In mid-October, fresh off the repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Tokyo, I spent several weeks in Japan. It was my first time in the country, and I was excited to experience a culture that so many of my friends had grown to love. I was worried about travelling as a celiac due to soy sauce having wheat flour, and a large percentage of Japanese food making use of soy sauce as a tasty ingredient. It turns out that my worries were not unfounded; even their mayonnaise, always delicious, often had wheat as a thickener, let alone the soups and noodles.
Despite having a short card with me explaining in Japanese that I had celiac disease, I got sick many times. Even with a guide for the G Adventures part of my time in the country, I was sick after many meals. So after the trip I decided to hire a translator to help me with a gluten-free card that is actually tailored to the names of the foods in the country.
My life generally revolves around food, and mealtime with friends usually touches upon what we will eat during our next dining extravaganza. I’m the kind of person who goes to sleep thinking of what I want to eat first the next day; I’ll be chewing my lunch and dreaming of soup for dinner. Japan was an interesting ride, since much of the beautiful, meticulously prepared food was off limits.
My feeling about food in Japan: on the outside, looking in.
I gazed longingly at the ramen shops and the gyoza.
I pined for the curries and the miso soups.
So instead of eating everything all day long, I focused on the elegance of presentation, the obsession with order and thoughtfulness, and the truly picturesque train rides through the country. I was there in the fall, just before the trees began to change. Perfect for walking, watching, and taking photos.
As is the norm here at Legal Nomads, we go big or we go home.
So instead of a series of short photoessays reviewing my time in Japan, or a “what to see in Japan” guide, may I present you with 77 photos from my weeks in the country that represent my views of what is best to experience when you visit this beautiful country.
Tokyo
Asakusa, Tokyo, famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. Crowded market streets abound. My friend Amit, in the middle, standing out from the crowd.Matcha green tea powder, one of the more rewarding DIY tea offerings. Ground up earthy tea, then you add it to hot water, stir, drink. Enjoy. This from one of the many standing sushi dinners I ate while in Tokyo.One of my favourite Jodi-friendly snacks: black sesame and ground peanuts coating a sweet rice flour ball.Octopus at Tsukiji Fish Market in TokyoView from the floor: fish heads, wet pavement, many boxes of seafood. Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.Slicing tuna at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.Fresh tuna and salmon sashimi over rice, right at the source.
Takayama
To arrive in Takayama you have to take an incredibly beautiful train trip through the Japanese alps. The arrival scenery isn’t bad either.This is Takayama’s mascot, Sarubobo, which translates to “monkey baby” and rolls off the tongue quite well. I may or may not have repeated the word many times during the visit. It’s not just Takayama’s mascot, but Hida Region as a whole, and was a traditional gift from mothers to daughters after marriage.Tanuki, the goofy looking racoon dog with giant balls that we spotted throughout Japan. More about racoon dogs here.‘Praying Hand’ houses at the Hida no Sato, a traditional folk village outside of Takayama. The village contains 30 different traditional structures around a tiny lake, built elsewhere in the region during the Edo Period (1603 – 1867) and subsequently relocated when the museum was founded in 1971.Very confused restauranteurs at a tiny ramen and soba shop near Takayama’s train station. I showed them my celiac card and asked if I could have soup with no soy sauce and just soba noodles. They made a broth of the water used the boil the soba noodles, plus scallions and ginger. They were fairly appalled that I was eating something so bland, but it was one of the few noodle meals that didn’t get me sick. They made their own soba noodles from 100% buckwheat flour, which was a treat.Beautiful art gallery in TakayamaThis lady served miso-brushed rice flour skewers on the side of one of Takayama’s bridges. I loved her posture and elegance. I couldn’t eat the miso due to the wheat, but others with me said they were delicious.Contrast of colours and lines, TakayamaOld and new as the sun set over Takayama. We only had a short amount of time in this city, but it was a great way to come down off the chaos of Tokyo. We also stayed in a traditional ryokan inn with its own Japanese baths (onsen) on premises, and beds made of tatami mats, futons, and duvets.
Kanazawa
I truly wanted to linger in this city, and Kanazawa remained one of my favourite places from my weeks in Japan. Founded as a castle town in the late 1500s, the city has managed to both escape damage from significant natural disasters and from World War II. While it used to be a powerful and strategic city for the Maeda clan, it lagged during Japan’s Meiji period in the mid 1800s, never fully industrializing like some of the other country’s metropolises.
Kanazawa sits between the Sea of Japan and the Japanese Alps, and is subject to a significant rainy season. Because of the precipitation, the mountains, and some rich, volcanic soil, the land yields some incredible food including highly-valued Koshihikari rice (grown using mineral water from Mount Hakusan), fresh seafood that varies by season, and a variety of vegetables.
Much of that food is available at a bustling and colourful local market, Omicho. A good part of why I enjoyed Kanazawa was the many hours I spent at Omicho, sampling, enjoying the fruit and watching the vendors as they went about their day. Seafood was not only for sale to take home, but also available for purchase on the spot – oysters served raw, broiled scallops, sea urchin, shrimp, and so much more.
In addition to these natural riches, the city has an interesting past. During the Edo period (1604-1868) it was the richest region of the country outside the Tokugawa shogunate, and had access to products from Hokkaido as it lay on the trade routes from Hokkaido to Osaka during that time. Crafts, gold leaf production, and a vibrant art culture flourished and deepened even after the Edo period ended. UNESCO named Kanazawa a City of Crafts and Folk Art in 2009.
Oysters and fresh seafood to eat on the spot at Omicho market in Kanazawa
I loved the piles of eaten carcasses from hungry marketgoers. I wasn’t the only one drooling over that seafood! This is all from just one morning.A man stands and watches other vendors at Omicho market.Fresh herbs at the market. Hard not to buy a cluster and gnaw on them as I wandered.I always enjoyed trying new sake options but the availability in New York or Montreal pales grossly in comparison to what’s available here, with completely different sakes depending on the region of the country. Beautiful bottles too.As with Tsukiji, Kanazawa’s market also had wonderful sushi restaurants attached to its building, with reasonable prices.Gold leaf Hello Kitty from one of the many gold leaf shops around town.Dusk falling over one of the city’s entertainment districts, the well-preserved Higashi Chayagai, toward the end of my visit
With only afternoon in Kanazawa, some hard choices had to be made in terms of food and wandering. For those with a bit more time, some additional suggestions below.
Visit the D.T. Suzuki Museum. Designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, who also redesigned the MoMA in New York City, the Suzuki museum is a tribute to Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, a Buddhist philosopher who was highly influential in sharing Zen Buddhism with the west. While the museum is an homage to both Suzuki and Zen Buddhism, its immaculate construction and meticulous design make it one of the more peaceful places in town.
Visit the Myoryuji, the “Ninja temple”. Also known as Ninjadera, this temple was a Maeda construction, built during in 1585 as a traditional temple, then moved and fortified to protect the clan from Tokugawa shogunate intruders in 1643. It is so named because of the creative subterfuge that goes on within its walls. It has fake offering boxes, staircases with light panels to better stab at someone’s feet, walls that swivel into traps, a “middle floor” and a “middle middle floor” to hide the actual height of the building, tunnels, secret rooms, 29 staircases, and much more. Said to link directly to Kanazawa castle via a tunnel from its water well, Ninjadera remains one of the most interesting buildings I saw in Japan.
Visit the 21st Century Museum of Modern Art. The stated aim of the museum is to connect the region with the future of art by showcasing the “richly diverse art of our times [that] cuts across genres and transcends barriers of time and space.” But it also is shaped like a UFO, has giant glass walls, and a dizzying amount of hands-on experiments. Well worth a few hours of time, especially during one of Kanazawa’s signature rainstorms.
For those who love sushi, two dinner options:With a big budget — The “Jiro of Kanazawa”, Kazuhiko Tsurumi, is the sushi master at Otomezushi, reason enough for many to try his food. For those who love sushi, artful presentation, and careful creations, try the omakase (chef’s choice) at Otomezushi (4-10 Kiguramachi, Kanazawa).For those with a smaller food budget — with counter seats only, Sushi Ippei, a tiny eatery with a long wooden sushi bar, serves delicious, fresh fish at an affordable price. A good recommendation for those craving simple but fresh food without worrying about also eating into their travel budget. (1-5-29, Katamachi, Kanazawa, Phone 076-261-8674)
Hiroshima
One of the many meticulously prepared bento boxes the others were eating on the long train rides around Japan. Sadly too much wheat for me to partake, but what a beautiful presentation for a meal on the go.Visiting the A-bomb (Genbaku) dome in its current state, part of Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial.The Genbaku dome, built in April 1915 and destroyed by the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.Graves next to the Hiroshima Peace MemorialJapan’s commemorative rubber stamp from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. These stamps are collectable at many different spots in the country, often at train stations and important sights (like here and Mount Fuji). I have a notebook full of them.Hiroshima style okonomiyaki (a Japanese pancake), being made on a flat griddle.The almost-finished product. Sadly batter-filled, and not safe for me to eat. Looked delicious.Making cranes in Hiroshima. For context see here.
Miyajima
Just in case there were any questions: you take a ferry to visit Miyajima, a tiny island off of Hiroshima with its very photographed tori gate, Itsukushima Shrine.Also prevalent on Miyajima: deer. Lots and lots of deer. And they like to eat paper. You’ve been warned — keep those Japan rail passes tucked away or else risk losing them.Itsukushima Shrine as seen through a statue along the way.Also famous on Miyajima: grilled oysters. This one with eel on top, adding to the terribly delicious decadence.Roasted chestnuts to continue the food crawl.One of many grills filled with fresh oysters on Miyajima. I ate well.A family walks toward the floating tori gate (not so floating since the tide was out, however!)The floating shrine itself, but at low tide. It was actually really interesting to be able to walk right up to it, seeing the coins people threw for good luck embedded in the barnacles at the base of the shrine.Peering over the many students drawing on the island.We also happened on a wedding ceremony at the temple. The bride is the woman in the Wataboshi (conical white hat).Sake barrels are often displayed near a Shinto shrine. They are called kazaridaru (“decoration barrels”) — so they’re not full of sake. But they are lovely to look at.
Kyoto
Beautiful full moon rising over KyotoWooden plaques at Fushimi Inari shrine, Kyoto’s famous ‘orange gates’.Fushimi Inari shrine, known — and rightly so — for its thousands of bright orange tori gates, which stand astride a series of trails on Mount Inari.Candles on the walk up the trails of Fushimi Inari shrine.Fushimi Inari in black and white.The hike up the mountain took several hours, with my favourite section where the tori gates split into two parts. Easy to take many more hours to get lost along the way, with tiny restaurants splintering off from the main trail and great views of the city below.Fushimi Inari shrine is dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice, and in Shinto belief, foxes are Inari’s messengers. There are many fox statues dotting the trail up the mountain.On the way down, a stop at a temple where we were rewarded with a spectacular rainbow to cap off the day.Kinkakuji, Kyoto’s famous golden pavillion, shining against the water.Kinkakuji’s top two floors are completely covered in gold leaf, and though it was built as the retirement home for the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, it has burned down many times. This version was rebuilt in 1955.GOT IT.Kyoto station was home to a very packed conveyor belt sushi restaurant (kaiten-zushi), which was reasonable in price and very convenient. Drooling.Kyoto also home to some very colourful ramen, which I could not eat.On the walk up to Kiyomizudera (“Pure Water Temple”), which sits above Kyoto and was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. It was PACKED with people, but quite a fun trek up to the top, jostling between the student groups and many selfie sticks.View of Kiyomizudera from the opposite side of the woods.I never found these again but they were memorable: pine needle rice flour sweet dumplings, topped with a red bean paste. Found at a tiny shack next to the bamboo groves. Tastes that you would never put together but worked very well.Arashiyama’s famous bamboo groves, just outside of Kyoto.Bamboo as close as I can go.The golden hour in Kyoto.
Fuji
Fuji was my birthday mountain for 2014. I have been climbing mountains on my birthday for many years running, documenting a few of them here (the mishap of Mount Rinjani for my 30th, for example). I was unable to climb on my actual birthday this year because I was presenting at a conference, so Fuji was my “delayed birthday mountain.”
Sitting at 3776 meters, it is Japan’s highest (and arguably most famous) mountain. Since we were there after the summer hiking season, the top of the mountain was off limits. Instead, we climbed from the bottom to Hill Station 5, which took about 5 hours. From the top, a beautiful view of white thick clouds and distant peaks, the foliage already in full swing for the impending autumn season.
Fuji peaking through the clouds, as taken from my room in Kawaguchiko.These trees made me miss home.ARE WE THERE YET?Many steps to the top.Easily my favourite leaf of all, a stunning coral colour, silhouetted against the grey rock.View from Station 5, clouds rolling in.Another from the station itself, with tops of the cars visible at the bottom. We took a bus down, the last one of the day at 3:15pm.
After a hike of the mountain, some sake to enjoy the satisfying end to the day.
* * *
If you’re still alive, thus concludes what should be considered an epically long photoessay even by Legal Nomads standards. The closest I came was 41 photos from the Mekong markets, and even then people were like “ARE YOU SERIOUS YOUR EYES MUST BE BLURRY.”
Yup, serious.
This is the last post I’ll put up from Vietnam, as I am about to head to New Zealand on 1 January for the next few months.
Wishing everyone a happy new year and may your 2015 be great. Thank you for reading, commenting, and participating in Legal Nomads. I’m grateful for each and every one of you.
-Jodi
p.s. several people have asked about the photos. Yes. they are taken with a camera, no iPhone. No, I don’t edit in Lightroom or Photoshop, but I do crop and straighten using the free Picasa tool. Camera is an Olympus E-P3 camera, with a 20mm “pancake” Panasonic f/1.7 lens.
A reminder that the time I spent in Japan after my trans-Pacific cruise was as a Wanderer in Residence for G Adventures, and part and parcel of my long-term brand ambassadorship with the company. Costs and expenses were covered by them on this Discover Japan trip.
Jodi is a former lawyer turned award-winning travel writer and photographer who shares resources and stories from a decade of eating and living abroad. Her expertise has led to features in the New York Times, National Geographic, BBC Travel, CNN, The Guardian, and more. Jodi also has celiac disease, and her longform gluten free guides and translation cards (over 18,000 cards sold!) have helped fellow celiacs eat safely as they travel.
Following a lumbar puncture that left her disabled in 2017, her work has shifted to focus on curiosity, chronic pain, and the challenges we all face when life changes drastically. She was named a 'Most Influential Health Advocate' of 2023, and also sits on the Board of Directors for the Spinal CSF Leak Foundation. Please see the About page for more.
I have been living in Japan for the past five and a half months and I only have another two weeks left. I enjoyed reading your post and looking at your pictures. Reminded me of when I went to see these places! It is a good selection as it truely represents what it is like in Japan.
Loved Japan in the 7.5 weeks I was there. These pictures make me desperate to go back, especially for the conveyer belt sushi. I spent a great deal of time in those places.
Beautiful photos! I really enjoyed this post, more so for the fact that I accidentally came across your blog, and found out that I’ll be visiting many of the places you visited (Tokyo, Takayama, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Miyajima). I’m off to Japan for three weeks in May, so I’m looking forward to reading your experiences of Japan as a coeliac, as I’m currently mentally preparing myself for a 21-day feast of plain rice, and more plain rice, and huge amounts of food envy!
I’d love to climb Mt. Fuji, but we’re visiting in the closed season as well, so were wondering where you started your hike to get to Station 5?
Wow, what beautiful photos! Japan is a destination I’ve always wanted to visit. It must be so hard looking at all that food and not being able to try it, I can’t imagine!
I love the setup of your blog as well and was wondering what theme you use because it’s gorgeous!
Great post, you really seem to have captured Japanese culture in this photo essay.
Very possibly my favorite post by far. You are a wonderful writer and I have immensely enjoyed reading your material over the years. I hope to visit Japan, as a celebration of my 35th birthday. Every time I see pictures of Japan, I ache with envy. Your writing is amazing. Your pictures are beautiful. Thank you for telling your stories.
Thank you Jennifer! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed reading, and that this mega-post wasn’t too long to put you off :-) Safe travels to you and I hope your eventual Japan visit is all that you hope it will be.
I had skipped over Japan back in 2009 when a friend of mine suggested The Philippines instead (it was December…). I’m glad I went the The PI but I’m thinking, after viewing your amazing pictures, its about time to finially check Japan off the list.
When you mentioned you couldn’t eat the miso brushed dango because of the wheat, I did a double-take. I asked my Japanese wife “Does miso contain wheat?” Her confused response led me to Wikipedia where I learned that indeed it does, or can. It looks like there are some types of miso that contain other grains (sobamugi miso has buckwheat) that you might be able to digest. You could ask the shop owners what kind of miso they use, though you could be met with the same confused looks I got.
Yup, there are several types of miso, but it appears rare — from those I asked in Japan at least — to have ones solely with buckwheat these days. It’s cheaper to use wheat, so most of the misos are derived from wheat instead of other grains. Thanks for the research! Definitely not a simple place to eat for a celiac.
Awesome shot Jodi. Thanks for sharing this beautiful place. That view in Kiyomizudera is amazing!
Definitely going to include this place on my next trip to Japan.
I am wanting to start a travel blog too! I was wondering if you could help lead me in the right direction? I just finished a backpacking trip across Japan for 3 months as well! Cool too revisit the places through your photos! What camera did you use?
Hi Jodi, Thank you so much for sharing your travel stories! My husband is a Celiac and Type 1 Diabetic. We were going to go to Japan but now we’re panning a trip to Saigon, based on your delicious stories! It’ll be so nice to go to a place where he can eat most things. I’m sorry that you’ve gotten so sick, but definitely thankful for your intrepid spirit and your willingness to be a “test belly” for all of us. We’ve ordered a copy of your book and we’re really looking forward to your gluten free food maps and guides for celiacs.
-Christina
Hi Christina, thank you for the note and I hope you two enjoy Saigon! Happy that my posts have helped shape your travels — hopefully for the better! — and please let me know if you have any questions about your time in Vietnam.
Lovely photo essay and brings back many great memories from our 3 week trip to Japan! So different to everyone else we’ve ever been but would definitely love to return. We particularly loved Kyoto, Miyajima and Osaka is a great city!
This is a beautiful account of your trip to Japan and you capture the atmosphere very well. You are a very talented photographer. Keep up the great work!
Jodi, I totally understand your wistful comments about the beautiful, tantalizing, and unavailable Japanese food. I’m also someone with Celiac disease who loves to eat food from around the world. It’s difficult to have to be a food voyeur so much of the time. I’m hoping you have discovered that it is possible to make Okonomiyaki gluten free. I make my own using rice and tapioca flours for the batter. I make the Osaka style, where most of the ingredients are mixed rather than layered as in the Hiroshima style. Okonomiyaki has become one of my comfort foods.
Wow that sounds incredibly good! It was very tough to watch the great foods being consumed and not be able to enjoy them, especially the okonomiyaki. I hope you have many delicious gluten-free meals in your future!
I loved this. It makes me miss Japan so much. I lived between Takayama and Kyoto, close to Nagoya, last year. I’m so glad you got to go there and experience the culture and the people. If you get a chance in the future you should try the Pilgrimage in Shikoku. About 60 days of walking between 88 temples. An amazing experience(even though I didn’t finish). Thanks Jodi.
Wow – your photos are superb! It’s so nice to see them and be reminded of the wonderful month I spent in Japan earlier this year – hoping I can make it back there in 2016.
“No scribbling here” – love it! Brings me back to my time spent in Japan during 2003. I remember trying to find the weirdest English language signs I possibly could. I never had to look very far ;-)
Such a great visual essay, Jodi! I loved the moody sky pic in Takayama. Sorry to hear you had some troubles with getting food for your dietary requirements. I’ve been based in Tokyo for the better part of a decade, and although things are getting easier for those with allergies and dietary conditions, it can still be extremely hard. I’m always reminded when friends visit Japan and there are things they are unable to eat. The idea of vegetarianism and veganism is still a very new concept for many, let alone knowledge of the range of other dietary requirements visitors, and Japanese themselves, may have. Many restaurants still believe that a “vegetarian curry” means scooping out the meat from a meat-based curry and serving with vegetables. But there is a growing trend towards gluten, wheat and dairy free meals, and cafes that only offer vegetarian or vegan food, as Tokyo progresses towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Hopefully by the next time you visit, you’ll have many more options!
Those photographs of Mount Fuji are breathtaking. I had quite the pleasant experience of climbing Mount Fuji myself in July of 2019 and had the misfortune of not being able to summit due to a typhoon earlier in the year pushing a boulder in the path that made it safe to complete the climb. Really enjoyed the rest of the photos as well, you’ve truly captured Japan in its purest form. The lady serving the miso-brushed rice flour skewers, the man showing you the fish, and the workers at the ramen and soba shop near Takayama train station made my heart warm and captured the Japanese spirit. I need to make a trip back. Thanks for the photos and creative writing!
I have been living in Japan for the past five and a half months and I only have another two weeks left. I enjoyed reading your post and looking at your pictures. Reminded me of when I went to see these places! It is a good selection as it truely represents what it is like in Japan.
Thank you Veronica!
Loved Japan in the 7.5 weeks I was there. These pictures make me desperate to go back, especially for the conveyer belt sushi. I spent a great deal of time in those places.
Hi Jodi,
Beautiful photos! I really enjoyed this post, more so for the fact that I accidentally came across your blog, and found out that I’ll be visiting many of the places you visited (Tokyo, Takayama, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Miyajima). I’m off to Japan for three weeks in May, so I’m looking forward to reading your experiences of Japan as a coeliac, as I’m currently mentally preparing myself for a 21-day feast of plain rice, and more plain rice, and huge amounts of food envy!
I’d love to climb Mt. Fuji, but we’re visiting in the closed season as well, so were wondering where you started your hike to get to Station 5?
Sarah
Thanks Sarah! I started at the bottom of the mountain and walked up to Station 5.
Hi, I’m going in May too. Mid-May, but’ll be sure to check out those areas mentioned.
These photos only made me more excited about my upcoming trip to Japan.
Wow, what beautiful photos! Japan is a destination I’ve always wanted to visit. It must be so hard looking at all that food and not being able to try it, I can’t imagine!
I love the setup of your blog as well and was wondering what theme you use because it’s gorgeous!
Great post, you really seem to have captured Japanese culture in this photo essay.
Very possibly my favorite post by far. You are a wonderful writer and I have immensely enjoyed reading your material over the years. I hope to visit Japan, as a celebration of my 35th birthday. Every time I see pictures of Japan, I ache with envy. Your writing is amazing. Your pictures are beautiful. Thank you for telling your stories.
Thank you Jennifer! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed reading, and that this mega-post wasn’t too long to put you off :-) Safe travels to you and I hope your eventual Japan visit is all that you hope it will be.
I had skipped over Japan back in 2009 when a friend of mine suggested The Philippines instead (it was December…). I’m glad I went the The PI but I’m thinking, after viewing your amazing pictures, its about time to finially check Japan off the list.
Happy Travels!
When you mentioned you couldn’t eat the miso brushed dango because of the wheat, I did a double-take. I asked my Japanese wife “Does miso contain wheat?” Her confused response led me to Wikipedia where I learned that indeed it does, or can. It looks like there are some types of miso that contain other grains (sobamugi miso has buckwheat) that you might be able to digest. You could ask the shop owners what kind of miso they use, though you could be met with the same confused looks I got.
Great photoessay!
Yup, there are several types of miso, but it appears rare — from those I asked in Japan at least — to have ones solely with buckwheat these days. It’s cheaper to use wheat, so most of the misos are derived from wheat instead of other grains. Thanks for the research! Definitely not a simple place to eat for a celiac.
Awesome shot Jodi. Thanks for sharing this beautiful place. That view in Kiyomizudera is amazing!
Definitely going to include this place on my next trip to Japan.
I am wanting to start a travel blog too! I was wondering if you could help lead me in the right direction? I just finished a backpacking trip across Japan for 3 months as well! Cool too revisit the places through your photos! What camera did you use?
Hi Tomoya! Camera info is at the bottom of the post. Glad you liked it.
Hi Jodi, Thank you so much for sharing your travel stories! My husband is a Celiac and Type 1 Diabetic. We were going to go to Japan but now we’re panning a trip to Saigon, based on your delicious stories! It’ll be so nice to go to a place where he can eat most things. I’m sorry that you’ve gotten so sick, but definitely thankful for your intrepid spirit and your willingness to be a “test belly” for all of us. We’ve ordered a copy of your book and we’re really looking forward to your gluten free food maps and guides for celiacs.
-Christina
Hi Christina, thank you for the note and I hope you two enjoy Saigon! Happy that my posts have helped shape your travels — hopefully for the better! — and please let me know if you have any questions about your time in Vietnam.
Lovely photo essay and brings back many great memories from our 3 week trip to Japan! So different to everyone else we’ve ever been but would definitely love to return. We particularly loved Kyoto, Miyajima and Osaka is a great city!
This is a beautiful account of your trip to Japan and you capture the atmosphere very well. You are a very talented photographer. Keep up the great work!
Beautiful pictures! We’ve always wanted to go to Kyoto and Fuji areas!
Jodi, I totally understand your wistful comments about the beautiful, tantalizing, and unavailable Japanese food. I’m also someone with Celiac disease who loves to eat food from around the world. It’s difficult to have to be a food voyeur so much of the time. I’m hoping you have discovered that it is possible to make Okonomiyaki gluten free. I make my own using rice and tapioca flours for the batter. I make the Osaka style, where most of the ingredients are mixed rather than layered as in the Hiroshima style. Okonomiyaki has become one of my comfort foods.
Wow that sounds incredibly good! It was very tough to watch the great foods being consumed and not be able to enjoy them, especially the okonomiyaki. I hope you have many delicious gluten-free meals in your future!
Amazing photos. The clarity, depth and focus is amazing. Did you use any post-processing on them? Like using Adobe Lightroom?
Hi Sujoy, glad you liked them. No, I don’t use Lightroom or Photoshop. I did straighten and crop using Picasa but that’s it.
I loved this. It makes me miss Japan so much. I lived between Takayama and Kyoto, close to Nagoya, last year. I’m so glad you got to go there and experience the culture and the people. If you get a chance in the future you should try the Pilgrimage in Shikoku. About 60 days of walking between 88 temples. An amazing experience(even though I didn’t finish). Thanks Jodi.
Thank you for the suggestion! I’ll definitely keep it in mind for next time.
Wow – your photos are superb! It’s so nice to see them and be reminded of the wonderful month I spent in Japan earlier this year – hoping I can make it back there in 2016.
“No scribbling here” – love it! Brings me back to my time spent in Japan during 2003. I remember trying to find the weirdest English language signs I possibly could. I never had to look very far ;-)
Beautiful photos showing a different perspective! It made me miss Japan.
Such a great visual essay, Jodi! I loved the moody sky pic in Takayama. Sorry to hear you had some troubles with getting food for your dietary requirements. I’ve been based in Tokyo for the better part of a decade, and although things are getting easier for those with allergies and dietary conditions, it can still be extremely hard. I’m always reminded when friends visit Japan and there are things they are unable to eat. The idea of vegetarianism and veganism is still a very new concept for many, let alone knowledge of the range of other dietary requirements visitors, and Japanese themselves, may have. Many restaurants still believe that a “vegetarian curry” means scooping out the meat from a meat-based curry and serving with vegetables. But there is a growing trend towards gluten, wheat and dairy free meals, and cafes that only offer vegetarian or vegan food, as Tokyo progresses towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Hopefully by the next time you visit, you’ll have many more options!
Absolutely. I agree with you. Greetings from Japan :)
Those photographs of Mount Fuji are breathtaking. I had quite the pleasant experience of climbing Mount Fuji myself in July of 2019 and had the misfortune of not being able to summit due to a typhoon earlier in the year pushing a boulder in the path that made it safe to complete the climb. Really enjoyed the rest of the photos as well, you’ve truly captured Japan in its purest form. The lady serving the miso-brushed rice flour skewers, the man showing you the fish, and the workers at the ramen and soba shop near Takayama train station made my heart warm and captured the Japanese spirit. I need to make a trip back. Thanks for the photos and creative writing!
Ishmail
So glad you enjoyed it. Thank you!
I love Japan so much and this post is awesome!