Japan travel
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
Japan travel · Page 11
Fukuoka Yatai Guide: Food Stalls, Hakata Ramen and Japanese to Use
Fukuoka's yatai are open-air food stalls that appear on the pavements every evening and fold away before morning. With seven to ten seats around one counter, they are the easiest place in Japan to order in Japanese and end up chatting with the person next to you.
12 min readDazaifu Tenmangū Guide: Plum Trees, Main Hall and Japanese to Use
Dazaifu Tenmangū is the head shrine of Tenjin, the deity of learning, and the easiest great shrine to reach from Fukuoka. Its main hall reopened for worship from the front in September 2026 after a three-year restoration, and it is a lovely place to read shrine signs and ask for a study charm in Japanese.
11 min readNagasaki Guide: Peace Park, Glover Garden, Dejima and Japanese to Use
Nagasaki packs centuries of history into a small harbour city: the Dutch trading island of Dejima, the Western merchant houses of Glover Garden and the Peace Park that remembers 9 August 1945. A cheap, friendly tram links them all, and riding it is a perfect place to use simple Japanese.
11 min readGunkanjima Guide: Landing on Battleship Island and Japanese to Use
Gunkanjima, officially Hashima, is an abandoned coal-mining island off Nagasaki whose concrete apartment blocks make it look like a warship at sea. You can only visit on a licensed boat tour, and whether you can land depends on the waves, which makes the boarding desk a good place to use a few careful questions in Japanese.
10 min readHuis Ten Bosch Guide: Dutch Town, Tickets and Japanese to Use
Huis Ten Bosch is a theme park near Sasebo that recreates a Dutch town, complete with canals, a cathedral tower and a copy of the royal palace in The Hague. It is also full of ticket counters, queues and information desks, which makes it an easy place to practise everyday Japanese.
10 min readKumamoto Castle Guide: Keep, Stone Walls, Restoration and Japanese
Kumamoto Castle is one of Japan's great castles, famous for its curving stone walls and a keep rebuilt after the 2016 earthquakes. Repairs are still going on, and a strong earthquake in July 2026 damaged walls again, but the keep and the elevated walkway reopened in August 2026.
10 min readMount Aso Guide: Caldera, Crater Status, Kusasenri and Japanese to Use
Mount Aso is an active volcano inside one of the largest calderas on Earth, with grasslands, grazing horses and towns living on the caldera floor. In autumn 2026 the Nakadake crater itself is closed under a volcanic alert, but Kusasenri, Daikanbō and the caldera are open, and knowing a few Japanese words for volcano warnings is genuinely useful here.
11 min readBeppu Hells Guide: Jigoku Meguri, Steam Cooking and Japanese to Use
The hells of Beppu are seven boiling hot springs for looking at rather than bathing in: a cobalt-blue pond, a blood-red one, bubbling mud and a geyser. Touring them, the jigoku meguri, is Beppu's classic outing, and buying the combined ticket and ordering steamed food are easy first conversations in Japanese.
10 min readYufuin Guide: Onsen Town, Lake Kinrin and Japanese to Use
Yufuin is a small hot spring town in a green basin below the twin peaks of Mount Yufu. It is known for quiet ryokan, a misty lake and a lively shopping street, and asking for a day bath or a private family bath is the perfect conversation to try in Japanese.
10 min readTakachiho Gorge Guide: Manai Falls, Boats and Japanese to Use
Takachiho Gorge is a narrow canyon of basalt columns in the mountains of northern Miyazaki, where Manai Falls drops into an emerald river. Rowing a boat under the falls is the highlight, and asking whether boats are still available is a real test of your Japanese on a busy day.
10 min readSakurajima Guide: Ferry, Volcano Views and Japanese to Use
Sakurajima is the smoking volcano across the bay from Kagoshima, a fifteen-minute ferry ride from the city centre. You can stand on a lava field, soak your feet in volcanic hot water and watch the crater puff ash, and every step comes with short, useful Japanese.
13 min readIbusuki Sand Baths Guide: Sunamushi, Saraku and Japanese to Use
In Ibusuki, at the southern tip of the Satsuma Peninsula, you put on a yukata, lie down on the beach and let staff shovel naturally heated sand over you. It is one of the most unusual baths in Japan, and it runs on a handful of polite phrases.
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