Author of the Hiro Hattori (Shinobi) mysteries
Japan has seven major shinkansen lines, all operated by Japan Railways (JR). From north to south, they are: the Hokkaido, Tōhōku, Joetsu, Horikuru, Tōkaidō, Sanyo, and Kyushu Shinkansen. I rode them all during my 100 Summits year.
Read moreMost Japanese rail lines offer both local and express trains, but the names can be a little confusing if you don’t know the designations.
Read moreThe journey from Tokyo to Tokushima City is just under 650 kilometers (depending on route) and can take as little as a couple of hours, if you fly, but I preferred a more scenic trip so I traveled by train.
Read moreWe arrived at Tokyo-Haneda airport at 10:30pm on June 6 and spent the night at the Royal Park Hotel, which is conveniently attached to Haneda airport’s international arrival terminal–about a five-minute walk from the customs windows. You can’t see much of Tokyo’s skyline from the hotel, but that didn’t matter. Any view would have been exciting, because it meant I had reached Japan. Matcha is a finely ground powder made from the leaves of shade-grown, high quality tea. Unlike most tea, matcha isn’t steeped and removed, it’s whisked directly into the water, where it forms a suspension. Matcha is an extremely popular flavor
Read more