As many of our regular readers know, Wayfarer Daves is two photographers named Dave who enjoy writing and travel. Regulars, or those who have read past articles, will also know that we each live on different Japanese islands with…
An Exercise in Heat Exhaustion and Dehydration in Odawara
Recently I found myself with a Saturday afternoon free, so I decided to head off to do some hiking around Yamakita, in western Kanagawa Prefecture. On the way, however, while changing trains in Kozu, I found a map of…
Osaka Castle: Home of Toyotomi
It is 1583. Oda Nobunaga has been assassinated, and Nobunga’s right hand man, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, has avenged his death and is in the process of consolidating his own power. Of course, the aspiring ruler needed a palace worthy of…
Treasure Hunting in Arita
Arita in Saga Prefecture is famous for porcelain. Its connection began 400 years ago with the return of a failed Japanese invasion of Korea. As a consolation prize they brought back a bunch of kidnapped porcelain makers, settled them in…
The Ruins of Japan
As I’ve traveled around Japan, I have found a number of places referred to as “ruins”. Castle ruins, temple ruins and palace ruins are scattered all across Japan. The idea of ruins here though, are a bit different than…
Trains, Tanks, Tiki Bars and Totsugeki! A Holiday on the Move
Trains, tanks, tiki bars, military reenactors, and anime, it was just another typical vacation in Japan. Some may take six days as time to do a little this or that, personally I take it as a challenge to see how…
Getting Around in Japan
By Dave Hansche We do a lot of articles here at Wayfarer Daves about Japan. Both of us currently live in Japan and for myself, my photography has been almost exclusively done in Japan. Most of the travel I’ve…
The Merchants of Takayama
Over New Years this last year, the other Dave and I spent the holidays, as we often do, traveling around Japan together. This year’s main target was the stunningly beautiful village of Shirakawa-go in northern Gifu. Along the way,…
The Fall of Kamakura
In my last article, we talked about the rise of the Genpei wars and the rise of the first true military government of Japan, the Shogunate, or Bafuku. This week, I want to fast forward and look at the…
An Adventure in the Retelling.
I read or heard a quote a while back. I don’t recall where I saw it or where it originally came from, but it has been knocking around my head a lot lately. The saying, as I recall it,…