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 4
Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route Guide: Snow Walls, Dam and Japanese to Use
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route crosses the Northern Japan Alps between Toyama and Nagano by cable car, bus, ropeway and electric bus, climbing to 2,450 metres at Murodō. In spring you drive between snow walls taller than a house; in summer and autumn you get alpine lakes, a giant dam and wide mountain views.
11 min readKaruizawa Guide: Forest Walks, Cycling and Japanese to Use
Karuizawa is a cool, green resort town at about 1,000 metres, just over an hour from Tokyo by Shinkansen. Missionaries made it a summer retreat in the 1880s, and today it is a place of forest paths, wooden chapels, lakes and waterfalls, best explored by bicycle with a few rental-shop phrases.
11 min readNakasendō Guide: Walking Magome to Tsumago and Japanese to Use
The walk from Magome to Tsumago follows an old stretch of the Nakasendō, the inland highway between Edo and Kyoto, over a forested pass between two beautifully preserved post towns. It takes about three hours, you can send your bags ahead, and the tourist offices at both ends make it an easy place to use your Japanese.
11 min readTakayama Guide: Old Town, Morning Markets, Sake and Japanese to Use
Takayama, in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture, has one of the best-preserved old merchant quarters in Japan, two morning markets, sake breweries marked by cedar balls and the only surviving shogunate government office. It is compact, walkable and full of small shops, which makes it a perfect place for everyday Japanese.
11 min readShirakawa-gō Guide: Thatched Farmhouses, Viewpoint and Japanese to Use
Shirakawa-gō is a mountain village of steep thatched farmhouses in the Shō River valley, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with its neighbour Gokayama. Most visitors arrive by bus from Takayama or Kanazawa, walk the lanes of Ogimachi and climb to the viewpoint, and a few short phrases make the visit, and especially a night in a farmhouse inn, far richer.
14 min readKenroku-en Guide: Kanazawa's Great Garden, Lanterns and Japanese to Use
Kenroku-en in Kanazawa is one of Japan's three great gardens, a strolling garden of ponds, streams and ancient pines created by the Maeda lords of Kaga. It charges a small entry fee, opens free in the early morning, and is an easy, gentle place to practise ordering tea and asking the way in Japanese.
13 min readHigashi Chaya District Guide: Teahouses, Gold Leaf and Japanese to Use
Higashi Chaya is the largest of Kanazawa's three old geisha districts, a street of two-storey wooden teahouses with fine lattice fronts, founded in 1820. Two teahouses are open as museums, the rest hold cafés and gold leaf shops, and it is one of the best streets in Japan to practise ordering tea and booking a hands-on workshop in Japanese.
13 min readNagoya Castle Guide: Hommaru Palace, Golden Shachi and Japanese to Use
Nagoya Castle was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu and crowned with golden shachihoko, and its rebuilt Hommaru Palace is one of the most beautiful interiors in Japan. The main keep has been closed since 2018 while the city plans to rebuild it in wood, so the visit today is the palace, the walls and turrets and the grounds, with plenty of chances to use polite Japanese.
13 min readGhibli Park Guide: Advance Tickets, Five Areas and Japanese to Use
Ghibli Park, in the Expo 2005 Aichi Commemorative Park near Nagoya, brings the worlds of Studio Ghibli into five areas spread through a large wooded park. Every ticket must be booked in advance for a specific date, with no sales at the gate, so the planning matters as much as the visit; the Japanese on the signs and at the counters is gentle, playful and very learnable.
13 min readInuyama Castle Guide: Japan's Oldest Keep, Castle Town and Japanese to Use
Inuyama Castle, on a hill above the Kiso River north of Nagoya, has what its managers describe as the oldest surviving castle keep in Japan, and it is one of only five keeps designated National Treasures. The visit combines a walk through an old castle town, a steep climb inside a real wooden keep and a panoramic balcony, with plenty of chances to use simple, polite Japanese.
12 min readGujō Hachiman Guide: Water Town, Gujō Odori and Japanese to Use
Gujō Hachiman is a small castle town in the mountains of Gifu, built where clear rivers meet and threaded with canals, springs and stone lanes. It is famous for its water, its hilltop castle and the Gujō Odori, a summer dance that anyone may join, and it rewards a visitor who can ask a few friendly questions in Japanese.
14 min readEihei-ji Guide: Zen Head Temple, Temple Rules and Japanese to Use
Eihei-ji, founded by Zen Master Dōgen in 1244, is one of the two head temples of Sōtō Zen and still a working monastery where over a hundred monks train. Visitors walk its covered corridors in socks, among cedars in the mountains east of Fukui, and a few quiet, polite phrases are all the Japanese you need.
12 min readPractical guides
Turn Japanese knowledge into speaking confidence
Practice with Unihongo's AI Sensei in an immersive 3D classroom, with roleplay missions, pronunciation coaching, useful feedback, and learning games that build your vocabulary while you play.