Tsukuba is something of a 'ramen battleground' outside Tokyo, with the city dominating the rankings for Ibaraki prefecture, with many of their most famous shops drawing in visitors nationwide. As you'd expect, Tsukuba has its own ramen f..
Ibaraki's Tsukuba area is known as a heavily contested ramen battleground of sorts, with most of the prefecture's top ranked shops located here. Aoi (麺や蒼) ramen is one of them and passing through Tsukuba recently gave me the chance to drop by..
To the south of Koga station in central Ibaraki lies Mendou Inaba (麺堂稲葉), a ramen shop popular with the local crowd specialising in Toripaitan – a rich chicken broth-style ramen. Opening in 2007, Inaba is allegedly named after the eponymous fr..
Dragon Noodles' goal is to create a welcoming, calm atmosphere for all guests, no matter where they are from, near or far – with that in mind I had to drop by to experience Dragon for myself. Located a stone's throw from Aeon Shimotsuma..
The sound of ocean waves intermingles with the Cuban music coming from the CD player just inside the open door, where a colorful cotton curtain is fluttering in the breeze. As I relax on a private balcony in the sunshine, drinking tea and eating my f..
Chisun Inns are a nationwide chain of budget hotels, designed to provide reasonable comfort at good value. They're generally aimed at business travelers or people driving across country, but can also often be found in cities or near interesting o..
If you think you’ve seen it all when it comes to fireworks, then I implore you to attend the Tsuchiura Japan Fireworks Competition. It is where the newest technology and designs meet to create the freshest, most stunning displays you will see. ..
Before I moved to Japan, there was one thing on my list: Hitachi Seaside Park. OK, it was actually just “that park with millions of gorgeous blue flowers!!” — but eventually I looked up the name. If you’re like me, after look..
Robots are “heroes”, says one of the colorful notes plastered on the wall right before the entrance to Cyberdyne’s gallery in iiAS Tsukuba Shopping Center. Cyberdyne is a company built by robotics engineer and professor, Yoshiyuki S..
