• "Favorite Getaways in Rural Japan",  my award-winning guide to Independent Travel in Rural Japan, with heaps of travel and cultural info on using Japanese inns, trains, buses, and baths...  plus insights on Japanese history, religion, and language.  It's all here!   Selected "Best of the Web" 2003, 2004, & 2005! by Japanzine.com
• Sushi a la Carte,  my comprehensive Guide to Sushi and sushi bars.
• Also some very unique Japanese art:  Woodblock prints, original papercuts, etc...
• A big Japan map, and
• Some of   the best Links to Japan Travel, Culture, and Monthly Events web sites that you'll find.
• Updated May, 2008

In addition to world travel, I spent four years living in Japan.  I've lived in several areas of Tokyo and a couple in Kyoto.  In the 1970's I was an itinerant English teacher; and in the 1980's I was a consultant doing software support in (gulp) Japanese.  I've also spent quite a bit of time in sushi bars and drinking houses, or wandering around the Japanese countryside in search of cozy and culturally interesting places.  I try to keep up my Japanese by visiting sushi bars as often as possible.  Enjoy...

• Sushi Lovers' Guide    

  • Sushi a la Carte    --   How to Sushi!
    
    My personal guide to sushi and sushi bars -- now including about 200 dishes and how to order them! Plus sushi etiquette, appreciation, and culture, vocabulary and conversation.   Updated December, 2007.
    • Dec., 2006:  I've added several more thumb-nailed photos of sushi to give you a better idea of what this stuff looks like!
  
  
  • An Evening at Fuji's Sushi Bar in photos.
    
  • Randy's Favorite Sushi Bars in Portland  A Stealth Link that appears only sporadically!!

• "Favorite Getaways in Rural Japan"

  • Discover Japan!  On your dream vacation, on a long weekend from your job in Tokyo, or only in your daydreams -- get out and explore the 'Real Japan' with my  Japan Travel Guide,  highlighting dozens of wonderful -- and mostly off-the-beaten-track  places I've visited in the Japanese countryside.  Plus volumes of useful details for any visitor on using inns, trains, buses, ferries, and baths in Japan.  And background info on Japanese history, culture, religion, language, and what-not!  Come on in!  (750 Kbytes in 20 pages!)
    •  With place names and train info in Japanese characters! 
    •  Selected "Best of the Web" 2003, 2004 & 2005 by Japanzine.com.
    
    
• JAPAN EVENTS:  View My Selected Annual Events in Japan.

• Some Interesting Japanese Art

  Surprising paper-cut art, unique woodblock prints, and some other neat stuff I've accumulated over the years -- they're all found in Randy's Asian Art Corner.  

• A  Map of Japan

  I've added many of the locations mentioned in my Japan Guide, above, to this Japan National Tourist Organization map. (This is a 200 Kb .jpg file that may take awhile to download.  Use "Stop, Save as..."  to receive in the background as you browse on.)
  
  
  

• More Travel Articles on Japan...

  
  are found on Randy's Travel Articles Page
  part of Randy's Travel Page,  a mine of independent travel advice, stories, and photos.
  

• My Comprehensive Japan Links

  ...are now on a separate page..., follow the link above.