Sights Nagasaki
When you come to Kyushu (especially Fukuoka, and soon we hope !) be sure to save a day or two for Nagasaki. It's just ab...
Sights 
Sights Fukuoka is getting a lot of attention?!
Fukuoka city is located on the the northern shore of Kyushu island, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture. Fukuoka is Japan’s sixth largest city.
Culture Hakata, Fukuoka
Hakata is the name of the bay that probably brought people to this area ten thousand, or more, years ago. Hakata is the ...
Food and Drinks A better way to rehydrate dried shiitake mushrooms!
I will share what I learned from shiitake mushroom farm! How you rehydrate dried shiitake mushrooms is a key to make them delicious. The steps are not difficult so I hope you will try this at home!
Sights Tsushima
Tsushima is an island city between Japan and Korea, but so close to Korea you don't have to be Sarah Palin to see it. Th...
Traditional Crafts Masuda paulownia wood boxes
Paulownia wood has been used for centuries in Asia. Because it's a natural insect repellent and desiccant, it's been use...
Traditional Crafts Looking back to go forward.
Japan Eight has a sister website called Takumi that is dedicated to promoting unique, high quality products that are mad...
Culture natsubate
Summer in Japan is incredibly muggy (蒸し暑い for Japanese readers) and that leads to what Japanese call natsubate (夏バテ) w...
Culture Obon
We've just finished the Obon holidays here in Japan. The word "Obon" is an abbreviation of the word "urabon" which comes...
Culture A Shinto priest talks about the power of words.
Oharai are rituals of purification and the chants the priest uses to purify are called Oharaekotoba. Kotoba is the Japanese word for "words."