Thousands of vermilion Torii gates blazing in the August sun which straddle a network of trails behind its main shrines. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari. I was fortunate to visit on a steamy August day… A torii is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the ordinary to …
An afternoon at Tokyo’s Tsujiki Outer Market introduced me to the art of Japanese shopping. This is Japan’s “Food Town,” featuring every imaginable traditional Japanese food. It’s raucous and noisy but in a very polite, Japanese way. One main and three side streets feature stalls of the finest, just off the hook sushi-grade fillets in rainbow display. Or blast-cooked, in season oysters. Luscious! Grills smoke, griddles spit and the whole …