This week, in between Mr. Krigbaum’s articles on WWII in The Philippines, I will go back to talking about castles here in Japan. Nagoya Castle is a grand reconstructed castle a couple of hours south of Tokyo by shinkansen with…
Discovering Local History – Chigasaki’s Oldest Place
I took a long walk down Route 1 back when I lived in Chigasaki, Japan, and on my walk I found a large torii gate standing along the highway, seemingly by itself. At the time, I thought this was…
Himeji – Japan’s Premier Castle
If you have ever spent any time reading about Japan, or even just looked at a tourism guide about the country, you have likely seen the beautiful bright white Japanese castle that often adorns Japan’s promotional literature. That…
Tour Brugge (Video)
Here’s a little photo video from my trip to Bruges / Brugge, Belgium. A living yet preserved city of the middle ages, it was easy just to wander around and take pictures of the city itself and not just the…
Hikone Castle – One of Japan’s Finest Castles
If you’ve ever traveled around Japan you know that they love their castles. Almost every old castle town has either rebuilt their castles, preserved the grounds as a park, or, in rare cases, preserved their castle through the centuries. …
A Short Military Tour of London
Sometimes I just want to see really big guns. And Winston Churchill. And castles. And enemy artillery melted down into monuments to the victor’s everlasting glory. Then I want to drink tea. Luckily, London can oblige in all these areas…
The Zen Retreat of Saijoji Temple.
As I was going through my pictures deciding on this week’s article, I stumbled across some older pictures from shortly after I had gotten my first DSLR camera. As I got more into photography, I started taking my camera…
The Great Stone Buddhas of Mount Nokogiri
In Chiba prefecture, far from the traditional cultural centers of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Nara, there is a temple complex called Nihonji. The temple is located on the side of a sacred mountain amidst an old rock quarry and has…
It’s More Fun in the Philippines! (Part II)
The Road to Vigan Sagada was our last major stop in the mountains but on our way to the northwestern coast we stopped at the Battle of Bessang Pass Memorial, which commemorates a late World War II battle between a…
It’s More Fun in the Philippines! (Part I)
My personal paradise is the Philippines. Not the beaches and beer Philippines, though. You can keep that. It’s the Philippines that’s covered in pines, isn’t shy about its headhunting past and sees nothing wrong with blasting “Gangnam Style” whilst lasering…