Stories from Japan.

From IC cards and luggage forwarding to restaurant hours and unspoken rules, these are the practical details I no longer consciously notice, but wish every first-time visitor knew. This is my attempt to remember them and to answer the questions people still ask me before their first journey: What should I know about Japan?

Why does Japan have millions of empty houses? Beyond the cheap akiya myth lies a story of inheritance, depopulation and the future of rural communities.

Of all the places I’ve travelled, this journey stays with me the most. Reaching Chichijima, one of Tōkyō’s remote Ogasawara Islands, takes twenty-four hours by ferry. No flights, no internet, only sea and silence. Yet in that distance I found something I hadn’t expected: the rare kind of connection that doesn’t need a signal.

Smoke rises from a kiln in Mashiko, and the scent of clay and cedar hangs in the air. In Japan’s pottery villages, earth, fire and human hands still shape one another. Slowly, stubbornly, beautifully.

In a city that rewrites itself each decade, a few rooms still resist the clock. Behind fogged windows and heavy curtains, the air smells of roasted beans and tobacco; a record hums faintly through the static. These are Tōkyō’s kissaten 喫茶店 — traditional coffeehouses that survive on ritual, reputation and the quiet loyalty of regulars.

Japanese culture is not necessarily renowned for its romanticism, yet it contains many deeply emotional and poignant tales. Among these, the legend of a red thread stands out: A mystical bond that is said to unite the fates and souls of two people inseparably, transcending time and space. This beautiful metaphor reflects the profound connections that exist beyond the visible world.