Guides
- "Japan Heritage" Is Not "World Heritage": How to Read the Label on a Regional Trail
Outside the large cities, you will often meet a small logo on a trail map, a station poster or a pamphlet: Japan Heritage. It is easy to read it as a national version of UNESCO…
- "Living National Treasure": What the Title Means When You Meet It in Japan
The phrase turns up on gallery walls, on the boxes of lacquerware and ceramics, and in the programme notes of a Noh or Bunraku performance. It sounds like an honorary nickname. It…
- "National Treasure" in Japan: What the Label on a Museum Wall Actually Means
Walk through a museum in Japan and some labels carry an extra line: National Treasure, or Important Cultural Property. They look like praise. They are legal designations, made…
- How to Tell Whether a Travel Recommendation Was Paid For
A free night, a hosted dinner, a commission on every booking: none of these makes a recommendation false. They do change how much weight it can carry, and the law in both the…
- What "Off the Beaten Path" Means, and How to Read It in a Recommendation
The dictionary answer is short. The Cambridge Dictionary defines "off the beaten track", with "off the beaten path" as the American form, as "in a place where few people go, far…
- What a Torii Gate Means, and How to Tell a Shrine from a Temple at the Entrance
A torii is the gate at the entrance to a Shinto shrine. It marks the border between the shrine's sacred ground and the everyday world outside, and many people pause to bow their…