Golden Week and Chinatown in Yokohama

For those familiar with Japan, you’ll know about Golden Week. It’s the time the whole country is on holiday. As much as that’s possible as most places remain open and the hospitality is run off its feet. It began on Sunday here, and well it finished today. So it’s not much of a week really, …

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Brotherhood of the Travelling Beard

Howdy all. It felt time for a slightly quirky, reflective post and so here it is! One thing you can’t help but notice when you see males backpacking in a foreign city, be it India, Europe or wherever, is that a very healthy proportion of them have beards! People, who at home whilst working and …

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My favourite Buckets, or my travel bucket list.

Ok, I started a post about my bucket list, I was approaching it very straight down the line, but you know, I’m the sort of person that when I see someone post something that many people have posted, I think ‘not another ‘yada yada yada’. And that’s how I feel about bucket lists. Look, I’ll …

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Japan Survival Guide Point 4 – Food and grocery shopping.

So, you’re coming to live in Japan. You’re going to teach English probably, and you’ll have your own apartment and quite often you’ll be cooking for yourself. What’s that like? What is Japanese food like and what are my choices when I eat out? These are all important questions. Let’s start with self-catering and seamlessly …

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An Evening in Shinagawa

If Shibuya is Tokyo being pretty darned trendy, Shinagawa is Tokyo perhaps getting down to business. Well, my wife told me it was a business district, although to me there seemed to be a few hotels and restaurants there. It features the most impressive, in my opinion, of Tokyo’s stations. There’s a big arched roof …

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World Journeys Podcast Episode One! [living in Japan]

Howdy all! Yes, it has finally arrived! The World Journeys Podcast! I, your humble host, Andrew Boland, will be interviewing and chatting with a number of people this year about travel-related topics, the best of countries, the worst of countries, backpacking, taking a show overseas, the experience of living in another country and so much …

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Fish Markets and Kabuki

I certainly had a busy day yesterday. I visited the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo and took in a single act performance of Kabuki Theatre, then discovered some more of Tokyo’s secrets (that’s for another blog because this one is going to be long enough). My mother-in-law had suggested that I go to the Tsukiji …

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Culture Shock: Part Three – Returning Home.

Today, I am writing about the inevitable reality that almost all travellers face, unless they are travelling professionally that is and when they come home it’s only to say hello, and pack for the next trip. Coming home can be a serious ‘culture’ shock that is not easy to deal with, and I am facing …

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