APT Blog

If you have already visited Japan you probably have seen a lot of Tokyo and Kyoto. But when the locals travel in Japan, they may go to the beach and swim and snorkel, eat great street food at [...]

Kamakura  The historic and exceptionally interesting town of Kamakura, a former capital of Japan, is one of our favorite spots. Less than 30 minutes from Yokohama and about an hour from Tokyo, it [...]

Yokohama is one of our favorite cities. It is the second largest city in Japan with 5 million residents and sits adjacent to Tokyo. In fact, without a map or signs you would be hard pressed to [...]

Sumo is one of our all-time favorite sporting pastimes, anywhere.  And not to be missed when you travel to Japan. We tell you why in a previous blog post and today we highlight a few of our [...]

I started this post a few months ago, watching the end of the 4th game of the Japan “Climax” Baseball series on TV, after having watched a one-sided first World Series game earlier in the day. [...]

The absolute dog days of summer in Japan (mid-August) are marked by Obon. Obon (お盆) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one’s ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved [...]

The Nakasendo Trail – one of the five main roads (Gokaido) of the Edo (Shogun) period. This exceptionally well preserved trail of post towns deep in the heart of Japans’ alps is an exceptional [...]

Japanese Fireworks Festivals Hanabi (花火) (fireworks), not to be confused with Hanami (cherry blossom viewing), are truly exceptional and a staple of Japan’s summer festival season. In Japan [...]

In an earlier blog post “Introduction to Sake: 3 Steps to Drinking“, we offered some practical advice on choosing a great sake to drink. Today we talk more generally about a great [...]

The first or second week of June typically marks the start of what is termed the rainy season in Japan, which usually lasts 5-6 weeks. For those visiting Japan in June, the temperatures are very [...]