Dosan Ahn Chang-ho Memorial Hall (생기념도산안창호선사업회), Seoul, South Korea

 

Ahn Chang-ho (안창호; 9 Nov 1878 – 10 Mar 1938), commonly known by his pen name Dosan (도산), was a prominent Korean independence activist and politician. Many consider Ahn Chang-ho to be one of the key moral and philosophical leaders of Korea during the 20th century. In the turmoil immediately before and during the Japanese occupation of Korea, he called for the moral and spiritual renewal of the Korean people through education as one of the important components in their struggle for independence and building a democratic society. Ahn also included economic and military components in his independence movement strategies. [1]

In Seoul, he is commemorated at a memorial hall in a park named after him, where he is interred with his wife. What is not so well known is his family's ties and connections to the United States. Please continue reading the rest of the article to find out more about my visit to his memorial hall and park on 26 Jan 2023, and to find out more about the Ahn family ties to the United States.

Dom Dom Hamburger Plus (ドムドムハンバーガーPLUS), Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

Dom Dom Hamburger is Japan's first home-grown hamburger chain. Established in 1970, the chain predates the introduction of McDonald’s to Japan and Mos Burger, another famous Japanese chain. [1] As Japan’s oldest hamburger chain, Dom Dom Burger opened a central Tokyo location in Ginza, one of Tokyo’s swankiest neighbourhoods. The Ginza burger restaurant has a ‘Plus’ tag added to its name to differentiate it from the brand’s regular stores. [2]

Dom Dom Hamburger Plus offers premium burgers made with 100 percent Japanese black wagyu beef. The burgers come with various seasonings and add-ons from wasabi and soy sauce, to bacon, egg, cheddar, gorgonzola, mushroom and avocado. There is wine too, which you can order by the glass or bottle. [2]

The high quality of Dom Dom Hamburger Plus' burgers was not the only reason I visited the Ginza location on 12 Jan and 05 Feb 2023. In addition to beef, there are also pork, chicken, and fish burgers, and other items on the menu. Each Dom Dom Hamburger also offers menu items unique to that location (or to a few locations). The reason I visited the Ginza location was to have the fried soft shell crab burger.

Please continue reading the rest of the article to see more photographs and read about my experience eating Dom Dom Hamburger Plus' fried soft shell crab and wagyu beef burgers.

Traveling Internationally? Enroll in the Global Entry Program

World travel is possible once again now that all countries have dropped their COVID visitor prohibitions, testing, and quarantine requirements in favor of pre-travel submission of vaccination status in order to enter the country. Many countries are moving further forward by eliminating the need for pre-travel COVID vaccination status submission, and ask visitors to postpone their visit if tested positive for COVID.

Japan and South Korea took advantage of the COVID travel prohibition period to eliminate the immigration and customs paper forms in favor of pre-departure electronic approvals. While the immigration and customs paper forms are still available at check-in and in-flight, there are very few takers since most passengers have already taken advantage of the electronic forms before departure. The electronic pre-departure approvals can greatly speed up the time needed to clear immigration and customs and enter the country.

Unfortunately, this is not universally true for entry to the USA at airports. There has been no change for non-citizens; the immigration and customs lines and wait times remain long since great scrutiny is placed on these visitors. USA citizens and permanent residents use the same long immigration and customs queues as non-citizens entering the country, making for the same long entry and wait times.

So how was I able to enter the USA after my recent trip overseas, passing through immigration, collecting my luggage, and customs in less than 15 minutes? My quick entry was possible since I am enrolled in the Global Entry program. The Global Entry program, run by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service, allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to receive expedited clearance upon arrival into the United States through automated kiosks at select airports, land borders, and ports [1]. If you plan to travel internationally, you should seriously consider enrolling in this program.

Please continue reading the rest of the article to find out more about my experience with the Global Entry program. Note that this article focuses on the airport entry aspect of the program and the CBP's Global Entry website should be your definitive source for information (listed later in the article).

Tuna Auction, Tsukiji Market (築地市場, Tsukiji Shijō), Tokyo, Japan

Tuna Auction, Tsukiji Market (築地市場, Tsukiji Shijō), 2005

Tokyo's Tsukiji Market (築地市場, Tsukiji Shijō) was well known for the tuna auction at its Inner Market before being closed and moved to Toyosu Market (豊洲市場, Toyosu Shijō) in 2018. Tsukiji Market actually consisted of two markets: the inner and outer. The Outer Market, still in operation, has many restaurants and retail shops selling fresh fish, produce, and all sorts of wares. The Inner Market, now closed, was the wholesale area for seafood, (including the famous tuna auction), produce, restaurants, and shops.

I first visited the Tsukiji tuna auction on 17 Feb 2005 when visitors had unfettered access to the Inner Market's outdoor-exposed tuna auction and seafood wholesale areas, could mingle with the the tuna buyers before, during, and after the auction on the auction floor, and then watch the tuna specialty vendors prepare the tuna for restaurants and other wholesale buyers. Unfortunately problems with tourists interfering with the auction, touching the fish, and generally disrupting business at Tsukiji Inner Market led to tuna auction and wholesale area visitor restrictions. This meant that tourists were banned from the tuna auction floor and made to apply for a limited number of time slots to stand in a restricted area to witness the auction. While still being allowed to watch the tuna auction in the restricted area, visitors could not enter nor walk the tuna auction floor. Today at the modern, totally enclosed, and temperature controlled Toyosu Market buildings, tourists are totally prohibited from the tuna auction and wholesale floors, so the experience and photographs in this article cannot be reproduced today. You now have to witness the Toyosu tuna auction from an enclosed second story gallery overlooking the auction floor and wholesale vendors after applying for a limited number of morning viewing windows online.

Please continue reading the rest of the article to see more photographs and to find out more about this never to be repeated experience on the Tsukiji tuna auction floor and Inner Market.

Gyūtan Tsukasa (牛タン店 司) Restaurant, Sendai, Japan

Wagyu, Kobe, and Matsusaka beef is usually on the minds of visitors to Japan. These well known brands of Japanese beef are on their must try list of foods to eat. While not a brand of beef, but rather a cut of beef, rarely does the word, gyūtan (牛タン) come to mind. While gyūtan is available throughout Japan at yakiniku restaurants, where meat is grilled over a Japanese style barbeque, Sendai is the original home of gyūtan and where the dish is the most well known and popular. In Sendai you can still eat at the restaurant, where in 1948, the dish was developed. [1] Sendai is also the home to many restaurants that only serve gyūtan. While this article is not about the original restaurant where the dish originated, Gyūtan Tsukasa (牛タン店 司) is a typical Sendai gyūtan restaurant serving this dish.

The dish, consisting of pieces of thinly sliced beef tongue cooked over a charcoal grill, is one of least known of Japan's signature foods that visitors must try. The standard serving consists of grilled tongue and pickled vegetables, but is more commonly ordered as part of a set menu (ていしょく, teishoku), which also includes oxtail soup and mugi gohan (麦御飯, steamed white rice with barley). Variations on the set meal include increasing the amount of grilled tongue by 1.5- to 2 times.

Please continue reading the article on my 2018 and 2019 visits to Gyūtan Tsukasa to read about my grilled tongue meals and to see more photographs.

Meiji Shrine (明治神宮, Meiji Jingū), Tokyo, Japan

This will be my last article for 2021. Thanks to all who have taken the time to read the travel articles and I appreciate the comments that I have received. This article on the Meiji Shrine is longer than most  of the articles I have written since I have regularly visited and photographed the shrine since I first traveled to Tokyo over 17 years ago. I hope that the pandemic abates so that international travel becomes possible and practical again, but until then I will keep digging into my travel photographs for new articles in 2022. I wish you the best for the holiday season and will see you next year. Stay healthy and happy!

The Meiji Shrine (明治神宮, Meiji Jingū) is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji presided over the Meiji era, and instigated the Meiji Restoration, a series of rapid changes that witnessed Japan's transformation from an isolationist, feudal state to an industrialized world power [4]. The Japanese government officially started the construction of Meiji Jingū to commemorate their deified spirits after he (1912) and his wife (1914) passed away. The construction took about five years to complete the entire shrine before it was formally dedicated in 1920. Most of the shrine complex was destroyed during the air raids of the Second World War, but thanks to a number of donations from around Japan, the current buildings were restored in 1958 [5].

Located just beside the busy Japan Rail (JR) Harajuku Station, Meiji Shrine and the adjacent Yoyogi Park make up a large forested area within the densely built-up city of Tokyo, Japan. Meiji Jingū is one of Japan's most popular shrines. In the first days of the New Year, the shrine regularly welcomes more than three million visitors for the year's first prayers (初詣, hatsumōde), more than any other shrine or temple in the country. During the rest of the year, traditional Shinto weddings can often be seen taking place there [2], as well as other rituals, processions, and festivals.

I first traveled to Japan on business in 2004 and visited the Meiji Shrine for the first time in the morning on my last day in Tokyo. Since it was a short train ride from the hotel, the group I was traveling with made a brief visit to the shrine before flying back in the afternoon to the USA. On my many subsequent trips to Tokyo, while I have visited the shrine at other times, I have always maintained the ritual of visiting in the morning on my last day in Tokyo before flying home to this day. So the photographs in the article are from a span of visits to the shrine over 15 years. My last visit was 2019, just before Japan closed to tourists because of COVID-19.

Please continue reading the rest of the article to learn more about the Meiji Shrine and see the photographs from my many visits over the years.

Midtown BBQ Nagoya Restaurant, Nagoya, Japan

Whenever I travel overseas, I want to eat at restaurants that serve food that is local to the area, region, or country. Often this means eating at places where menus are only available in the local language and English is definitely a second language, if spoken at all. In some cases, I would have been able to research ahead of time what the restaurant's specialty is or the signature dishes are, sometimes not. In those cases, I rely on the translator app on my phone, point to a dish that someone else has ordered, or point to a picture of the dish on the menu (this is hard when the menu has no pictures). In Japan, where realistic plastic models of the menu items are displayed outside of restaurants, I have asked one of the staff more than once to come outside, where I point to the model of the dish I want to order. Sometimes I'm surprised at what I ordered, but that's part of the fun of traveling.

I tend to avoid restaurants serving American food unless there is some unique preparation or ingredient in a dish that can only be obtained locally. I originally saw an internet video about Midtown BBQ Nagoya that attracted my attention. The reason I went to visit this restaurant is their use of Japanese Binchōtan charcoal and Japanese Oak to make a 20-hour smoked, 40-pound (18-kg) authentic Japanese A5 Wagyu beef brisket seasoned with a Japanese inspired spice rub.

Please continue reading the rest of the article to see a video on how Midtown BBQ Nagoya makes their Japanese A5 Wagyu beef brisket and to see more photographs of my visit on 26 Oct 2018.

Chūsonji (中尊寺) Temple, Hiraizumi, Japan

Chūsonji (中尊寺) Temple in Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan was established in 850 as a temple of the Tendai sect of Buddhism. The temple came to prominence when the northern branch of the Fujiwara clan moved their base to Hiraizumi. At its peak, the temple consisted of a large network of dozens of buildings. [1]

With the fall of the Fujiwara at the end of the 12th century, Chūsonji suffered likewise so that now only two buildings from that era remain intact. Luckily, among these is the most spectacular, the Konjikidō (金色堂). Similar to Kyoto's famous Kinkakuji (金閣寺, literally "Temple of the Golden Pavilion"), Konjikidō is a building completely covered in gold. It dates back to 1124 and stands inside another concrete building for protection. [1]

The opening photograph is the concrete building constructed to protect the Konjikidō and is the typical photograph that all visitors are allowed to make of the "Konjikidō". Once you enter the protective building, any video or photography is strictly prohibited of the spectacular Konjikidō itself.

Please continue reading the rest of the article to see a video of the golden Konjikidō and see more photographs of Chūsonji when I visited on 25 Nov 2017.

The Railway Museum (鉄道博物館, Tetsudō Hakubutsukan), Saitama, Japan

Japan has a rich railway history that continues to this day. From the futuristic Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) trains and the new dedicated rail line currently under construction from Tokyo to Nagoya, to the current pioneering and continual evolving Shinkansen train and rail network that sets the worldwide standard for high speed rail travel, and finally to the everyday electric and diesel passenger and freight trains that form the backbone of the Japanese rail transportation system, it should be no surprise that a strong culture revolving around trains has developed in Japan. Train spotting, where rail fans (or fanatics) make an effort to photograph and record train lines, rolling stock, and/or train stations, is an active and accepted practice whenever a new train line is opened, new train engines or cars are introduced, or a train station opens or closes.

The Railway Museum (鉄道博物館, Tetsudō Hakubutsukan), run by the non-profit affiliate of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), one of the regional successor companies formed after the break-up the Japan National Railway (JNR), recounts the history of railways in Japan, exhibits many previously used train cars, teaches train operation using interesting simulators, and explains railway technology as it evolved over the years. The museum's big collection of formerly used train cars includes steam and diesel locomotives, and retired shinkansen, passenger, and freight cars. Many of the historical rail cars can be entered and the undercarriage of some can even be viewed from below. The museum further showcases one of Japan's largest (model train) dioramas. In another section, railway concepts, science, and systems are explained through models and hands-on activities. [1]

Please continue reading the rest of the article to find out more about my visit to The Railway Museum on 02 Nov 2018 and to see more photographs. I went to The Railway Museum after visiting the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (大宮盆栽美術館), which is nearby. You can read about my visit to the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum by clicking here.

Dote No Iseya (土手の伊勢屋 (どてのいせや)) Restaurant, Tokyo, Japan

Dote No Iseya (土手の伊勢屋 (どてのいせや)) is a restaurant  specializing in tempura over rice bowls, Tempura Donburi (天ぷら丼ぶり) - better known as Tendon (天丼), using conger eel (穴子, anago) since 1889. There are many tendon restaurants in Tokyo that are easier to visit and offer tendon at more affordable prices than this restaurant. This 130+ year restaurant is located in the northeast of Tokyo far from any tourist attractions and is accessible by only one subway line. The restaurant only has 28 seats, does not take reservations, is only open 3.5 hours a day, five days a week for lunch from 11:00 to 14:30, and there is always a long queue to enter, especially on the weekends. Eating at this restaurant requires a conscious effort to make the journey and then patience in the queue to enter, yet is always full, and is patronized by both locals and tourists alike. Why would someone make a special trip to an inconveniently located restaurant with limited hours and a long queue to eat a dish that costs more than other similar easily reached restaurants?

The simple answer is that the food is very good, but in my opinion people come here for the entire experience of dining on well prepared fresh food in a unique environment. The restaurant is listed as one of the best places to eat tendon in Tokyo by Time Out Tokyo [1] and was also featured in a video segment on Japan's public TV station NHK (the video is no longer available online). The size of the tendon served at this restaurant is large, even by American standards, and the quality and freshness of the ingredients, especially the conger eel, form the restaurant's signature tendon dishes. Finally, the restaurant is housed in one of the few surviving original wooden buildings in Tokyo dating from 1927.

Continue reading the rest of the article to find out more about my visit to Dote No Iseya on 10 Nov 2019 and to see more photographs.

Starfield Library (별 마당 도서관), Starfield COEX Mall (스타필드 코엑스몰), Seoul, South Korea

The spectacular Starfield Library in Seoul, South Korea was a sensation from the moment it opened on 31 May 2017 and I visited soon after on 10 Nov 2017. The library is a massive two story, 2,800 square meter (over 30,000 sq. ft.) space full of light and glass, with 70,000 books and 600 domestic and foreign magazines in three towering bookshelves, each standing 13 meters (about 43 ft.) tall.

What makes this library unique is that it is located in Asia's largest underground shopping mall, the Starfield COEX Mall [1], and is credited with increasing traffic to a mall that had been losing shoppers. [2] The Starfield COEX Mall is located in the Gangnam district of Seoul, where you can find a large number of stores and restaurants. Besides the normal shops and restaurants that you would normally find in a mall, the mall is part of a complex consisting of COnvention centers, EXhibition halls, two hotels, two food courts, an aquarium, a large multiscreen cinema venue, and office towers.

The mall is directly connected by underground passages to two Seoul Metro subway stations, making it easy for shoppers to visit. The mall is also directly connected to a large Hyundai Department store (for those who live in the USA, think about Nordstrom's on steroids) and the City Air Terminal, where you can check-in to your international flight and go through Korean Immigration and Customs (Incheon Airport only) before taking a bus to one of Seoul's two international airports: Incheon and Gimpo.

Continue reading the rest of the article to find out more about the Starfield library, the COEX Mall, and to see more photographs.

Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse (ねぶたの家 ワ・ラッセ, Nebuta no ie Wa-Rasse), Aomori, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify the train trip to Aomori Station and the museum.

It's been a while since my last post. While international tourists are currently prohibited from visiting Japan due to the pandemic, here's a museum located in the northernmost part of Japan's main island that's possible to visit if you are staying in Tokyo. I highly recommend taking the journey once international travel to Japan becomes possible again.

I visited this museum on 26 Nov 2017, which is in the city of Aomori, located in the northernmost Tōhoku region of Japan's main island of Honshu. The museum contains some of the spectacular illuminated floats (nebuta) used in the annual Aomori Nebuta Festival held from 2-7 Aug. If you can't attend the festival, visiting the museum is the next best thing.

Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse (ねぶたの家 ワ・ラッセ, Nebuta no ie Wa-Rasse) is a museum dedicated to the city's famous Nebuta Matsuri. The museum is housed in a unique building covered in red metal slats and stands along Aomori's waterfront district just a short walk north of Aomori Station. The Nebuta Warasse museum attempts to capture the spirit of the festival and gives visitors a taste of its lively atmosphere, history and traditions. [1]

Please continue reading the rest of the article to find out more about the Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse and to see more photographs of my visit.

Lin Mao Sen Tea Company (林茂森茶行), Taipei, Taiwan

Top: High Mountain Oolong Tea
Bottom Left: Chrysanthemum Tea
Bottom Right: Oriental Beauty Tea

Updated 05 Sep 2021:

Added tips when ordering by email and that English is spoken at both stores mentioned in this article.

Original 27 Sep 2020 article:

I am not a coffee drinker, having never acquired the taste. Consequently, I have always consumed Asian tea both by itself and with meals. When I was growing up, the tea choices were Oolong (烏龍茶), Jasmine (茉莉花茶), and Bo Nay (博奈茶; a type of Pu-Erh (普爾) tea). You poured boiling water over the tea leaves to make the tea. The teas were purchased at the local Chinese market and the main criteria for selection were quantity and price, with taste and fragrance never being a consideration. If you think of tea in terms of purchasing wine, the tea I grew up on was the equivalent of "2-Buck Chuck" (for those not familiar with this term, this phrase is used to describe the US$2 bottles of wine that can be purchased at a famous food specialty chain store in the USA). Like tea, there are better and more expensive bottles of wine, but for everyday use, "2-Buck Chuck" is perfectly acceptable.

As with wine, Asian teas have distinct flavors, fragrances, and are graded, with a wide range of prices. Making tea does not always mean always using boiling water, but choosing the correct temperature to maximize the flavor and fragrance depending upon the tea. Also making tea is not limited to just the physical act of making tea, but is elevated to an art and is part of a long standing Asian tea culture, with one of the most well known arts being the Japanese Tea Ceremony (茶道, chadō, "The Way of Tea").[1]

In Japan and Taiwan (among other places in Asia), a full range of tea varieties and prices are available for purchase at local tea specialty shops, some having been in operation for over 100 years. The quality of the teas available in Japan and Taiwan far surpass any Asian tea that can be purchased in the USA. Tea in Asia is bought depending upon fragrance, taste, and freshness. One of my favorite tea shops in Taipei is Lin Mao Sen Tea Company (林茂森茶行). Established in 1883, the shop sells a full range of graded Taiwanese teas at various price points. Due to the global pandemic, international travel to Asia is not possible from the USA. Since visiting Taiwan is not an option, ordering and purchasing tea is still possible since Lin Mao Sen Tea accepts remote orders and ships overseas.

Please read the rest of the article to find out more about buying Taiwanese tea and this tea shop in Taipei.

Yasurai Matsuri (やすらい祭, Yasurai Festival), Imamiya Shrine (今宮神社, Imamiya-jinja), Kyoto, Japan

This article was updated on 20 Sep 2021 to correct rail pass information.

The Yasurai Matsuri (やすらい祭), or Yasurai Festival, started in the Heian Period (794-1185) and is now held every year on the second Sunday in April at Imamiya Shrine (今宮神社, Imamiya-jinja). The festival is considered to be one of the three most unique Kyoto festivals (the other two being the Uzumasa Bull Festival ((太秦牛祭, Uzumasa Ushi Matsuri) and Kurama Fire Festival (鞍馬の火祭り, Kurama no Hi-matsuri)). The purpose of the festival is to suppress evil deities who are believed to appear in this season and spread infectious diseases. [1]

Kyoto hosts hundreds of festivals, both large and small, throughout the year. The largest and most well-know festival in Japan (not just Kyoto) is the Gion Matsuri (祇園祭), which occurs every year in July with events scheduled for the entire month. Unfortunately the 2020 Gion Matsuri has been cancelled due the pandemic, but when the festival is held, all hotels in Kyoto and the surrounding area are fully booked, and it is impossible to travel around Kyoto due to closed streets and the thousands of people coming to see the festival. On the other hand, the 1000-year old Yasurai Matsuri is not well known (despite being labeled as one of the three most unique of Kyoto's festivals) and is more of a local neighborhood festival that attracts fewer outsiders. The 2020 Yasurai Matsuri was also unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. I believe that attending these small festivals gives a foreigner, like me, a better view into Japanese traditions and local life. I have to say that this festival was one of the more memorable experiences I have had in Japan, so I would urge you to consider attending for a more intimate festival experience if you're visit to Kyoto coincides with the annual date.

I attended this festival on 10 Apr 2005, over 15 years ago. Please continue reading the rest of this article to find out more about my experience and to see more photographs.

Tower Knives Osaka (タワーナイブズ大阪 新世界の包丁専門店), Osaka, Japan

This article was updated on 02 Aug 2021 to include the 10 minute video interview with the owner of Tower Knives Osaka rather than the expired link to the original full length video from NHK.

As some of you might know, I also have a recipe blog (https://ducksoupeasy.blogspot.com/) that preceded this travel blog. While it has been a while since I posted a new recipe, I continue to cook. I had always used a Chinese cleaver whenever I prepared meals, but now use Japanese knives. Since I often travel to Japan and whenever I am near Osaka, I always stop by this Japanese knife store located in an area known as Shinsekai (新世界, lit. "New World"), located in the southern part of the city.

Please continue reading the rest of the article to see a video about the store and its founder, and to see more photographs.

Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (大宮盆栽美術館), Saitama, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify the train trip to Toro Station and the museum, and to add the link to The Railway Museum article.

Saitama, Japan is just a 40 minute train ride north from Tokyo. The major rail station is called Omiya and is the first major junction outside of Tokyo for the Shinkansen when traveling to the northern parts of the main island of Honshu. Two major tourist attractions are located in Saitama: the first is the world-class Railway Museum (鉄道博物館), run by the non-profit foundation of East Japan Railway (better known as JR East) and the second is the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum (大宮盆栽美術館), which is publicly run and a short walk from Toro Station, one station north of Omiya Station on the JR Utsunomiya Line. I visited both places on 02 Nov 2018 while I was staying in Tokyo. The Railway Museum article can be found at:

• https://ducksoupeasytravel.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-railway-museum-tetsudo-hakubutsukan.html

Bonsai (盆栽; lit. 'tray planting') is a Japanese art form using cultivation techniques to produce, in containers, small trees that mimic the shape and scale of full size trees. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penzai or penjing from which the art originated. The Japanese tradition dates back over a thousand years. [1]

While I'm not a fan of gardening, I am fascinated by Japanese bonsai since the creation and growing of these works of living art is something I personally have never tried and probably will never attempt. So to come to Japan and view this small museum dedicated to a unique Japanese art was on my list of places to see. Like any good museum, the "exhibits" are constantly changing and whenever you visit, there's always something new to see besides the permanent collection. The museum draws many Japanese and foreign tourists, so the exhibits are well labeled in both Japanese and English. An audio guide in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean is also offered.

The picture above was a work of bonsai art created by Kimura Masahiko (木村雅彦) and was displayed in the museum's lobby as the introductory work to the exhibit. The tree is a Japanese yew (taxus cuspidata) collected in Hokkaido (Japan's northernmost main island) in April 2018. The estimated age of the tree is 1,000 years! From the description:

"From the tree's root base to the rising trunk, it looks like a dragon spirit rising up. The sturdy trunk fold and turns with a superior sense of movement. This is the first time that this bonsai is being exhibited. According to Kimura, the tree is a rare world class material. The final form is yet to come, yet a thing to look forward to."

Please continue reading the article to find out more about the museum and to see more photographs.

MOA Museum of Art (MOA美術館), Atami, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify the train trip to Atami Station and the museum.

There are many museums and opportunities to visit them in Japan, especially in the major cities frequented by overseas visitors, such as Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. However, outside of the major tourist cities, there are many large and small museums that are also worth making a trip to. There are many national, prefectural, city, and private museums that have exhibits ranging from the traditional (art, history, cultural) to the bizarre (the Meguro Parasitological Museum in Tokyo comes to mind). The MOA Museum of Art (MOA美術館) in Atami, Japan is easily reachable from Tokyo by Shinkansen and local bus in about 50 minutes. The museum is located on a mountain hillside overlooking Sagami Bay and requires seven escalators inside the hillside to travel from the museum's entry to the main building exhibition area. Please continue reading to find out more about this art museum, see more photographs, and how to access the museum.

Kunōzan Tōshōgū Shrine (久能山東照宮), Nihondaira, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify the rail portion of the trip to Shizuoka Station.

Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康, January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He brought a long period of civil wars to an end and united all of Japan. As shōgun, he created and solidified the Tokugawa shogunate, which ushered in the Edo period and effectively ruled Japan for 250 years from 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. [1]

Nikkō Tōshōgū Shrine (日光東照宮), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine and mausoleum dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, and is located in Nikkō, which is about two hours north of Tokyo by limited express train. Ieyasu is enshrined at Nikkō Tōshōgū as the deity Tōshō Daigongen (東照大権現), "Great Gongen, Light of the East". A Gongen is believed to be a buddha who has appeared on Earth in the shape of a kami (spirit or god) to save sentient beings. [1] Initially a relatively simple mausoleum, Nikkō Tōshōgū was enlarged into the spectacular complex seen today by Ieyasu's grandson Iemitsu during the first half of the 1600's. [2]

While Nikkō Tōshōgū Shrine should be on everyone's list of sights to see when visiting Japan, this article is not about that easy-to-reach and popular must see (and crowded) place. Tokugawa Ieyasu is not buried at Nikkō Tōshōgū, but on the mountain chosen by Ieyasu himself at Kunōzan Tōshōgū Shrine in Nihondaira, near the city of Shizuoka. Many people believe that "after the first anniversary of his death", his remains were reburied at Nikkō Tōshōgū, but neither shrine has offered to open the graves, so the location of Ieyasu's physical remains are still a mystery. [1] Shizuoka is southwest of Tokyo and is easily reachable in one hour by Shinkansen. While Kunōzan Tōshōgū Shrine is not as large or as lavishly decorated as the Nikkō Tōshōgū Shrine, it has the advantage of being not as well known, so there are fewer tourists and no crowding which allows for a more leisurely pace to view the shrine. Please read the rest of the article to find out about more about this not so well known, designated national treasure near Tokyo.

Nezu Museum (根津美術館), Tokyo, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify taking the train or subway to get to the museum.

The Nezu Museum (根津美術館, Nezu Bijutsukan) is an art museum in the Minato district of Tokyo, Japan. The museum houses the private collection of pre-modern Japanese and East Asian art of Nezu Kaichirō (1860–1940), the former President of Tōbu Railway, and is built on Nezu's former residence and garden. Closed due to large-scale renovation and renewal in 2006, the museum re-opened in fall 2009 with a completely new museum building designed by the noted Japanese architect Kuma Kengo [1]. Kuma Kengo was also the architect for the modern redesign of the Akagi Shrine, which I reviewed in this earlier article: 

• https://ducksoupeasytravel.blogspot.com/2019/05/not-your-typical-japanese-shrine-akagi.html.

One of the defining architectural features of the Nezu Museum is the street entrance. The photograph of the entrance at the beginning of this article is the museum's most identifiable feature and is a tribute to Kuma Kengo's skill as an architect. As the museum is a very popular with both tourists and locals, it is really hard to get a photo without someone walking through it!

While it is worth a visit to view the art exhibits at the Nezu Museum when you're in Tokyo, for me the real reason to visit the museum is to see the garden. The site not only contains the museum, but also four tea houses and statuary within the garden. I last visited the museum on 29 Nov 2017, when the Fall colors were the most prominent and the garden most picturesque. Read the rest of the article to find out more information, and see more photographs of the museum and gardens.

Yuasa Soy Sauce (湯浅醤油有限会社), Yuasa, Japan

This article was updated on 19 Sep 2021 to clarify the train trip to Yuasa Station and the factory.

Everyone loves ice cream, but ice cream was not the reason I made a trip to see this factory in Yuasa, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The ¥400 ice cream cone was an added bonus for visiting and it is a unique flavor that is a specialty for this place. The flavor of this ice cream is soy sauce and you can try it at the café attached to the Yuasa Soy Sauce factory. Soy sauce ice cream is not salty in taste (as one might think), and is a nice tasty treat after touring the factory. Please read the rest of the article to find out more about touring the factory and the real reason why I made a special repeat trip here.