Latest Posts:
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Japan on a Budget: Hakodate
Six months after leaving Kyushu, I couldn’t resist a super-cheap flight into Haneda in early May. Having never visited Japan in springtime before, this was a chance to finally see the famous cherry blossoms – except that I would be arriving a bit late, and the only area still blooming with sakura would be the…
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Booking Japanese train tickets from outside Japan
I’ll say this upfront – if you’re visiting Japan as a tourist, probably using a Japan Rail Pass, there’s really no need to book tickets before you go. I’ve hauled myself around most of Honshu, Kyushu and Hokkaido on dozens of trains, usually booking a day or two, at most, before traveling. But then, sometimes…
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Kittens vs UKIP
Per the excellent suggestion of Marina Isaac, UKitten is a Chrome Extension that replaces all images of Nigel Farage or related to UKIP with images of kittens from Tea and Kittens. It’s available now from the Chrome Web Store. UPDATE: Now also available for Safari – click here to download, then double-click that file to…
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Japanese TV in the UK – NHK via Freeview and Toober
Now that JSTV has closed down, here’s how to legally watch Japanese TV in the UK (and Ireland) – on demand and live
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The Buzzfeedification of Bullshit
Hey, heard the one about the Ugandan President’s daughter? She’s trending on Twitter, and for the best possible reason – right after her father backed some really hideous homophobic laws, she came out as gay. Except, you know, she didn’t. Ten seconds on Google tells you that Diana Kamuntu is, or at least was, married…
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Las Vegas to Palm Springs
A couple of years ago I found myself with three days to kill in Southern California, so I rented a car and circled around – passing through the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs along the way. It seemed like a nice little town, but I didn’t really have time to stick around – instead I…
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“Butts’ Historical Guide to Lewisham, Ladywell, Lee, Blackheath and Eltham”
The British Library today released over one million images into the Flickr Commons. Among them, the cover of this book, from 1878. It’s a kind of general guide to the Lewisham-Lee-Blackheath-Eltham area, taking in the shops, streets, churches and notable past residents, and if you live in the area it’s quite fascinating to read of…
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Japan on a Budget: Beppu and Aso-San
My last must-see stop in Kyushu was the area around Aso-San, a massive volcano in the middle of the island. To get from Aoshima (via Miyazaki) to there involves passing through Beppu – take a limited express up via Oita. Beppu: All about the Onsen I’ll be absolutely honest: if you don’t like onsen*, you…
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Japan on a Budget: Aoshima
From Kagoshima I decided to head around Kyushu anticlockwise, with the first stop being Miyazaki and, just to the south of that city, Aoshima. There’s no Shinkansen access to the east of the island, but ‘Kirishima’ Tokkyu express trains run across in a couple of hours. Miyazaki City I was only passing through Miyazaki, but…