a mixed plate of Japanese American news and culture
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series. This city was once infamous for being Pablo Escobar’s home, the notorious head of the cocaine drug cartel, until he was killed in December 1993. The murder rate was very high and no sensible American would dare visit. There were an estimated 6,500 murders in 1991 in [...]
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series. We again traveled by taxi to the Accra suburb of Teshie to see coffin makers ply their trade. The coffins are elaborate and limited only by imagination and money. It can take up to a month to construct coffins that resemble fishes, cars, boats, cigarettes, [...]
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series. Where? The lure of a fantastic low airfare offer and a chance to stay with couch surfers to save on accommodation costs hooked me, a sucker to travel anywhere I have not been before. A relatively expensive visa was required, as well as a yellow [...]
Bend, Ore. received its name when pioneers traveled to farmlands west of the Cascades. They forded the Deschutes River at the last hospitable place before reaching their destination and would call out “Farewell, Bend” and those that stayed here gave it the full plaintive call as its name, but when the application for a post [...]
The Nichi Bei asked me to provide answers to many travel questions for a special New Year’s article. My number one advice is: GO NOW. Waiting until retirement may result in old age problems that discourage travel and result in you sitting in the rocking chair mumbling, “If only I had…” How to Book Deals: [...]
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series. Our final destination was known as the “High Place of Sacrifice” platform (which was supposedly gold covered in ancient times) where animal sacrifices were carried out. Channels can still be seen where blood drained away. Riding horseback close to this area allowed me to conserve [...]
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series. I left Damascus by again taking a shared SUV for $20 to Amman, Jordan that takes about three hours, not including the time it takes to clear passport. It took about two hours to clear passport control for both Syria and Jordan, but it would [...]
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series. I treated my couch surfer host to dinner at Al Khawali restaurant, which is located in an old house with a lovely courtyard in Old Town. The food was delicious and reasonable. Supposedly, Sen. John Kerry once had dinner here. When I was first planning [...]
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series. There are so many “hot spots” around the world that tourists are frightened to visit, such as Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran, Iraq and even Israel. Visas are also not easy for Americans to obtain. While all of these countries have unique sites of special interest [...]
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series. It was time to move on to the capital, Oslo, voted as the most expensive city in the world in 2010. I had purchased advance airfare tickets and found a low price from Bergen to Oslo, but at the last minute discovered that the flight [...]
Connect & Share