from any museum – and you’ll have […]

Planning a trip to Japan or even travel within Japan is an exciting proposition that can easily get thrown into disarray once you are on the ground.  One of the most common questions that we are asked in the Japan Discovered! weekly tweetchat goes something like this:  “I have X days in Japan, can I […]

The beauty and tranquility of a well designed karesansui or dry garden is often spoken of but seldom experienced.  Take some time to visit one in person or simply meditate for a moment upon the images below from some of Japan’s most famous Zen gardens. Banryutei Rock Garden Image Credit: Flickr, Zen garden / Koya […]

Since the latter half of the 1980s, Japanese manga and animation have been increasing popular around the world.  More and more works are translated into other languages, manga is used in advertising materials and in the creation of public relations campaigns and has even made it’s way into Japanese textbooks.  Manga is even being used […]

Kyoto and Nara are two spots in Japan that you won’t want to miss if you love history and culture.  Kyoto, located in the Kansai region was Japan’s capital city for over a thousand years until it was move to Tokyo in 1868.  Nara was the capital prior to Kyoto, in the 7th century, and […]

A Visit Japan campaign was launched by the Japanese government with the establishment of the Japan Tourism Agency in October of this year.  The Visit Japan campaign is aiming to increase the number of annual visitors to from the 6 million that came in 2007 to 10 million by 2010 .  So where do most […]