IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Villa Atulya at Ocean’s Edge, Mirissa, Sri Lanka

September 18, 2015 by joostay

Sun. Sea. Sand. And a jaw-dropping villa to take it all in. With just one week left of my three-week Sri Lankan adventure, I decided to leave Central Province and head for the south. On this trip there were so many places I didn’t get a chance to see; there just wasn’t enough time. In the end though, I’m glad I took things slow as it meant I got a better appreciation of local life and Sri Lankan hospitality. I didn’t see Ella, and I […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, hotel, mirissa, review, se asia, sri lanka, travel

Rejecting the Cliché: Sunset over Mirissa, Sri Lanka

September 17, 2015 by joostay

A fisherman makes his last catch of the day as his wife looks on from the shore In travel photography circles, sunsets get a bad rap – widely considered as overdone and clichéd. The chances of taking a shot that’s different to the millions of others is slim, yet when the sun begins to set and the colours fill the sky most of us feel compelled to take out our camera. Photography means recording beautiful light. And sunsets are all about beautiful, […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, asia, beauty, buddhism, CREATIVE, japan, mirissa, nature, photography, se asia, sea, seascape, sunset, tokyo, travel, video

SRI LANKAN DEATH NOTES

September 15, 2015 by joostay

One thing that surprised me on my recent trip to Sri Lanka was the vast amount of Death Notices I saw while walking around small villages. These notes are a Sri Lankan tradition, originally introduced  as a way for local people to learn about recent deaths in the area, much like obituary notices in today’s western newspapers. In some rural areas, telephone and digital communications have only recently been introduced, so these physical notices proved to be a useful asset. It was the first time I […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, culture, death, funeral, ghosts, japan, photography, sri lanka, story, tokyo, travel, urban

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Heritance Kandalama, Dambulla, Sri Lanka

September 11, 2015 by joostay

Have you ever wanted to stay in a five-star luxury tree house? Now you can. Did anyone actually have a tree house as a kid? The older I get, the more I think they were purely between the pages of Enid Blyton novels and the intros of coming-of-age 80s movies on TV. Deep down, I think everyone secretly wishes they had one though – a place to escape, looking down at the world below. So when I saw a picture […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, CREATIVE, dambulla, hotel, japan, monkeys, nature, photography, review, sri lanka, tokyo, travel, wildlife, writing

Inside a Sri Lankan Snooker Hall

September 10, 2015 by joostay

Where’s the cue ball going?! Becoming one of the lads with the Young Men’s Buddhist Association. As far as tourist destinations go, Galle is a major player in Sri Lanka: a town filled with Dutch-colonial buildings and classic architecture. The oh-so-quaint UNESCO Fort area is home to about 400 historic houses, churches and mosques – many of which date back hundreds of years. Inside the Fort you’ll see many nationalities of tourist, all on tours checking out the buildings etc. […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, buddha, buddhism, colombo, CREATIVE, funny, galle, japan, photography, religion, snooker, sport, sri lanka, story, toyko, travel, video, YMBA

THE #1 RULE AS A TRAVEL WRITER

September 10, 2015 by joostay

If you’re a chef, the last thing you want to do is get a sledgehammer and smash up your oven. If you’re a taxi driver, the last thing you want to do is get a load of petrol, throw it all over your car and set it on fire. If you’re a travel writer, the last thing you want to do is pour a nice big cup of sugary coffee all over your netbook. Which is what I did the other day. […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, photography, sri lanka, story, travel, travel writer, writing

PLEASE VOTE FOR IKIMASHO! AS ‘BEST TRAVEL BLOG’!

September 8, 2015 by joostay

❤ IKIMASHO! NEEDS YOUR HELP! ❤ IKIMASHO! has been shortlisted for ‘Best Travel Blog’ in this year’s Irish Blog Awards. 30% of the judging for this round is by public vote, so if you would be sooo kind to click the link below and vote for IKIMASHO! You don’t need to register, or give your name, or any of that stuff – just click the link and vote. Remember, IKIMASHO! is 100% my own travel experiences. I’m not a tour operator. […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, asia, awards, backpacking, blogging, CREATIVITY, drawing, japan, northern ireland, photography, tokyo, travel, video, writing

ON TOP OF THE WORLD: SIGIRIYA, SRI LANKA

September 7, 2015 by joostay

Climbing the ancient fortress-palace of Sigiriya – and the astonishing views from the top. After a good few days bumming about Kandy I caught a bus up to the Central Province of Sri Lanka to visit Sigiriya. (A/C bus from Kandy bus station to Dambulla 300 rupees/2 hours, then 20-minute tuk-tuk to Sigiriya.) UNESCO certified, Sigiriya is perhaps Sri Lanka’s most iconic sight: a huge sheer-walled rock that seems to appear out of nowhere. Its flat-topped summit contains the ruins […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 1200 steps, asia, backpacking, climbing sigiriya, ikimasho, japan, jungle, nature, photography, sigiriya, sri lanka, tokyo, travel, wildlife

TUK-TUK SAFARI!

September 2, 2015 by joostay

Midday in Central Province, Sri Lanka: 35 degrees and the sun is brutal. After spending the night in the middle of nowhere, I check out of my hotel and start walking down a dusty lane looking to hitch a ride back out on to the main road. I see a motorbike parked in the driveway of a house and go round the back to see if anyone is about. No such luck. Soon enough I spot a tuk-tuk bobbing up […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, central province, dambulla, drum and bass, nature, sigiriya, sri lanka, transport, travel, tuk tuk, wilderness

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Jetwing Vil Uyana, Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

August 31, 2015 by joostay

Eco Retreat? Nature Reserve? Luxury Resort? Jetwing Vil Uyana is all of these, and more… Truth be told, after being caught up in the earthquake in Nepal in April I was a little apprehensive about coming back to Asia. But I’ve been drawn to the region for the past ten years, and so it was only a matter of time before I jumped on a plane back East. Coming to Sri Lanka was the best decision I ever could have […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 5 star, animals, asia, backpacking, dambulla, design, endangered, five star, hotel, lizards, luxury, photography, resort, sirigiya, snakes, sri lanka, travel, video

My crappy Sri Lankan gym

August 29, 2015 by joostay

A Careless Whisper – and a lesson on the importance of chocolate.

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, bodybuilding, city, fitness, gym, ikimasho, japan, kandy, keep fit, sri lanka, sri lankan, tokyo, travel

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Jetwing Sea & Jetwing Beach, Negombo, Sri Lanka

August 24, 2015 by joostay

Sea. Check. Beach. Check. Boutique bliss at two of Negombo’s finest hotels. There’s never really been an easy way to get to Asia from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Skyscanner lured me in with a very good price to Sri Lanka (£270) but it was quite the hellride: a two-hour bus journey to Dublin; a three-hour wait; an hour-long flight to Heathrow (+ pick up my bag and re-checkin); another four-hour wait; then a turbulence-belting eleven-hour flight to Colombo. It was […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, boutique, food, ikimasho, japan, jetwing beach, jetwing hotels, jetwing sea, luxury, negombo, se asia, sri lanka, tokyo, travel

Marrakech or Meh-rrakech?

July 20, 2015 by joostay

Recently named the world’s best destination – yet I’m still trying to figure out why. I spent some time in Marrakech about a month ago but haven’t really written much about it. During my stay I was struck down with severe food poisoning for the first time in my life. I’ve had a mild case before, but this was something else: 10 hours of hardcore vomiting, delirious and generally festering about in my own filth. (At one point I was […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: africa, arabic, asia, backpacking, city, culture, design, food, ikimasho, illness, japan, marrakech, morocco, north africa, photography, poisoning, tokyo, travel

The sleepy little town of Phetchaburi, Thailand.

July 1, 2015 by joostay

Monks, monkeys and mentalists… why these underdog towns will always reign supreme. As many people would attest, so often when you travel it’s the seemingly crappy little towns that leave the biggest impression: the nondescript two-bit places with no visitors, quietly going about their business, content not to make a fuss. Back in April I spent some time in Phetchaburi in Thailand – an unassuming agricultural town of just 25,000 about 160km south of Bangkok. Any visitors that do come […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, blogging, hot, ikimasho, monkeys, Phetchaburi, rural, se asia, south east asia, sunny, thailand, town, travel, urban, weather

Welcome to my crappy Thai gym

June 9, 2015 by joostay

Stumbling across a cheap outdoor public gym in the centre of Bangkok. Simple post this one that will hopefully will be of some use to anyone looking for a dirt cheap place to work out in the centre of Bangkok. Gyms are often expensive in the city so if you don’t mind sweating outside with the locals, head to Lumphini Park not far from Silom BTS station. Once you go through the main gates veer to the left and you’ll […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, cheap, fitness, free, gym, ikimasho!japan, japanese, lumphini park, lumpini park, thailand, weights, working out

Reflections: Living through the Nepal earthquake / Part 2

May 27, 2015 by joostay

Evacuation: Life on the ground and taking a relief flight from Kathmandu to London. It’s been nearly a month since I was evacuated on a relief flight back to the UK by the British Foreign Office after the earthquake in Nepal. Flying home I was a little unsure whether I had made the right decision, thinking I was fine to continue on travelling. But it’s only now that I acknowledge that I was probably more stressed during that first week […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: airplane, asia, backpacking, disaster, earthquake, flight, fundraising, government, help, hotel, kathmandu, london, nepal, red cross, relief, se asia, travel, uk

The immense Danum Valley Conservation Area. Sabah, Borneo.

May 21, 2015 by joostay

One of the last strongholds of undisturbed tropical flora and fauna in the world The Danum Valley Conservation Area is a 438km2 tract of relatively undisturbed lowland dipterocarp rainforest deep in the heart of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. This vast stretch of forest holds unique status in the sense that before it became a conservation area there were no human settlements at all, meaning that hunting, logging and other human interference was non-existent. Recognized as one of the world’s most complex ecosystems, […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, borneo, indonesia, malaysia, nature, photography, rainforest, sabah, wildlife

Medan: Entry point to North Sumatra

May 20, 2015 by joostay

Nice for a visit, kind of. Would I want to live here? Hell no. Quite often when I travel to new cities I judge them by whether or not I could live there. Kuala Lumpur has a great food scene with unrivalled access to the rest of SE Asia. Bangkok is crazy busy, but in a nice way. Even Denpasar in Bali, which is certainly more grubby than the other two cities, has a certain charm hiding behind its chaotic […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, city, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, japanese, medan, se asia, sumatra, tokyo, travelling, urban

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: The Dalai-La Boutique Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal

May 4, 2015 by joostay

This review was written two days before the earthquake in Kathmandu. I have contacted the hotel and am pleased to report none of the staff were injured, nor was the hotel damaged.  Quite often the worst thing about travelling is the actual travelling itself. Struck down with food poisoning in Bangkok, I had to somehow pull myself together and take two flights in one day when all I wanted to do was crawl under the covers and think of anything […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, boutique, hotel, kathmandu, luxury, nepal, review, thamel, travel

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Maduzi Hotel, Bangkok

April 24, 2015 by joostay

After ten days of trying to avoid the wrath of spiders and other insects in rural Isaan, I find myself thrown back into Bangkok – a city unashamedly made up of international brands and in-your-face consumerism. My chosen stay is at the boutique Maduzi Hotel, yet despite its central location in the heart of the busy Sukhumvit area, it seemingly goes out of its way to avoid being noticed. Pass by its white-washed walls and green hedges, and you may […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, hotels, thailand, travel

Lumphini Park: The best park in Bangkok

April 19, 2015 by joostay

If I ever move to Bangkok, I want to live by Lumphini Park. Music by Fabio Orsi – from his Just For A Thrill release on Home Normal.

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: ambient, asia, backpacking, bangkok, electronica, fabio orsi, home normal, japan, label, music, nature, netlabel, peace, photography, sound, tokyo, travel, Zen

Songkran Festival in Isaan, rural Thailand.

April 15, 2015 by joostay

Discovering the true meaning of Thailand’s most important festival For the last few weeks I’ve been staying in a small village called Broken Road in Isaan, northeast Thailand. My stay coincides with Songkran – the Thai New Year celebrations from 13-15 April – during which people throw water over each other as a a symbol of their sins being washed away. Unfortunately, in the larger cities these celebrations have become rather hedonistic: an excuse for people to get wasted and […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, buddhism, buddhist, ikimasho, isaan, japan, monks, photography, rural, se asia, songkran, thailand, tokyo, travel

Living a simple life in Isaan, rural Thailand.

April 14, 2015 by joostay

Becoming one of the family. My experience as one of the locals in Broken Road. For the last few weeks I’ve been living in a small village called Broken Road in Nang Rong, the Isaan province of northeastern Thailand. Just 40km from Cambodia, it’s where my mates Allan and Fanfan now live with her mum and a few others of her extended family. Allan is originally from my hometown of Bangor in Northern Ireland, though bought a condo in Bangkok […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, country, countryside, farming, ikimasho, isaan, japan, live less ordinary, living in rural thailand, northeast thailand, rural, se asia, tokyo

IN PICTURES: HUA HIN, THAILAND

April 8, 2015 by joostay

Hua Hin: A nice beach, good food and less sleazy than other Thai beach towns. That’s the reason I chose Hua Hin to spend the first few days of my trip. I’ll not try and make it out to be some sort of mystical and untouched travel paradise: it’s not. There are many tourists there, as well as many upscale resorts. But if you are looking for a place to swim, relax and get a bit of Thai culture, it’s a perfect getaway […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, bangkok, beach, blog, cha-am, food, hua hin, ikimasho, japan, motorbike, mountain, se asia, thailand, tokyo

THE DAY I FOUND A HEAD IN THAILAND

April 6, 2015 by joostay

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: aphex twin, asia, backpacking, bangkok, head, hua hin, i found a ahead, not working, se asia, thailand, travel

Monkeys in the Sea. Radars in the Sky.

April 5, 2015 by joostay

Exploring Khao Takiab “Monkey” Mountain, Hua Hin, Thailand. One week after quitting my job in Tokyo I flew one-way to Bangkok to hang out in Thailand, Nepal and some other countries for a while. I was excited about the trip, but with so much to sort out – and the inevitable goodbyes – I was apprehensive too. It wasn’t until I actually landed here that I knew I’d absolutely made the right decision. That moment came when I was walking […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, culture, how to get to Khao Takiab, hua hin, ikimasho!japanese, japan, Khao Takiab, monkey mountain, thai, thailand, things to do

Textures in a Thai Market

April 2, 2015 by joostay

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: art, asia, backpacking, bangkok, graffiti, grime, hua hin, photography, real life, se asia, thailand, travel, urban

Spring Fuji

March 27, 2015 by joostay

I went to the top of Mount Takao today to experiment with my camera and make a short video. This was the view of Fuji waiting for me at the top. All around me people were picnicking in the sun, enjoying the start of hanami. Spring has arrived.

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, electronica, fuji san, hanami, hiking, idm, ikimasho, japan, japanese, mount fuji, music, ovuca, takao san, tokyo

Fracking: the consequences to land, water and community in Northern Ireland.

March 9, 2015 by joostay

Shale gas extraction and the dire implications for Northern Ireland, Japan & beyond… With the anniversary of the March 2011 tsunami just a few days away, thousands of demonstrators surrounded Japan’s parliament building on Sunday to protest against the government’s attempt to restart some of the country’s nuclear plants. After the Fukushima nuclear accident, Japan is desperately looking for energy alternatives. However, to the concern of many, one of the solutions being explored is the dangerous gas extraction process known as fracking. […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, bangor, blog, energy, environment, fracking, global, green, ikimasho, japan, japanese, northern ireland, solutions, tokyo, travel

Testing a GoPro in Tokyo

February 28, 2015 by joostay

Testing a GoPro Camera in Tokyo: Shimokitazawa to Shibuya by BMX. On Friday night I strapped a GoPro Camera to my head and cycled from Shimokitazawa to Shibuya in Tokyo. It took about 15 minutes, slightly longer than if I had cycled down the busier main road (Inokashira-dori) near my house. I wanted to cycle through my neighbourhood at night, and then be able to come down into Shibuya from the top of Dogenzaka and finish at the scramble crossing. […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, bmx, camera, COOL, culture, gopro, ikimasho, japan, japanese, shibuya, street, tokyo, video

Daikoku Matsuri: Tokyo’s Answer to the Ice Bucket Challenge

January 19, 2015 by joostay

“It’s a cold January morning in east Tokyo and as soon as I leave Shin-Ochanomizu station I’m cursing myself that I didn’t bring my gloves. Even the dog on the pavement beside me is wearing a coat, though I’m not entirely sure the color suits him. On this particular morning I’m on my way to the nearby Myojin shrine to watch a load of naked men throw buckets of ice water over themselves—It’s moments like this when I wonder what […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: aqrticle, asia, blog, city, cold, culture, Daikoku Matsuri, festival, ice, ikimasho, japan, japanese, matsuri, tokyo, tokyo weekender, traditional, weird, writing

Ikimasho! in Wanderlust

January 16, 2015 by joostay

A previous piece I wrote about my connection with Japan – and how my dad unwittingly influenced me to travel – has been featured in Wanderlust Travel Magazine. You can check it out here.

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, generations, ikimasho, japan, tokyo, travelling, wanderlust

Christmas throwback + Ikimasho! 2015

December 30, 2014 by joostay

This time last year I was in Sumatra. The photos above were taken on Christmas Day in a small restaurant on Lake Toba. I wish I could remember this lady’s name, who agreed to cook me a full chicken in the back of her house using nothing but a bucket of hot coals. Earlier in the day I was taken to a place that served pig’s blood for my Christmas lunch. I really loved Sumatra, especially the hospitality of the […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, brunei, ikimasho, india, japan, japanese, nepal, se asia, tokyo, travel

Sulfur & Sacrifice: Yadnya Kasada Festival, Indonesia

December 6, 2014 by joostay

Mount Bromo shows its darker side at this haunting Hindu festival. This is Mount Bromo, an active volcano in East Java, Indonesia. I took this photo while flying over the area from Denpasar to Surabaya in a small aircraft. Five days earlier, I had been standing on top of the volcano at midnight, about to take part in Yadnya Kasada – a haunting Hindu ceremony unlike anything I’d ever seen before. What is Yadnya Kasada? Yadnya Kasada is the biggest […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, Batok, blog, Bromo, cemoro lawang, climbing, crater, East Java, hiking, ikimasho, independent, indonesia, japan, Mount Bromo, Probolinggo, Semeru, summit, Tengger Semeru National Park, Tenggerese, tokyo, tour, travel, trekking, volcano

FILL. EVERY. SPACE.

October 28, 2014 by joostay

How Tokyo’s apparent lack of urban planning can actually be an urban planning model. “First-time visitors to Tokyo may arrive with one of two fantasies dancing in their heads. One is the hyper-modern city of sleek 100-story high-rises and gleaming starchitecture. The other is the darker version: The city that inspired Blade Runner and Akira, a super-dense, technology-saturated metropolis in which Manga faces on towering billboards grin down on shootouts and chase scenes.” – Informal City Dialogues Urban planning is something […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: accra, asia, bangkok, chennai, community, growth, housing, ikimasho, Informal City Dialogues, japan, japanese, lima, manila, nairobi, Rockefeller Foundation, se asia, tokyo, tokyo. japan, urban planning

Kagurazaka Bakeneko Parade (Ghost Cat Parade)

October 21, 2014 by joostay

Nya-nya-ing our way through the cat-strewn streets of Tokyo Working in a Japanese kindergarten not only affords me the luxury of coming into close contact with every single germ known to man, it also provides me with an abundance of information that is essentially useless to anyone over the age of six. For example, did you know that in Japan dogs don’t go woof-woof, they go wan-wan; frogs don’t ribbit, they go kero-kero; cats don’t meow, they go nya-nya. Now I say this information is useless but actually it came in quite handy […]

Categories: Traditional Festivals • Tags: asia, bizarre, blog, cat, cats, festival, ikimasho, japan, japanese, matsuri, neko, parade, se asia, surreal, tokyo

Sticking up for Berastagi, Sumatra.

October 12, 2014 by joostay

A quiet town with not much going on. But that’s exactly why you should go. The picture above is one of my favourite photos, taken down a quiet street in the town of Berastagi in north Sumatra. There’s nothing spectacular about its content, but I remember the moment very clearly – a group of kids playing just down the road from the house I was staying in. Berastagi is visited by many travellers who use it as a base to […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, berastagi, blog, budget, carts, climbing sibayak, homestay, horses, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, japanese, roadtrip, se asia, sibayak, sinabung, street food, sumatra, tokyo, travelling

Dancing in the Streets: Koenji Awa Odori, Tokyo

August 25, 2014 by joostay

If you’re a fool, you may as well dance… Once a year, 12,000 dancers pile out on to the streets of Koenji for the annual Awa Odori, Tokyo’s most energetic festival. Men dance in tabi (split-toed socks), while women wear sandals, their heels not touching the ground. They march through the streets in unison to music performed on the shamisen, flute, drums, and bells singing “Odoru aho ni miru aho; onaji aho nara odoranya son son!” (It’s a fool who dances and a […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, awa odori, blog, drums, festival, flute, ikimasho, japan, japanese blog, koenji, matsuri, music, shamisen, summer, taiko, tokyo, traditional, travel

Illegal Street Racing & Raving in Surabaya, Indonesia

August 18, 2014 by joostay

Saturday nights are fun in the port capital of Java I don’t think I’ve ever been stared at as much as when I unwittingly walked into a fenced-off compound on the outskirts of Surabaya, a port city in Eastern Java one Saturday night. Having only just arrived at 9pm – and having to leave again the next morning at 6am – I only had a few hours to meander about and see what Surabaya kids get up to on the […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, biking, blog, cliff jumping bali, drum and bass, hip hop, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, java, motorbikes, party, racing, rave, street culture, surabaya, tokyo, travel, travelling, tricks

Portrait of a Matsuri

August 5, 2014 by joostay

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: 2014, asia, awa odori, dancing, festival, ikimasho, japan, matsuri, nakameguro, photography, streets, tokyo, travel, urban

Hamaorisai Matsuri: Sea Festival, Chigasaki, Japan

July 28, 2014 by joostay

Purification of the sea. Getting wet at the annual Hamaorisai Sea Festival in Chigasaki. Once a year in July thousands of people gather at sunrise at the fishing port of Chigasaki to join the Hamaorisai Matsuri – one of Japan’s most vivid spectacles. Dating back to back the ninth year of Tempo (1839), this annual festival is believed to have started when the sacred palanquin of Samukawa Shrine was carried away and lost in the Banyu River on the way back from the Kokuhu Festival. The palanquin later reappeared […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, beach, buddhism, chigasaki, festival, Hamaorisai, japan, kanagawa, matsurio, mikoshi, sea, shinto, shrines, tokyo, travel

HEY HO, LET’S GO! IKIMASHO! WITH THE QUEERS

July 22, 2014 by joostay

Joe Queer chats to Ikimasho! about Japan, maki rolls and writing songs for Joey Ramone. I love The Queers. Yet despite them touring my home country of Northern Ireland in 2004, 2005 and 2008, I always somehow managed to miss them due to me being in different parts of Asia at the time. Fast forward to 2013 and I was back in Asia again… only to find out they were playing not far from my house here in Tokyo the very next night. Finally, after […]

Categories: Art, Music & Culture • Tags: asia, asian man records, ben weasel, dangerous dave, japan, joe queer, joey ramone, music, pop, pop punk, punk, ramones, richie ramone, screeching weasel, sushi, the queers, tokyo, touring

Becoming a kindergarten teacher in Japan

June 21, 2014 by joostay

Love it or hate it. Please read this before applying for a kindergarten job in Japan. Between monitoring stats, comments and emails, one of the most popular topics it seems for people who stumble across this site is information on how to become a kindergarten teacher in Japan and what it entails. So I thought I’d write a bunch of stuff here to give people an idea of what my life’s like on a daily basis. I really like my […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, career, culture, english, ikimasho, japan, japanese, job, kindergarten, se asia, teaching, tefl, tokyo

The Okutama region of western Tokyo

May 27, 2014 by joostay

Yes, this is Tokyo. But not as you know it.   Ikimasho! Okutama is a mountain district in the west of Tokyo. To get to Okutama Station take the Chuo Line from Shinjuku and switch at Tachikawa on to the Ome Line. Depending on connections the journey takes anything between 90 minutes and 2 hours (for a very reasonable 1,080 yen). Buses are irregular to Lake Okutama, one or two an hour – and if you decide to walk between […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, culture, dam, hatonosu, hiking, ikimasho, inaka, japan, lake, nature, okutama, ome, shiromaru, south east asia, tokyo, wildlife

Institute for Nature Study, Tokyo

May 18, 2014 by joostay

An oasis of calm in the heart of metropolitan Tokyo Established in 1949, The Institute for Nature Study (Shizen Kyōikuen) is a nature reserve set right in the heart of downtown Tokyo. Within a 20-hectare park, the Institute is home to 1,436 species of plant, 2,130 species of insect and 130 bird species. Its aim: to preserve the natural environment of Tokyo’s forests and marshlands. The grounds are used for research and education, although anyone may enjoy the park’s trails and natural beauty. […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, bizarre, blog, caterpillars, culture, guidebook, ikimasho, insects, japan, japanese, meguro, nature, south east asia, tokyo, travel, turtles, urban

Cats & Dogs: A lucky walk around Gotokuji, Tokyo

May 6, 2014 by joostay

Visiting Tokyo? The smaller suburbs are where it’s at… Despite being only four minutes by train from my neighbourhood of Shimokitazawa, I had never been to Gotokuji before. I hadn’t even heard of it – as many stations going away from Shinjuku simply aren’t on my radar. I am, however, so glad I found it. I ventured out there with my camera and was rewarded with quaint shopfronts, as well as peace, quiet – and hundreds of cats wishing me luck. […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, cats, charms, gotokuji, gotokuji temple, ikimasho, inaka, japan, lucky, odakyu, old, photography, quaint, suburbia, suburbs, tokyo, trains, urban, Zen

Tokyo Travel Library

May 4, 2014 by joostay

34,000 books – most of which you won’t be able to read but who cares this place is great. If, like me, you spend an inordinate amount of your time loitering in the travel sections of bookshops reading Lonely Planets while the staff regard you as some kind of vagrant tramp with no home, then you are in luck. Just beside Tokyo station there’s a place where this kind of behavior is actively encouraged – a library entirely devoted to travel- and tourism-related materials from all over the world. […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, book shop, books, flying, japan, lonely planet, magazines, tokyo, travel, travel library

Fine Dining in Japan

April 10, 2014 by joostay

King for a day. Or for lunch, at the very least. Indisputably the world capital of gastronomy, Tokyo has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city in the world. Eating at these places is an expensive hobby: the average cost of the food alone at high-end restaurants is around 15,000 yen ($150), and at a really high-end place, that figure can double. I was lucky enough to be the guest at a rather special lunch recently. I ordinarily can’t afford to eat this […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, cuisine, fine dining, food, japan, michelin stars, soba, tempura, tokyo, top restaurant

Experience the City with Tokyo Metro

March 27, 2014 by joostay

Take a virtual tour around Japan’s capital with the new Tokyo Metro ad I was an advertising copywriter and creative back in the UK for about seven years. Among other things, I worked on the Northern Ireland Tourist Board account developing full campaigns for print, radio and TV. Many people don’t realise the amount of effort that goes into the adverts they see on the street and screen. Some ads look deceptively simple: but the amount of planning that is required is ridiculous. This […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: advertising, asia, getting around, ikimasho, japan, japanese, japanese blog, metro, tokyo, tourism, transport, travelling

Hiwatari Matsuri: Mount Takao Fire-Walking Festival, Tokyo

March 13, 2014 by joostay

Fire walk with me. A closer look at the spectacular Buddhist purification ceremony held yearly at Mount Takao in Tokyo. Held on the second Sunday of March every year, the hiwatari matsuri or fire-walking festival at Mount Takao is a ceremony of purification known as ogoma. The ceremony is part of the training of Shugendo, a religion unique to Japan that mixes Buddhism and ancient mountain worship. Practitioners of Shugendo (called yamabushi) prepare a sacred fire and behind the blaze […]

Categories: Art, Music & Culture, Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, buddhism, buddhist, fire, fire walking festival, hiwatari matsuri, ikimasho, japan, japanese, monks, mount takao, mountain, nature, ritual, tokyo, travel

SNOKYO

February 9, 2014 by joostay

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, cold, japan, photography, snow, tokyo, travel, winter

One Sunday in Yanaka

January 30, 2014 by joostay

A stroll around one of Tokyo’s oldest neighbourhoods. Ikimasho! From Nippori, Yanaka Ginza is a 5-10 minute walk west of the station. Alternatively you can take the chiyoda line to Sendagi and walk east for about the same amount of time. You can also walk from Ueno Park in about 30 minutes – although it may be quicker if you are in a pram like this guy.

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, backpacking, edo, history, inaka, japan, old tokyo, spinning tops japanese, tokyo, travelling, ueno, yanaka

Falling in love with Lake Toba, Sumatra

January 8, 2014 by joostay

Introducing my new favourite place to do absolutely nothing.  Lake Toba has been part of traveller folklore for decades: the largest volcanic lake in the world, one so enormous that an island almost the size of Singapore sits in its centre. It’s hands-down the best place I have ever been to chill out, but it wasn’t always so peaceful. The lake itself is the site of a massive supervolcanic eruption that occurred 75,000 years ago. This is actually the biggest known explosive […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, batak, hiking, indonesia, japan, lake toba, mas cottages, nature, samosir, se asia, sumatra, tokyo, tomok, tuk tuk

The day I drank with Sumatran gangsters in the jungle

January 2, 2014 by joostay

An intense experience featuring jungle juice, Mr. Samosir – and a pig’s head on a plate. While in Sumatra I met a guy my age who took me under his wing. He showed me stuff I never would have been able to find on my own. This is the story of the day we drove into the jungle.  “Sit down.” As I’m ushered towards a makeshift table in the middle of a clearing I suddenly wish I was somewhere else. […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: arak, asia, backpacking, batak, gangs, gangsters, indonesia, japan, jungle juice, lake toba, se asia, sumatra, tokyo, travelling, tribes

Climbing an active volcano: Mount Sibayak, Sumatra, Indonesia

January 1, 2014 by joostay

Above the clouds, Mother Nature rumbles below. The beautiful power of Mount Sibayak. Indonesia has at least 150 active volcanoes including Krakatoa and Tambora, both famous for their devastating eruptions in the 19th century. Add violent storms, earthquakes and tsunamis into the equation and you’ve got one of the most geologically volatile countries on earth. Its shores and interiors are regularly hit by severe natural disasters, such as in 2004 when a 9.3 earthquake struck off the north coast of […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, backpacking, berastagi, climbing, guide, hiking, indonesia, japan, jungle, se asia, sumatra, tokyo, travel, volcano

Merry Christmas & Sumatra Ikimasho!

December 19, 2013 by joostay

Cliched as it is to say, it’s hard to believe that 2013 is nearly through. This time last year I was getting ready to visit my friends Allan and Fanfan in Bangkok, before hopping over the border to Myanmar. In January I went back to Taiwan to visit Jiufen, the real-life inspiration for Spirited Away, while in summer I spent a few weeks in Bali via Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. Tomorrow I fly to Sumatra for my last trip of […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, indonesia, japan, sinabung, south east asia, sumatra, tokyo, travel, trekking, volcano

The fly with no wings

December 14, 2013 by joostay

Once upon a time there was a fly with no wings. Well, I say ‘once upon a time’ but this actually happened yesterday evening at around 6pm outside my house in Tokyo. My rubbish needs emptied twice a week, and unlike in the UK there are no trash cans in Japan. You simply leave your bags of rubbish at the end of the street for the binmen to collect. (There’s a big green net to put over it all to […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, buddhism, japan, short story, tokyo, travel, Zen

I am a cloud

December 8, 2013 by joostay

I am a cloud. I grew up in the ocean, surrounded by the gentle creatures of the Pacific – yet while I enjoyed my time swimming with the starfish in Tokyo Bay, I always knew I was destined for something more. Sure enough, that time came and one day I was chosen to leave: to rise above the water and join the skyline. Not many have such an opportunity: to experience life in the depths of the ocean and high […]

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, blog, buddha, buddhism, cloud, ikimasho, japan, story, tokyo, Zen

Becoming Transparent: Autumn in Tokyo

November 25, 2013 by joostay

Like the little stream  Making its way  Through the mossy crevices  I, too, quietly  Turn clear and transparent. – Ryōkan  Colorful leaves (koyo) are to the Japanese autumn what cherry blossoms are to spring. This is a time to seek out silent gardens: to sit motionless among the lonely reds and yellows of nature.

Categories: Daily Life in Tokyo • Tags: asia, autumn, fall, japan, leaves, poetry, ryokan, tokyo, travel, Zen

Myanmar: Life on the Streets

November 18, 2013 by joostay

Dust, blood, heat, humidity. Village life doesn’t get much purer than a local Burmese market. One thing has always puzzled me whilst travelling around SE Asia: how the hell local people don’t get sick all the time. All over the continent, meat and produce is prepared in such a way that goes against everything our little western minds have been taught from a young age. There are no rubber gloves or hygiene certificates here. Meat is hacked up on wooden […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, burma, food, local life, market, myanmar, se asia, streets, thailand, travel, village