Tokyo Direct Guide became 10 years old in 2023, so this is the 11th year of the Cherry Blossom Forecast! Whenever there is an update on the forecast, I’ll tell you on my Facebook and X (former Twitter). Follow me to catch up with the latest forecast! Cherry Blossom Forecast (Released on 25 January) Tokyo: Start to open on 20 March / Reach peak on 29 March Osaka: 22 March / 30 March Kyoto: 23 March / 31 March Nara: 26 March / 1 April Nagoya: 21 March / 30 March Fukuoka: 18 March / 28 March Hiroshima: 20 March /31 March Sendai: 4 April / 9 April Sapporo: 25 April / 29 April (Sourced from Weathe ..read more

Tokyo Direct Guide became 10 years old in 2023, so this is the 11th year of the Cherry Blossom Forecast! Whenever there is an update on the forecast, I’ll tell you on my Facebook and X (former Twitter). Follow me to catch up with the latest forecast! Cherry Blossom Forecast (Released on 25 January) Tokyo: Start to open on 20 March / Reach peak on 29 March Osaka: 22 March / 30 March Kyoto: 23 March / 31 March Nara: 26 March / 1 April Nagoya: 21 March / 30 March Fukuoka: 18 March / 28 March Hiroshima: 20 March /31 March Sendai: 4 April / 9 April Sapporo: 25 April / 29 April (Sourced from Weathe ..read more

Tokyo Direct Guide became 10 years old in 2023, so this is the 11th year of the Cherry Blossom Forecast! Whenever there is an update on the forecast, I’ll tell you on my Facebook and X (former Twitter). Follow me to catch up with the latest forecast! Cherry Blossom Forecast (Released on 25 January) Tokyo: Start to open on 20 March / Reach peak on 29 March Osaka: 22 March / 30 March Kyoto: 23 March / 31 March Nara: 26 March / 1 April Nagoya: 21 March / 30 March Fukuoka: 18 March / 28 March Hiroshima: 20 March /31 March Sendai: 4 April / 9 April Sapporo: 25 April / 29 April (Sourced from Weathe ..read more

The biggest reason for travelers to visit Ueno is definitely the giant pandas in Ueno Zoo. Tokyo National Museum may be important to some people because we can see the REAL samurai swords and ancient Japanese arts there. So most travelers get happy enough to see PANDAS, say “Yeah!!!” with holding their camera and go back to the hotel. WAIT, don’t return! It’s too early! If you go on a trip to Tokyo in January or February, I know something so beautiful that you should NEVER miss just next to Ueno Zoo; Winter Peony Garden. In my opinion, it’s a must-see in Ueno in winter and good for an after-z ..read more

Amazingly, Tokyo Direct Guide became 10 years old! 10 years. It was a very long way. And many things around us changed in the past 10 years, too. On the 1oth birthday of Tokyo Direct Guide, I’ll look back what changed in the TDG history! When EXACTLY Did I Start Up Tokyo Direct Guide? I’m celebrating the 10th anniversary on December 3 because it’s the day when I got the domain. But actually, I uploaded the site on the next day, so Tokyo Direct Guide had a debut to the world on December 4. So I think I sometimes had an anniversary celebration on December 4 in the past. I don’t care much about ..read more

Are you excited to visit Tokyo Game Show? Or do you have a business conference at Makuhari Messe? How to get there is always important to travelers – especially in a large complicated city like Tokyo. So I write a practical guide and some travel advice in this article. Whichever you are going there for holiday or business, good luck at Makuhari Messe! Where is Tokyo Game Show Held? Tokyo Game Show has been held at Makuhari Messe since 1997, a large exhibition hall in Makuhari, a bay side town close to Tokyo City. Makuhari Messe I took from the queue to enter Tokyo Game Show. It is one of the ..read more

Tokyo Character Street in Tokyo Station is a collection of official shops of popular characters – Perhaps you remember Part 1 Cute Items and Part 2 Kabuki Shop. Finally this is the Part 3, the last one. This time, let’s see the manga & anime characters and super heroes. I believe they are so important to some of you. Maybe you plan a trip to Japan to go to these shops! Jump Shop (Shonen Jump Manga Characters) Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, My Hero Academia – aren’t they familiar to you? Today, many people regard Japan as a country of manga & anime. The fact is that many of popul ..read more

If you love some Japanese characters, there is a perfect place to go shopping in Tokyo Station. It’s Tokyo Character Street. The point is that many character item shops gather in one single floor like a street, and importantly, all of them are official shops of the character! In this article, I pick up the CUTE characters we can see there. I select cute characters this time. Do you find your favorites? I’ll write the practical guide to get there as I always do. Enjoy! Pokemon Store Tokyo Station There are Pokemon Centers and Pokemon Stores in Japan, and the Stores are smaller than the Centers ..read more

As I wrote in Accommodation Advice, Tokyo is a large city with many interesting districts and hundreds of hotels. In this post, I’ll show you how fascinating the district around Hamamatsucho Station is.  I’ve received some thank-you messages from international travelers for this article. You’ll be the next! (I know it’s so hard for many people to pronounce the name of this station. To make it easy, divide it into 3 parts, “Hama- matsu-cho.” In Japanese language, it is written in 3 characters.) The Key to Find the Best District to Stay I suppose some of you are looking for a hotel in Toky ..read more

Today’s people love cellphones, tablets and laptops so much. We spend much time to check up beautiful pics and interesting stories on SNS today. But we sometimes want to see the real nature far from our busy life. Yes, we need an escape travel! I’m one of them. Even if I often say that Tokyo is NOT a concrete jangle with many beautiful parks and gardens, I wanted to have a trip to a place that is full of fresh green. Then, I picked up Karuizawa for my next destination. It was really WONDERFUL, so I’m sharing my trip with you! 5 Fast Facts about Karuizawa All international travelers know Tokyo ..read more