Caving in Tokyo: Then and Now There was a time not so long ago when visiting a tourist cave was a popular way to spend a lazy weekend. Rewind to the early 1980s and there were seven such caves operating in Tokyo now sadly more than half of them have...
The Kurasawa Bridge (Kurasawabashi) One could be forgiven for thinking the Tokyo Gate Bridge is the highest bridge in Tokyo and while its truss sections rise some 88 metres, the bridge’s “clearance” when measured from the deck of the road comes in...
The Mystery Surrounding Kanto’s Longest Cave The Greater Tokyo Area features some fairly good tourist caves including the Nippara Limestone Cave in Tokyo and the Fujido Cave in Gunma Prefecture which are worth checking out. Recreational caving...
Hunter-gatherer Cave on a Chichibu Mountainside On a recent outing to the ruins of the former Mitsumine Ropeway in Chichibu, Saitama we spotted what appeared to be a cave in the distance. Never to let a good opportunity pass we decided to make the...
The Biggest Cypress Tree in Tokyo This remarkable tree in Okutama on the outskirts of Tokyo traces its ancestry back to the Muromachi era around 600 years ago, though some have estimated its age closer to 1,000 years. Either way the Kurasawa...
21 Years of Rock Versus Man and Chisel South-east of the Turkish capital Ankara lies Cappadocia, a harsh landscape where its inhabitants for centuries eked a subterranean existence by tunnelling deep into the soft stone bluffs. On a comparatively...
Terrific Day Trips Within Reach of Tokyo With inbound tourists visiting Japan surging to a record 19.73 million last year means more visitors than ever are looking for avenues to not only escape the crowds, but check out some less familiar...
Allied Air Raids Prompt a Clandestine Munitions Factory During my recent trek out to Saitama to explore The Hundred Caves of Yoshimi, I discovered the subterranean world lurking beneath the caves kept a secret military installation. Juxtaposed with...
The Caves of Yoshimi Unearth an Interesting History The Hundred Caves of Yoshimi are ancient burial tombs carved into the sandstone cliffs in Saitama Prefecture roughly 50 km from downtown Tokyo. They were unearthed in 1888 by Shogoro Tsuboi a...
Nippara Limestone Cave the Biggest in Tokyo Located in the sleepy village of Nippara on Tokyo’s outskirts finds Nippara Cave one of the best karst limestone caves in Japan. I previously visited the caves a few years back though was keen to return on...