Japan

When planning a trip to Japan, odds are good you’re going to spend a fair bit of time in Tokyo.

As many consider Tokyo to be the largest city in the world by population (when including the metro area), it shouldn’t be a surprise that there is really a lot to do here. There is so much to see, in fact, that we could visit many times over and still not feel like we’re doing the city justice.

Naturally, with the population comes the urban sprawl, and Tokyo is simply massive from an area standpoint. As such, when it comes to planning where to stay in Tokyo, you really have a lot to consider as the options are nearly endless.

But one thing is certain- no matter what, staying near a subway station is a great idea. But even there, a few subway locations are better than others when it comes to getting around this massive city and is our guiding consideration when booking a hotel or apartment rental.

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During our travels around Japan, we wanted to get out and experience some days of nature in between visiting bustling cities.

The Shimanami Kaido trail caught our eye as it is one of the most popular cycling routes in Japan and connects several islands together over an approximately 70 kilometer route between Onomichi and Imabari (plus numerous side trails for those who want to explore each island in more depth).

As avid bikers, we knew we had to check out this route. So we booked our dates several weeks in advance, said a little prayer to whatever spirit controls the weather, and made our way to Onomichi to get ready to ride.

Thankfully, we got lucky with mostly great weather for our ride and only had to rush to Imabari quickly in the final legs of our ride before a larger storm came in. So in this one, we thought we’d share more about what you can see when biking from Onomichi to Imabari on the Shimanami Kaido, and give some tips we learned along the way to have a great time!

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When visiting Japan, odds are good you have soaking in the natural hot springs of an onsen on your must-do list.

But did you know there is a town with not one, not two, but seven onsens open for visitors to enjoy? And, perhaps important to many, are also tattoo-friendly? Enter Kinosaki Onsen, a beautiful mountain coast town in northern Japan that is just a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Kyoto.

While we have an entire article dedicated for how many days in Kinosaki Onsen (read: more is always the answer), in this one we thought we’d share a little bit about the seven onsen you can find in town- what they’re like, which ones we liked, and which ones we did not spend much time in at all.

Although all the onsen here are quite fun and you should check each out on a visit, a few were standout favorites.

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We decided to visit the aptly named Japanese onsen town, Kinosaki Onsen, halfway through our 16-day journey around Japan as we thought it’d be a welcomed escape after nine busy days in some of the country’s largest cities.

As expected, it was everything we hoped for and then some.

Between hopping around six of the seven tattoo-friendly onsens found in the town (the seventh was closed for construction during our visit), enjoying incredible food and drink, and checking out some of the other non-onsen sightseeing activities, we really wished we had stayed for more than two nights as we only really got a brief teaser of what this town has to offer!

So, in this one, we thought we’d share more about what there is to do in Kinosaki Onsen and nearby and why you may want to book more nights than you think here!

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