Japanese learning blog
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
All articles · Page 89
Uzumasa Eigamura Guide: Kyoto's Edo Film Village and Japanese to Use
Uzumasa Eigamura is a film set turned theme park in western Kyoto, where Edo-period streets built for samurai dramas are now the stage for live shows, ninja attractions and kimono strolls. It reopened in March 2026 after its largest renewal, under a new name, and it is full of chances to hear and use Japanese.
11 min readHozugawa River Boat Ride Guide: Kameoka to Arashiyama and Japanese to Use
The Hozugawa Kudari is a wooden boat ride of about sixteen kilometres through the gorge between Kameoka and Arashiyama, steered through rapids by boatmen with bamboo poles and oars. It is one of Kyoto's great outings, and the whole trip, from the ticket window to the boatmen's banter, happens in Japanese.
12 min readSagano Romantic Train Guide: Seats, The Rich Car and Japanese to Use
The Sagano Romantic Train is a slow, open-windowed sightseeing train that rattles along the Hozu River gorge between Saga-Arashiyama and Kameoka. Every seat is reserved, so the trip starts with a short conversation at the ticket window, and the ride itself is one of the prettiest half hours in Kyoto.
12 min readKitano Tenmangū Guide: Shrine of Learning, Plum Blossom and Japanese to Use
Kitano Tenmangū is the Kyoto shrine of Sugawara no Michizane, the scholar worshipped as Tenjin, god of learning, where students come to pray before exams and rub the heads of bronze and stone oxen. It is free to enter, famous for plum blossom and a monthly flea market, and a lovely place to use your shrine Japanese.
12 min readShimogamo Jinja Guide: Tadasu Forest, Mirror Ema and Japanese to Use
Shimogamo Jinja is one of Kyoto's oldest shrines, reached by a long path through the ancient Tadasu no Mori forest. It is free, calm and full of small sub-shrines, each with its own blessing and its own short piece of Japanese to learn.
12 min readTakarazuka Revue Guide: Tickets, the Grand Theater and Japanese to Use
The Takarazuka Revue is an all-female musical theatre company whose women play every role, from dashing heroes to leading ladies, ending each show with a glittering revue on a grand staircase. Seeing it at its home theatre in Takarazuka is a unique Japanese night out, and the whole evening runs in Japanese.
11 min readAshikaga Flower Park Guide: Great Wisteria, Lights and Japanese to Use
Ashikaga Flower Park, in Tochigi, is home to a great wisteria said to be around 160 years old, whose branches hold up a purple ceiling the size of hundreds of tatami mats. It has its own railway station, a fee that changes with the flowers, and a winter illumination that fills the park with millions of lights.
13 min readChichibu Guide: Shrines, Moss Phlox Hill and Japanese to Use
Chichibu is a mountain town in Saitama, about eighty minutes from Ikebukuro by limited express, ringed by forested peaks that have been places of worship for centuries. It pairs painted shrines and a hillside of pink moss phlox with one of Japan's great float festivals, and every part of the day, from buying an express ticket to asking the way to the flowers, is a chance to speak Japanese.
15 min readOkutama Guide: Gorges, Nippara Cave, Lake Okutama and Japanese to Use
Okutama is the far western corner of Tokyo, a land of steep forested valleys, clear rivers and a cave where the temperature never changes. It is still inside the Tokyo boundary, reached by a local train, and the infrequent mountain buses make it a place where asking the right question in Japanese really matters.
14 min readOze National Park Guide: Marsh Boardwalks, Skunk Cabbage and Japanese to Use
Oze is a high moorland in the mountains where Gunma, Fukushima, Niigata and Tochigi meet, crossed by kilometres of wooden boardwalk. It is free to enter, open from late spring to autumn, and one of the best places in Japan to use a little trail Japanese with the rangers, hut staff and walkers you meet.
14 min readKurobe Gorge Railway Guide: Torokko Train, 2026 Reopening and Japanese to Use
The Kurobe Gorge Railway is a narrow-gauge torokko train that runs twenty kilometres up one of Japan's deepest gorges in Toyama, in open carriages above an emerald river. After two seasons cut short by the 2024 earthquake, the whole line to Keyakidaira reopens from 1 October 2026, and buying the ticket and asking about seats is a perfect first conversation in Japanese.
14 min readNagatoro Guide: River Boats, Iwadatami Rocks and Japanese to Use
Nagatoro is a small river town in the Chichibu area where the Arakawa cuts through a gorge of layered rock, and boatmen pole wooden boats down its rapids. It is an easy day from Tokyo, and the boat ticket office, the ropeway and the shrine give you plenty of short, practical exchanges in Japanese.
13 min readPractical guides
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