English Not only beautiful in winter by day, the Ogimachi village of Shirakawa-Go (Shirakawago), turns on the lights at night for a few days each January, to become a life-size Light Sculpture. Magical? In pictures the answer is most definitely yes, but in real life the place is crowded with so many tourists, it resembles […]

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English Declared a UNESCO world heritage site since 1995, Shirakawa-Go (Shirakawago) is one of the hottest Japanese tourist spots that is hard to miss. Located in the remote mountains of Gifu prefecture, Shirakawa-Go is famous for its traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses with some as old as 250 years. Shirakawa-Go’s most famous village, and the one featured […]

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English The Gateway to Mt Nantai, is how you could sum-up the Futarasan Chugushi Shrine. More modest that most of Nikko’s temples, the Futarasan Chugushi Shrine is in fact two places in one. The first, Chugushi Shrine, is located on the shores of the Chuzenji-ko with the Futarasan Shrine located on top of Mt Nantai […]

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English A few weeks ago we uploaded a small video of Lake Yuno-ko during a strong snow storm or blizzard (take your pick) which prevented us to take the time to shoot a nice video of the place, its bridge and its waterfall… So we decided to wait for better weather conditions in order to […]

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English Nikko is one of Tochigi prefecture most famous places, known for its huge cultural history, temples, waterfalls and scenery. Among Nikko’s wonders both the lake Yuno-ko and the Senjogahara Marshland are a ‘must-see’ all year long. A good friend of mine (http://blog.benoa.net/) who also happens to be a professional photographer decided to make the […]

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English Jigokudani Yaen-koen, known for its many onsen (hot spring baths), is located in the Yokoyu valley of Nagano prefecture. Like the humans that come to bathe, there is a large population of Japanese Macaques (“snow monkeys”) that also bathe in the hot springs. First opened in 1964, Jigokudani Yaen-koen and more precisely Jigokudani Onsen […]

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English It seems that Tokyo comes with an endless list of parks to visit, and to be fair we have yet to finish covering them all. Among them you may stumble upon Rikugien, another gorgeous park close to Ikebukuro. What’s interesting here is that Rikugien is a beautiful garden to visit all year long, offering […]

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English Like Roppongi Hills, Tokyo Midtown is another very famous urban center that includes a residential section, business offices, a huge shopping mall, a luxury hotel and other leisure areas. Completed in 2007 Midtown is popular among Japanese for its park as well as its many seasonal activities including a beer festa, the Sakura Sparkle […]

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