Selena Hoy

Get off the tourist track and delve a little deeper into Japan.
Japan is a relatively compact country with an excellent transportation system and a little of everything: mountains and oceans, sun and sand, snow and ice, and forests and cities, all within a short flight or a few hours on the Shinkansen train. Japanese holidays are also short, so most people choose to travel domestically, cramming in as much pleasure as possible in a few days. Japan's big travel periods fall over the new year, ...

The number of Japanese language learners is at a record high of almost 4 million, according to a 2018 survey from the Japan Foundation.
Whether you're a complete beginner or want to brush up on what you know, learning Japanese is a great way to spend any spare time in quarantine.
Below are 14 online resources to learn Japanese, from platforms like Rosetta Stone and Duoling...

Tokyo shopping guide for Nov 2020 issue of Sunday Times Travel Magazine

Wigmaker, hairstylist and head prop maker Tomihiro Kono is a master of disguise. His ethereal headwear has long been key to the visual identity of Comme des Garçons’ runway and has appeared on the covers of W, T Magazine and several global editions of Vogue. For all the razzle-dazzle of his astral creations, the artist himself is a reserved perfectionist. He spoke to Selena Takigawa Hoy about how a childhood on an orange farm made way for a career behind

Every August, I break wooden chopsticks into sections and insert them into an eggplant and a cucumber, four each. I fold bright strips of paper into zigzags and attach them to twisted rice straw rope, arranged alongside young bamboo fronds. We place nashi pears on the altar and light incense, then ring a bronze bell.
The cucumber is a horse, to convey my ancestors safely and swiftly here from the other world. And the eggplant is a cow, to carry them back slowly after their visit is over, beca...

A marbled slice of tonkotsu pork rests on a bed of yellow noodles, nestled next to three shiny green sheets of nori, some boiled spinach, and a few shreds of kikurage, or wood-ear mushroom. A pair of disposable chopsticks raises a tangle of noodles above the red bowl, as if headed to a waiting mouth just off the edge of the page. A description of the meal is printed next to the drawing, along with the price, date, and source: Family Mart, a Japanese convenience store.
Itsuo Kobayashi draws wh...

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Great Lakes Tokyo, a burger joint in the Takadanobaba neighborhood of Shinjuku Ward, had a reputation for being vegan friendly. Its vegan Superior Burger, made with Great Lakes’ own vegan patty featuring a secret recipe combining shiitake, brown rice and onions, was known to be very good.
Close enough to Waseda University to be a watering hole for the local students, the little restaurant only has about 10 seats. Its clean, open-plan design and laid-back vib...

Interview with Japanese author Mieko Kawakami for Kinfolk Magazine volume 35 (Japanese edition 28)

There’s no wrong time to go to Kyoto, with charm in every season, but the best times to visit this cultural capital are in the spring or the fall. October and November have long sunny days, mild temperatures, stunning colored leaf displays, and an abundance of seasonal food. March and April are ever popular with warming weather and delicate cherry blossoms. Both times are understandably crowded, so if you don’t mind missing the fall colors and sakura, Kyoto still has plenty to offer the rest ...

Hotel review of Society Hotel Bingen in SilverKris March issue.

Spread on Komachi Street in Kamakura for Virgin Australia's inflight magazine.

Jordy Meow is on a mission to explore and record parts of Japan that not many others see. His love of abandoned places and buildings in Japan is well documented in his blog, and he uses his camera to capture their strange and lonely beauty. Since he first came to Japan from southern France 12 years ago, the freelance software developer has discovered new loves: photography, exploration of rural Japan, and sharing the curious and concealed through his blog and software projects. We talk with J...

Takamitsu Tanabe wants to take a walk. Meeting in the suburbs of Yokohama, a city south of Tokyo, we make our way to the Matsunokawa Greenway, a trail that runs through the town. The path is unkempt, with native trees and grasses sprawling in tangled tufts across the walkway. It’s deliberate, explains Takamitsu, who goes by Taka. He points out that the snarl supports birds and insects.
The path was established more than 30 years ago by Taka’s parents. The Tanabe family has lived in this area ...