Explaining Northern Japan to Rwandans. Hachimantai city in Iwate prefecture is located in the Tohoku region of Northern Japan. It’s a Host Town for Olympic athletes from Rwanda. In this video I explain what it’s like there in the winter.

Tambayaki, or Tamba ware, is an 800 year old tradition that is still carried on today by about 60 kilns located around the Tachikui district. What is often the case when hearing about these kinds of traditional practices, is that you find out it’s a dying craft. So it’s encouraging to hear that this group of potters have not only been able to keep the craft alive generation after generation, but they are still thriving to this day.

What a Japanese Castle Town is Like Nowadays. I traveled to Tamba-sasayama, a town about an hour’s train ride away from Kyoto and Osaka, to visit a place that some call ‘Small-Kyoto’. I check out what it’s like around the local castle, Sasayama Castle, as well as the surrounding areas for samurai, peasants, merchants and artisans.

Fashion Rules for Japanese Women. What clothes to wear? You need special clothes for school, work, graduation, job hunting (recruit suits), and all sorts of everyday and special occasions in Japan. I interview four ladies who are recent university graduates to talk about the “rules” for keeping up appearances.

Ok, ok, I made up the name “Emergency Ramen”. What I was meaning to say, was that this was ramen we were only able to get because of the 2nd State of Emergency in Tokyo this January 2021.

As is tradition, I traveled through Tokyo, this time by boat. Because my Tokyo by Train and Tokyo by Bike videos were all day affairs, I wanted to have a longer trip for this video. But as I was working on my it’s-coming-soon-I-promise documentary “Being Japanese”, I didn’t have time to do a bigger trip before winter rolled around. So while this isn’t an epic all day affair, I hope you can still enjoy the ride nonetheless.

In this video, I return to the smallest of Japan’s four main islands, Shikoku, and among many things go kayaking in the crystal clear Niyodo river, hiking in beautiful gorges, visit a famous shrine, and stay in a traditional mountain home.

In September of 2020 I went searching for wild & secret Japanese hot springs.

Many Japanese towns are losing population. This is what one Japanese town did with its abandoned schools.

For a long time I’ve been living under the assumption that Japanese thermoses (tumblers, travel mugs, insulated drink bottles, vacuum flasks… whatever you call them) are the best. To test out my convictions, I added to my already large collection of thermoses to test out a whole bunch of them.