Japan Is Not Just Tokyo — A Local's Guide to the Japan Beyond the Guidebooks
From anime pilgrimages and hot springs to quiet seaside towns in Shonan — welcome to the Travel section of Real Japan Life.
When most people picture Japan, they picture Tokyo first — the scramble crossing in Shibuya, the neon of Shinjuku, the arcades of Akihabara. Tokyo is wonderful, of course. But Japan is a country of 47 prefectures, and Tokyo is just one of them. Step outside it, and the climate, the food, the accents, and even the festivals change from place to place.
In the Travel section of this blog, I will introduce ways to enjoy Japan that go beyond the standard guidebook routes — from the point of view of someone who actually lives here.
Anime pilgrimages: a very Japanese way to travel
One uniquely Japanese style of travel is the "anime pilgrimage" — visiting real places that appeared in anime and manga. For fans, it is a journey into the world of a story. For those of us who live nearby, it is a strange and happy sight: an ordinary railway crossing, station, or slope at home is a special place for people from all over the world. In my own area, the Shonan coast, there is a seaside station and crossing made famous by a world-famous anime, and fans still visit it every day.
Hot springs, festivals, and local food
Hot springs are found all over Japan, and the culture of soaking and slowing down looks a little different in every region. Festivals, too, run throughout the year, each reflecting the history and beliefs of its town. And then there is the local food — dishes you can only taste in that place. In Shonan, blessed with seafood from Sagami Bay, dishes made with shirasu (whitebait) are a perfect example of a flavor worth traveling for.
My home: the Shonan area
The area I most want to introduce is my home, Shonan. It is about an hour by train from Tokyo, a stretch of seaside towns facing Sagami Bay, where Mt. Fuji appears across the water on clear days. Places like Enoshima and Kamakura are already known overseas — but that is not all Shonan is. Right next to the famous sights are local shopping streets, quiet stretches of coastline, and small stations woven into residents' daily lives. These "scenes of everyday life" that never make the guidebooks are the Japan I most want to share.
What this section will do
From here on, this section will take up recommended places across Japan, one at a time. Even famous places look different through a local's eyes. As the articles grow, I will gather their links on this page and build it into a table of contents for traveling the real Japan.
Beyond the image of "Japan = Tokyo" — let's start the journey together.
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