Onomichi is a gorgeous little city surrounded by the mountains and the sea. It’s a place with rich history, distinct character and it’s well worth at least one visit. Actually quite a popular tourist destination among the Japanese, Onomichi remains relatively unknown abroad. This allows foreign travelers an opportunity to enjoy a perhaps more authentic “Japan” experience without having to fight through massive crowds of camera-toting tourists.

There are a number of interesting and inexpensive trips convenient for Hiroshima-ken residents, but one of the best is a visit to Okayama-ken. Okayama offers many choices for the day tripper, from shopping to sightseeing. For those who would like to stay a little longer, there are five international villas to choose from and an assortment of unusual festivals to attend.

Okinawa Prefecture (沖縄県) is Japan’s southernmost prefecture and consists of hundreds of the Ryuuku islands in a chain over 1,000 km long. Okinawa has only been part of Japan since 1972. Naha is the capital city, and the airport is located here. Okinawa can get really hot and humid, and they frequently experience strong typhoons, so be sure to check the best time of year to go. I visited Okinawa at the very end of its rainy season, which lasts from the beginning of May to the end of June.

When faced with Golden Week, the choice is either to splurge on an inflated overseas holiday or stick to somewhere closer to home. This year a group of friends and I decided on the latter and bundled into two cars with a map of Shikoku in hand. Faced with time and money issues, we made a loose itinerary and decided only to stick to camping sites and cabins for accommodation.

With summer just around the corner, we will all soon be looking for some way to escape the oppressive Japanese summer heat! Japan is a country with 35,000 kilometres of coastline so one might imagine that finding a beach to relax on should not be too much of a challenge. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the coastline is encased in concrete, or is just downright manky. However, there are a few good spots to cool off at in Hiroshima-ken. Read on for the low-down on Hiroshima’s summer hotspots:

This mammoth story begins with us girls flicking through our guide books to Japan, searching for something to keep us out of trouble for the long weekend in November. Too exhausted from dancing the previous evening to read, we were all nonetheless struck by the pictures. In particular, the sparse beauty of The Aso National Park caught our eye and inspired us to embark on what turned out to be a mind-boggling trip.

For me, life in Japan wasn’t at all what I had expected. Actually it was my goal to come here with as few expectations as possible, but visions of my new life in Japan had nonetheless found their way into my head long before I ever arrived. The problem with expectation is that it often doesn’t match reality. I came to Hiroshima in August 2003 to teach English at a high school in a small city suburb. I waited for the Japanese people to invite me out – to show me the sights, introduce me to their culture, and to teach me their language. I waited and I got increasingly confused and frustrated. Eventually I came to realize that if I wanted to meet interesting Japanese people, have memorable Japanese experiences and connect on the level that I hoped for, I would have to be more pro-active in my efforts.

When the bitter Japanese winter hits, it is tempting to slip under the kotatsu and, stocked up with enough mochi, green tea and copies of “The Daily Yomiuri” to see us through till mid-March, hit ‘hibernation’ on the body clock. For those of you swaying towards a spot of just such indulgent isolation, a little word of warning – the fierce weather does nothing to dissuade either the NHK man or the Jehovah’s Witnesses from their regular calls so sooner or later you will be dragged begrudgingly from your seasonal slumber. With that in mind, why not make the best of the cold weather and hit the slopes instead? Hiroshima has a plethora of snow-parks, many of which are within easy reach of the city by public bus. But which to choose? Wide Island View solicited the advice of one of Japan’s top snowboarders to find out where best to head for a good day’s adrenalin-pumping downhill action:

Looking outside during a Japanese autumn, nobody can fail to be impressed by the exceptionally beautiful rainbow of colours seeping from the trees as the countryside prepares itself for the onset of winter. Japanese people, resident foreigners and tourists alike all look forward to this annual display of nature at its very best and many people travel great distances to see the leaves at their various stages of transformation.