Okayama, Japan

A parfait a day…

…probably won’t keep the doctor away but is still a great idea.

Food, glorious food!

A big benefit of living in Japan for five weeks has been all the delicious food I’ve consumed. I’ve written about some of…

Around Okayama City

In my opinion, Okayama prefecture’s more rural and historical attractions hold more appeal than Okayama City — a fairly…

Islands of Art

Just 90 minutes from Okayama (well, more like 120–150 if you’re bad at transit connections like I was) lies the island of Naoshima…

Throwback Thursday: Kurashiki Bikan

It’s actually Friday over here, but it’s still Thursday back home in California, so I say this…

How the sushi gets made

My last big excursion in Okayama was the most important: a lesson in how to make sushi. Who knew it was so…

Attempted pottery making

Okayama prefecture has two craftsy claims to fame: the first jeans-making industry in Japan, and beautiful Bizen…

Picking, pizza, painting

My favorite day of Okayama prefecture sightseeing so far (well, except for the days that involved cats, but of…

Sand and swords in Setouchi

The highlight of this weekend was a field trip (kindly led by the International Affairs Division manager and…

Accidental omakase

I didn’t intend to have fancy sushi on Saturday night.

It all started when my usual cat cafe was unexpectedly closed for veterinary visits. I’d been looking forward to some cat time, so I desperately searched on Google for an alternative. Fortunately, I found one just…

Go north, young traveler!

Me: “Should I bring anything particular on this trip?”
Colleague: “I mean, a change of clothes”
Me: “Wait, what?”…

Old Japan in Takahashi

Japan has hundreds of castles, but only twelve of them are real — castles with restored original towers rather than…

Day trip to Hiroshima

Okayama is conveniently centrally located in Western Japan. Half an hour by Shinkansen to the West, and you’re in…

Nekonomics: a brief introduction

Cats sell.

Manekineko Art Museum

If you’ve read the previous posts on this blog, two things should be clear: (1) I really, really love cats, and (2) the…

People here are too nice, part 2

After Manabeshima and Kurashiki (more photos and stories to come!), we headed north to Takahashi. Our…

People here are too nice

Me: “We’d like to charter a boat to take us to the ferry station tomorrow.”
Manabeshima innkeeper: “That’s 3000…