I’m starting to make videos about points of interest in Japan to encourage others to travel and learn about the country. The Shinyo memorial has been a topic I’ve written about before, in The Japanese Home Front V: Kawatana, Home…
Wayfarer Daves 2020 Year in Review
It’s hard to believe, but this December marks five years since Wayfarer Daves began posting on that date which will live in infamy, Dec. 7, 2015. Our first post was actually a story I’d written that had been published in…
Ryukoji – Buddhist History in Fujisawa
If you travel to Katase-Enoshima station, near the beaches in southern Fujisawa, you might see the top of a pagoda peaking above the trees on a nearby hillside. Ryukoji is not a large temple, especially compared to the sprawling…
A visit to the Nogeyama Zoo
In the hills of Yokohama, not terribly far from the skyscrapers, shopping malls, and night life of Sakuraigicho and Kannai, there is a large hilltop park in a quiet neighborhood called Nogeyama. Large parks in Yokohama are not all that…
Japan’s Unchanging Schools
Think back to when you were young. Did you ever go, perhaps with family or as a school trip, to visit a school from a previous era? I can think of a few times when I was a kid that…
A Weekend Getaway in Tsuwano
Tsuwano I’d see the hillside trail, a zigzagging path covered end-to-end by red torii gates the night before. It was lit up by lanterns along the way which in the inky night almost appeared as if floating in the sky,…
The Satomi Clan and the Battles of Konodai Castle
1564. Satomi Yoshihiro looked out across the Edo River at the Hojo forces arraying against him, just as his father had 26 years prior. The elder Satomi, Yoshitaka, was defeated by Hojo Ujitsuna in the first battle of Konodai and…
Finding History in old Photos
Lately it seems that I’m being pulled more and more into the historical aspects of photography. I don’t mean photographing history, we’ve always done that here. I mean diving into old photos, old methods, and even a Meiji Period…
Inuyama Castle – A Soggy Edo Adventure
If you’ve been following our Facebook, you’ve seen that Mr. Krigbaum and I met up in Inuyama, a small city on the border with Aichi and Gifu Prefectures for several days of museum goodness. David wanted to hit Meiji-Mura, the…
Surviving Summer in Japan
Those of you who keep up on international news, especially that coming from Japan, may have heard that the Land of the Rising Sun has been suffering through a particularly hot and humid summer. The latter half of July…