It is largely impossible to convey the stimulating feeling I sense as I wander in Shibuya. It isn’t merely an ubiquitous cognitive overload, but also a cultural one: guys and gals wearing impossible clothes, displaying impossible haircuts, posing under the ever-lit neon lights and brand signs in Center Gai, right in front of the [...]

As the shinkansen arrives in Tokyo, I feel its mood again.
Streets irradiated by a kaleidoscope of neon-lit brand signs, giant screens masking facades to boast loud video clips or advertisements, while elsewhere jazz is playing on the streets through benevolent loudspeakers; forest of ads hanging in metro wagons, invasion of signs for discounts, directions, special [...]

The very first taste of Sapporo I get is the corn-butter-miso-ramen I order in a tiny restaurant in the “ramen alley” next to the neon-light festival of Susukino.
This variant, specific to the northern island of Hokkaido, could be described as the final boss of the noodle soup family, the Mother of all Ramen. Delicious though [...]

The small city of Toya-ko Onsen sits by the lake that fills the giant caldera of a long-dead volcano. From the shore, I make out the shape of the wooded island placed in its center, but the air is growing hazy.
Largely uninterested in trying out the onsen in one of the huge hotel complexes [...]

Unsurprisingly, visiting Hakodate’s Morning Market in the middle of the afternoon yields mitigated results. At three, the stalls are closing, the markets getting empty. Disappointed, I get on a tramway towards Mt. Hakodate which I end up climbing a few hundred meters on foot, since the rope-way is out of order. I just want a [...]

I meet Ikuko in front of the glass structure in the main hall of Sendai station.  It is 7:30 in the evening, which means we’re both hungry, even myself in spite of the savory katsu kare (Japanese curry with a fried pork cutlet) I had for lunch in Shizuoka.
Because we’re in Sendai, we of course [...]