Cities of Japan - Matsue City

Matsue is the capital of Shimane prefecture, located in the south western Honshu, the main island of Japan. Matsue sits on the banks of the Ohashi River, which connects the lakes of Lake Shinji and Nakaumi. Matsue is home to one of the 12 original castles in Japan, having survived wars, fires and earthquakes. The castle was completed in 1611 and renovated in the 1950s. There is a small museum dedicated to the Irish author Lafcadio Hearn, who lived in Matsue for a year, located in his former residence. Hearn was the first Western author to write books about Japan, including Japanese ghost stories, and there is a small museum next to the house dedicated to him and his works.

The Lafcadio Hearn Residence in Matsue City.
Source: JNTO

New Japan Discovered Autumn Date

Unique Japan Tours have just launched a New Autumn date for their most popular Small Group Tour to Japan (Japan Discovered), starting on October 28th. This will be the perfect time to see some of the best Japan has to offer, including Osaka, Koyasan, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Gokayama, Takayama, Matsumoto, Snow monkey park in the hills of Nagano before ending up in the metropolitan capital Tokyo, during this much sought after Autumn Season.

See more Autumn leaves like these!
https://flic.kr/p/q2q7VJ

Spend your days sightseeing with our experienced and friendly tour leader, meeting local people as you go along, and spending time soaking up the warm, but not unpleasant weather, before heading back to your accommodation, a soak in the hot spring, before sitting down to your dinner of grilled sanma, with a bowl of shimai, maybe some matsutake soup followed up with some local seasonal fruit.

Matsutake rice with miso soup. Autumn goodness!

Source: https://flic.kr/p/6XTkUh

Read more from our Japan Discovered Tour Dossier, to get a glimpse of what to expect while joining this once in a lifetime trip to Japan.

If you are not keen on joining a small group tour, or your budget is limited, then perhaps a Self-Guided Trip is more suitable for you. Eitherway, we would be happy to quote and send you a sample itinerary to ensure you get the very best out of your time in Japan. Contact one of our talented Japan Travel Specialists today. 

Autumn in Japan

After the heat of the summer months, autumn offers a welcome respite to the Japanese. There are a few popular axioms, shokuyoku no aki, dokusho no aki and finally supotsu no aki. They basically mean autumn is for eating, reading and exercise respectively.

Autumn leaves at Nanzen-ji Kyoto.
Source: https://flic.kr/p/dyVJ1W

Why would you go to Japan in autumn? There’s a laundry list of reasons, and like spring and its cherry blossoms, one of the main reasons involves trees, beautiful nature and stunning colours.

Friday Roundup: March 20, 2015

Welcome to the third edition of the Unique Japan Tours Friday Round Up. The purpose of this post is to collect in one place the best things we've shared on social media during the week. Follow us on Twitter,Facebook, Google+ and Instagram to get great Japan content from around the web we think is worth reading!

Friday Roundup: March 13, 2015

Welcome to the second edition of the Unique Japan Tours Friday Round Up. The purpose of this post is to collect in one place the best things we've shared on social media during the week. Follow us on Twitter,Facebook, Google+ and Instagram to get great Japan content from around the web we think is worth reading!

Friday Roundup: March 6, 2015

Welcome to the first edition of the Unique Japan Tours Friday Round Up. The purpose of this post is to collect in one place the best things we've shared on social media during the week. Social media? Yeah, we use Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram. Follow us on any one of those platforms to get great Japan content from around the web we think is worth reading!

Interactive Tokyo Map: The Best Tokyo Sightseeing Spots

     Tokyo is the capital of Japan and one of the largest metropolises in the world. If you're visiting Japan, you're likely to fly into this magnificent city. We often recommend to our clients that they spend a few days in Tokyo, and explore the city as much as possible. There's so many places to go that it's hard to figure out where is best to go though.

Sue in Japan: Follow our client

We love sharing stories of our clients with you. Usually, these stories take the form of a testimonial, sent to us after the tour is completed. But this time we have something different for you!

Kanazawa: 2015 Holiday Hotspot

     You may have seen Kanazawa was selected by the Guardian newspaper as one of their Holiday Hotspots for 2015. Kanazawa features on several of our tours, both small group and self-guided, and is a favourite destination among everyone here in the UJT offices. Today we're going to dig a little deeper in Kanazawa and discover this beautiful city.

Japan Discovered: The Ultimate Introduction to Japan

     We run a small group tour called Japan Discovered, and it really is a great way to discover what Japan is all about. You will experience everything you could hope to experience on this tour: from the neon lights of the big city, to the serenity of the mountainous countryside, to the peaceful sense of harmony at the temples and shires of this amazing, ancient culture.

Tourism to Japan hits all-time High!

What a year 2014 has been, not only for us here at Unique Japan Tours, but for Japan Tourism in general. It was only announced last month that the number of foreign visitors to Japan topped 11,000,000 in the first 10 months of 2014, more than all of 2013!

What this did mean is that we’ve been incredibly busy for the past year, and we have neglected our friends in cyberspace, both on the blog, Twitter and Facebook. But we’re going to do better so watch this space!!

Is there anything you would like us to talk about? Particular destinations in Japan? Tourist etiquette? We are happy to share our knowledge with our followers & friends. Let us know in the comments below!

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Looking good at almost 100

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First-time visitors to Tokyo often ask where the centre of Tokyo is. Answers vary according to the person who you are talking to but the plain fact is that there is no one true centre for this sprawling metropolis. However, if you were to go back around 100 years, there was one station that represented the centre of the city in many ways: Tokyo Station.



One of reconstructed domes atop Tokyo Station brings style and panache to the whole area

Currently surrounded by shiny high-rise buildings and hundreds upon hundreds of companies, Tokyo Station’s roots go back to 1914. The station first opened with four platforms, two of which served electric trains and two served non-electric trains. However, it was the station’s iconic three-storey red-brick building housing two domes designed by leading Japanese architect Kingo Tatsuno that impressed people most at the time. Rumoured (falsely) to have been modelled on Amsterdam’s main station, the building – 335 metres in length, 20 metres in width and 45 metres in height – was for the time an ultra-modern construction that way ahead of anything else that existed at that time in Japan.

On October 1, 2012, the newly refurbished Marunouchi side of the building re-opened after 5 years of restoration work. Many parts of this landmark have been restored to their former glory. In particular, the domes that were destroyed in World War II have been completely brought back to life from the outside and the inside where zodiac symbols adorn beautifully decorative ornate plaster.

Many people, both locals and tourists alike, have been marvelling at a feat of architecture that will soon be celebrating its 100^th birthday.

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