https://www.scmp.com/rss/329222/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Trains are not always just a quick way of getting from A to B. Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of luxury sightseeing trains in Japan. From the futuristic champagne-gold carriages of the Shiki-shima, in Tohoku and Hokkaido in northern Japan, to the old-world elegance of the Seven Stars in Kyushu down south, luxury trains transport their passengers through spectacular scenery while pampering them with high-class cuisine and sophisticated amenities. They abide by the maxim of T.S. Eliot... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3189477/kyoto-nara-osaka-luxury-train-japan-takes-passengers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3189477/kyoto-nara-osaka-luxury-train-japan-takes-passengers?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Aug 2022 04:45:19 +0000 When Japan reopens to international travel, a treat awaits hikers, “forest bathers” and those who like getting close to nature. The newly opened Michinoku Coastal Trail runs for an astonishing 1,000km (620 miles) through four prefectures – Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima – in the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu. The ends can be found in the cities of Hachinohe (in Aomori) and Soma (in Fukushima), both of which can be reached by bullet train from Tokyo. The trail passes through rugged... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3157439/how-japans-new-1000km-hiking-trail-through-earthquake-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3157439/how-japans-new-1000km-hiking-trail-through-earthquake-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Nov 2021 23:15:11 +0000 This summer, while the world was engrossed in the battle for the top of the medals table at the spectator-less Tokyo Olympics, Japan quietly received a different kind of award. On July 27, Unesco announced that the Jomon archaeological sites in northern Japan had been added to its august list of World Heritage Sites. They became Japan’s 20th Unesco “property” (as sites or groups of sites are known) but the first prehistoric one. The Jomon property comprises 17 Neolithic sites scattered across... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3145973/japans-newest-unesco-world-heritage-site-jomon-prehistoric?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3145973/japans-newest-unesco-world-heritage-site-jomon-prehistoric?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Aug 2021 04:19:34 +0000 It’s barely 6am, yet already some 30 photographers are taking up positions on the No 1 Tadami River Bridge Viewpoint, high above the Tadami River. The sun hasn’t been up long enough to burn off the morning mist, which garlands the forested mountains surrounding the river. Drifting river mists are a part of life along the Tadami as it flows through the Oku Aizu region of Japan’s Fukushima prefecture. According to local lore, shape-shifting mountain gods roam inside the mist. All lenses are... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3120727/worlds-most-romantic-railway-japan-and-its-sudden-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3120727/worlds-most-romantic-railway-japan-and-its-sudden-change?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Feb 2021 23:45:14 +0000 The road from Barcelona to the northeastern Spanish city of Zaragoza takes the visitor through a desert of sun-bleached limestone hills. Ernest Hemingway was so struck by them, that he was inspired to write a short story, published in 1927, titled Hills Like White Elephants. Before these hills end, before we even reach the city, the spires of its most cherished symbol, the 17th-century Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, loom into view like a welcome-home sign. Zaragoza is known for... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2172034/zaragoza-why-chinese-flock-spanish-city-goya-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2172034/zaragoza-why-chinese-flock-spanish-city-goya-history?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Nov 2018 11:00:30 +0000