Homemade Lemon Cake

A little over a year ago China quietly ended its three decades of international adoptions. This cessation came almost a decade after China—...

The National Craft Museum was moved from Tokyo to Kanazawa, but was closed when we were there—luckily we were able to see the Ishikawa Pref...

The Buddhist temple Tōdaiji in Nara Prefecture is a priceless trove of history and culture. Founded some 1,300 years ago, the UNESCO World ...

May the New Year bring new beginnings. Last year was a very rocky ride, but here is to new beginnings. Here is a bit of history of gardens ...

These deer are everywhere. I wondered about getting off the city bus we took from the metro station when I saw the first ones, but we perse...

We arrived at the restaurant about 10 minutes before it opened and there were two parites waiting ahead of us--this is a popular place, and...

The top three gardens in Japan are the Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa, Kōraku-en Garden in Okayama, and Kairaku-en Garden in Mito. Collectiv...

During the Edo Period (1603-1868), Kanazawa (金沢) served as the seat of the Maeda Clan, the second most powerful feudal clan after the Tokug...

We tried a lot of different types of places our first couple of days in Tokyo—a tendon place, a ramen place, a yakiniku place—all costing a...

As you might suspect with a book that covers a hundred years of history and the core of a nation's identity in under 200 pages, there i...

There are some huge beautiful green spaces in densely populated Tokyo, where you can sit on benches, listen to birds and get away from metr...

I love the Japanese Edo era woodblook prints, as did the impressionists, who I also love. This museum has just the works of Katsushika Hok...

Tokyo has neighborhoods and Nippori Fabric Town lies in a quiet part of Nippori, just east of the Yamanote Line station and makes for jus...

Tsukiji Outer Market (築地場外市場, Tsukiji Jōgai Shijō) is a district adjacent to the site of the former Tsukiji Wholesale Market. It consists ...

After sweating at lower altitudes in Tamil Naru, the hills of Munnar were a welcome alternative. The hills abound with tea here. Tea or ...

We watched a demonstration of lost wax casting of bronze figures in a shop behind the temple in Tiruchirappalli. Dokra (also spelt Dhokra...

Thanjavur Art Gallery, located in the Thanjavur Palace has an exquisite collection of ancient sculptures and coins. It is officially calle...

This is a top five temple, in a trip replete with spectacular ancient temples. I would recommend a slower pace than we accomplished, but t...

Airavatesvara Temple was my favorite temple after the temples at Mahabalipuram. This temple, built by Chola emperor Rajaraja II in the 12t...

My spouse and I picked this out to listen to while traveling by car together because the author is an icon in cooking. She is the most rec...