Japan Photo Guide

This site has just a small fraction of the photos I have taken in Japan, so for those of you that want to see more (and large sized images), check out my gallery on smugmug.com. For those interested, I have used many different photosharing sites and smugmug is by far my favorite. Seriously, this is good stuff, I mean, there is a reason why 9 out of 10 people who sign up for the 2 week Free Smugmug Trial end up staying with it. If you want to give it a try, use my email ( evanpike [at] gmail [dot] com) to get a discount.

First of all, if you do not know what geisha or maiko are, check out my previous post about geisha and maiko.

One of the most popular questions I get from tourists and photographers alike is, “Where can I see geisha?” There are two very big misconceptions about geisha, the first being that geisha are prostitutes and second is that geisha can be seen commonly all over Japan. Both of these are false. Actually, it is very rare that you will see a geisha in Japan. That being said I am going to give you the easiest way to find them; HOWEVER, even if you take my advice, there is still a chance you might be unsuccessful! I am not guaranteeing you will see geisha or maiko here, but from my experience, the odds are pretty good!

Details after the jump! See more photos and read the rest of this entry »

I have kind of neglected this blog recently for a couple of reasons. To be honest, first I got frustrated with my theme because I couldn’t get it to work like I wanted it to and then vacation came and that kind of took me out of the mix. Anyway, just wanted to say sorry there hasn’t been a lot of new stuff recently (but there is new stuff to come) and also sorry if this site looks funny on your computer (but I am putting half the blame on you for using internet explorer).

Anyway, I do have some good news (for me anyway). I have recently become a contributer to the wonderful blog about Japan and Japanese culture, Japan Probe. Once a week (Saturdays) I will be presenting a “photo of the week” from Japan. Japan Probe is updated frequently and daily, so when I am lazy and you cannot find anything new here, stop by Japan Probe!

Sleeping in Japan can quite often be an expensive thing and unlike the USA where hotels charge per room, in Japan it is often a price per person. I am going to run through a couple different options that are decent, cheaper alternatives to regular hotels in Japan. See the other places to stay.

Karaoke seems to be one of Japan’s national pastimes as almost all Japanese love to get a group together and sing the words the their favorite songs. Most people have their one song that they do so well you would swear they have practiced it over and over again (actually they have). Anyway, you are probably asking yourself what does karaoke have to do with sleeping? Well, in Japan, karaoke is done a little different than back home. It is not execution style where you go in front of the whole bar and blast out a song, but instead, you have a private room for just you and your friends. There are rooms to accommodate just a few people and, as you can see below, large rooms that can hold even 15-20 people or more.

Assuming you do not get the all-you-can-drink, it is often much cheaper staying a few hours in the karaoke place rather than dishing out for a hotel. On the other hand, if you get the all-you-can-drink plan it the night might pass by a little quicker