... to add some miles to the week of riding, we'd take a left turn at Miyoshi and go down into a valley called Iya, in Tokushima. As it turns out, this was an amazing ride to an amazing part of the country.

The media is thick with reports on problems caused by too many tourists in destinations like Tokyo, Kyoto, and also increasingly by the swarming of regional festivals.

It was rather shocking to read in the news last week that the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has raided the offices of Booking.com, Expedia, and Rakuten.

It's kind of hard to believe that with the flood of foreigners coming into Japan that there is any part of the country which is untouched by their presence - but yes, there are still some who haven't figured out how to attract outsiders.

Why people travel to Japan's most iconic destinations: They want to get "Disneyland-eseque" experiences. They are drawn by natural beauty and preserved locations. They are drawn by consumerism, mostly in the form of food and shopping.

Last week the Nikkei ran an article declaring that Airbnb has clawed "its way back in Japan following the 2018 listings collapse". I took a look at their most recent listings and counted them.

What does Full Stack" mean? Well it refers to a new generation of software developers who not only handle databases and servers, but also systems engineering and client-facing interfaces (UX).

Japan introduced its first new tax in 28 years, which is a traveler departure tax of JPY1,000 per passenger aged two or older and who is not in the armed forces, government, or other exempt category.

Predatory academic journals and their related (also predatory) international conferences, and how they are mushrooming here in Japan.

In 2015 I wrote about disaster tourism and when it might be appropriate. This was a musing prompted by the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, coupled with media coverage of yet another deadly earthquake in Nagano.