japan

Japan. A country so rich in culture. So delightfully strange, foreign. And yet, for me, oddly familiar. 

I’ve only been to Japan a handful of times, and for barely long enough to explore much each time. But somehow I feel so much more connected to it than I do other places that I’ve spent much more time in (ie: Croatia). 

Japan is like an endless treasure trove of different sights sounds and tastes. Perhaps my affinity to Japan is inherited from my own heritage. Taiwanese people love Japan. I struggle, sometimes, to understand this. After all, they were our colonizers. My own grandfather spoke Japanese more fluently than he did Mandarin. There’s a really complicated friendship between Taiwan and Japan, one that seems to fade away with the generations, but from a global, geopolitical perspective, feels ever more complex.

As a travel destination, though, it more than lives up to the hype. Tokyo’s energy is unique, something that the other great cities of the world don’t quite capture in the same way. It’s not more than any other city, just different in such an interesting way. Kyoto’s serenity is quite possibly unmatched. Japan is one of those places that takes in each traveler, making them feel at home, even for a moment, and yet, so foreign. It invites you in, and then before you know it you’re downloading Duolingo, booking your third trip to Japan and seriously wondering if you should move there. 

places

JP Guide | bread, espresso &
December 25, 2023
Japan Guide | Lorimer Kyoto
September 9, 2023
TW Guide | Chun Shui Tang 春水堂
February 20, 2023
Coffee Guide | Hoshino Coffee
April 18, 2022
Coffee Guide | % Arabica
February 7, 2022
Japan Guide | Menya Hanabi
November 15, 2021
Japan Guide | Tsutaya
October 18, 2021
TOKYO Guide | Nezu Museum
February 13, 2021
Coffee | Blue Bottle
December 10, 2020
Eat | Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐
October 5, 2020
TW Guide | Ice Monster
September 12, 2020
TW Guide | Sunny Hills 微熱山丘​
August 27, 2020
Tokyo Guide | Lattest
June 30, 2019
Tokyo Guide | Abura Soba
February 18, 2019
Tokyo Guide | Sato Yosuke
February 14, 2019
LA Guide | Alfred Tea Room
February 11, 2019
Tokyo Guide | crisscross & breadworks
January 7, 2019
TOKYO Guide | Asakusa Imahan
September 17, 2018

stories

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