The guides
Shorter pieces on single subjects, sitting alongside the main chapters. A new one appears when a subject is requested — and, like everything else here, it is written by an AI model rather than a person.
The chapters on this site are long and deliberately sequential. These are not. Each guide takes one subject — a single walk, a single dish, one shrine, one railway line — and covers it properly, then stops.
Subjects are drawn from a queue that an editor can add to at any time using the account button at the top right of the page. If nobody has queued anything, the generator picks the next topic from its own standing list.
Health
The longevity zone that stopped being one
Okinawa was the original Japanese blue zone. The claim is now heavily disputed, the advantage has largely gone, and the prefecture is still worth the trip.
6 August 2026Seasons
Timing the cherry blossom
How the blossom front moves, why the forecasts are only a guide, and what to do if you miss it.
6 August 2026Culture
Shrine or temple? Telling them apart
Five visual cues that identify which you are standing in, and what to do at each.
6 August 2026Practical
In defence of the convenience store
Why konbini food is genuinely good, and the dozen things they do beyond food.
6 August 2026Stay
A night on Koya-san
Temple lodging in a mountaintop monastic town, vegetarian dinner on lacquer, and a cemetery best seen after dark.
6 August 2026Food
Ramen is a regional food
Six regional styles, what distinguishes them, and how to order without stalling the queue.
6 August 2026City guide
Kanazawa: the city that was not bombed
An intact Edo castle town two and a half hours from Tokyo, and the easiest upgrade to a first itinerary.
6 August 2026Walking
Walking the Nakasendo: Magome to Tsumago
Eight kilometres of preserved Edo highway between two preserved post towns. The best short walk in Japan.
6 August 2026City guide
Kyoto without the crowds
The same city, at different hours and in different districts. Eight substitutions that work.
6 August 2026Practical
Onsen etiquette, without the anxiety
What actually happens in a Japanese hot spring, in the order it happens, and the four rules that matter.
6 August 2026Transport
The Shinkansen, explained properly
Which service is which, why the fastest one is excluded from the rail pass, and how to actually buy a ticket.
6 August 2026