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travel (Page 106)

50 things that surprised our writer when visiting China 【RocketExperience】

After a week in China, one of our Japanese writers brought home a list of thoughts to share with us.

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We visit one of Japan’s stunning secret destinations: the “Road to Laputa” in Kumamoto

If you want to feel like you’ve stepped into an animated film from Studio Ghibli, “The Road to Laputa” in Kyushu is one place you won’t want to miss.

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20 mouth-watering reasons to check in early for your flight.

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Celebrating Bruce Lee’s 75th birthday with a Hong Kong pilgrimage

Had he not died at 32, this year would have been Bruce Lee’s 75th birthday. To honor the occasion we took a whirlwind pilgrimage through Hong Kong!

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Tokyo Skytree to light up as three traditional Japanese meals in honour of “Washoku Day”

Tokyo Skytree has a brilliant light display in store for four days only, and it’s designed to represent three of Japan’s signature dishes: tamago kake gohan (egg with rice), o-nabe (Japanese hot pot), and takikomi gohan (seasoned steamed rice).

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Star Wars X-wing fighter docks at Singapore airport, travelers encouraged to sit in its cockpit

If you ever thought you’d have to go to a galaxy far, far away to sit in the cockpit of a Star Wars X-wing fighter, you were wrong. All you have to do is go to Singapore.

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The new “Snow Turtle” train is slower than running, but at least you won’t get tired

Japan is famous for fast trains, but one new line crawls along at 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) per hour! Can the ultra-slow Snow Turtle save an endangered company?

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Volcanoes, castles and more: 10 of Japan’s best drone-shot videos to give you wanderlust【Video】

Drones have sort of exploded in our cultural conscious over the last few years, garnering both media and political attention. Like many other countries, the skies of Japan seem to be full of the whirring, buzzing devices, and while the government and society are still trying to figure out exactly how they feel about these all-seeing sky robots, YouTube is quickly filling up with gorgeous videos shot with drones!

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Japanese photographer brings out the beauty of airports and factories in gorgeous night images

After the sun sets in Japan, new landscapes emerge, with twinkling lights on land and at sea creating night scenes so stunning a “night view summit” is held every year to rank the best sights around the country.

While cityscapes continually take the top spots year after year, there’s one talented photographer who’s drawing our attention away from the twinkling lights of the city and towards two surprising new locations: factories and airports. While the places might seem ordinary, the images are the most stunning we’ve ever seen.

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Travel around Japan with stunning videos from the 4K ultra HD video library

There are many beautiful videos of Japan floating around on YouTube, but there’s one special channel that’s aiming to stand head and shoulders above the rest. Called TokyoStreetView – Japan The Beautiful, this is an ongoing project that’s working towards compiling a library of high definition 4K videos, showcasing unique aspects of Japanese culture and featuring beautiful locations all around the country.

We take a look at four of their stunning videos, filmed within the nation’s capital, at Akihabara and the famous Senso-ji temple in Asakusa, and in its more picturesque regional areas, at Nikko and Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture. The superb, high quality of the images is so remarkable, you’ll feel as if you’re seeing the country not through a lens but through your very own eyes!

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Farting sheep set plane’s alarm bells ringing during flight to Malaysia

We all have different ways of getting through long flights, like settling down for some inflight entertainment, reading a good book, or possibly trolling fellow passengers. But one thing everyone tries not to think about is what might happen if the plane were to suddenly experience an emergency while thousands of feet up in the air.

For one unlucky group of passengers last month, they experienced just that, and for what might be the strangest reason we’ve heard yet: some very gassy sheep.

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10 things one Japanese expat is always sure to stock up on when returning to Japan

Any expat, exchange student, or anybody who has otherwise spent a long period of time abroad will tell you that, while the local food is exciting and fun and delicious for a while, eventually you’ll start to experience intense urges for the comfort foods and products of your native land. For some, these urges may be occasional, mild pangs, but for many, the urges are so strong they can’t resist stocking up on boxes and boxes full of their favorite items from home every time they head back.

Recently, a Japanese female expat who has been living in America for years introduced our sister site to the top 10 items that she likes to stock up on when she visits Japan:

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Sea to summit: Expat hikers trek from the Japanese coast to the peak of Mt. Fuji in awesome video

Tell someone you climbed Mt. Fuji, and they’ll ask “Where did you start from?”, because there are paved roads that can drop as much as half-way up the mountain. Of course some say you haven’t climbed Fuji unless you started from its base, but even that wasn’t enough of a challenge for these three foreign outdoorsmen, who decided to start their hike from miles away from Fuji at the seashore, then journey from Japan’s lowest point to its highest, making this awesome video along the way.

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We bunk up in “bookstore hotel” Book and Bed Tokyo on opening night

Ever since we heard about the opening of a bookstore-themed hotel with sleeping quarters built into its wooden bookshelves, we’ve been keeping a close eye out for updates, and were actually lucky enough to snap up a reservation to stay at the hotel on opening night!

After emerging from the beautiful space this morning, we can happily say it’s one of the most atmospheric places to stay in Tokyo. Actually, we wouldn’t mind shacking up here permanently! Come with us as we take you through all the gorgeous features and unusual details after the break.

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Old-school vending machine on Japan’s Sado Island sells bags of rare and local fruit

One of the many things we love about Japan is its impressive variety of vending machines. We’ve seen everything from orange juice that looks like soy sauce to cans of hot, clam-packed miso soup make its way to the hands of customers through the wonders of mechanised distribution.

Recently, we stumbled on a machine we’d never seen before, and one that’s unique even by Japanese standards. Meet the persimmon vending box that delights customers on Sado Island with a rare variety of fruit that’s only grown locally, away from mainland Japan.

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We track down the stunning Ghibli-like waterfall made famous online — just outside Tokyo!【Pics】

There are many well-known areas of beauty all around Japan, but sometimes you stumble upon something off the beaten path that simply takes your breath away.

That’s what happened to one person in Japan, who came across a waterfall in a tunnel of sunlight, filled with the same muted hues as a scene from a fantastical animated movie. Upon sharing the atmospheric photograph above on Instagram it received thousands of likes, with people all over the country eager to learn where the secret waterfall was hidden.

It might look like something from the foggy mists of a far-flung island many miles from Tokyo, but the beautiful scene is actually located just a short one-hour drive from the bustling metropolis. We decided to make our way there, and we’ve marked out the route so you can visit it too!

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Japanese netizen travels Japan, takes photos of the country’s many (many) awesome cats【Pics】

Though it may not seem like it, Japan is actually a fairly sizable country, with a lot of ground for sightseers to cover. It’s so big, in fact, we imagine it’d be difficult to a regular tourist to see all of it.

But what if you grew up in Japan and spent all your free time traveling around the country? Well, in that case, we bet you’d get to see a whole lot more of it, and for one Japanese Internet user, that exactly describes their life—but with one very cool addition. It turns out this anonymous traveler loves to take photos of cats at their various destinations.

Check out the awesome and adorable photo album below!

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Temples, views and whiskey — TripAdvisor releases its Top 20 “Free Attractions in Japan” in 2015

Aren’t the words “free entry,” “costs nothing,” and “0 yen” exciting to hear? I think we can all agree that there’s nothing better than a good deal, especially when that deal happens to be completely, 100% free.

While attractions marked as free may set warning bells ringing for some people, Japan has plenty of high-quality, worthwhile places to visit that are such a blast, you actually wouldn’t mind paying money for admission—except that they really do cost absolutely nothing to enter!

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The cutest, must-have bento lunchboxes you can buy and eat on the train

Japanese often say that a good view makes a meal taste better, so it goes without saying that a cute-looking lunchbox would also enhance the contents inside. From meals served in Shinkansen-shaped containers or rabbit-faced boxes that can be reused as coin banks, to lunch boxes that play music or have collector’s items hidden inside, Japan’s ekiben take Japanese food to a whole new level.

Today we’d like to tell you about “Ekiben”, a little book by Aki Tomura which introduces the best and most unique train station lunch boxes in Japan. We’ve chosen just a few to highlight from this gorgeously photographed, pocket-size book. The word Ekiben is a combination of two Japanese words: eki (station) and bento (lunchbox), so make your next train trip a gourmet ride with these bento available at various JR stations—just waiting for you to buy, smile, and devour.

Let the fun begin!

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Love Japanese hot springs? At Nakadake Onsen in Hokkaido, you can dig your own!

Two of the best ways to experience the pleasures of rural Japan are a long hike and a leisurely dip in a hot spring, or onsen, as they’re called in Japanese. With the country’s chains of volcanic mountains, there are plenty of spots where you where you can do both in the same day, with onsen resorts often not too far from where mountain trails start or end.

But instead of booking a room in an inn with a hot spring, you can do something even better in this part of Hokkaido by digging your own onsen!

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