New Online Store and New Guidebook for Fukuoka

Following the release of Finding Fukuoka: A Travel and Dining Guide for the Fukuoka City Area, I have launched an online store over at FindingFukuoka.com. This means that my newest work as well as Osaka Insider: A Travel Guide for Osaka Prefecture are now available to customers in Japan. Both works can also be purchased together as a set for a discounted price.

Furthermore, customers in Japan have the option of adding and author signature and/or a personalized message to the book(s) they order. For customers in Europe and the United States, both Finding Fukuoka and Osaka Insider are still available as usual on amazon. Click on the appropriate link in the “My Publications” of the sidebar on the right or else visit to online store for links to relevant pages on Amazon in your country.

Osaka Insider Featured in Kansai Scene (and Minor Guidebook Update)

Although I have officially retired from writing for the Osaka Insider blog (currently writing for Finding Fukuoka), I was recently featured in Kansai Scene, the major English-language publication for the Osaka area. They talked to me about my ramen in Osaka as well as my favorite ramen shops in the city. Take a look at the article online or pick up a copy of the November issue if you are currently in the Kansai area.

Another small update regarding the guidebook: Due to conversion problems (from paperback to the Kindle edition), I have temporarily removed the Kindle version from Amazon. I hope to put it up for sale again once I work out the relevant issues, and I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Print copies of the guidebook can still be ordered as usual from Amazon in Europe and the United States, or you can contact me via the Finding Fukuoka contact form if you want to order a copy in Japan. I hope to make the Osaka Insider guidebook as well as the upcoming Finding Fukuoka guidebook more readily available in Japan through an online store once the latter has been published.

Osaka Insider Guidebook Update

Osaka Insider: A Travel Guide for Osaka Prefecture has actually be finished for over a month now, but thanks to a series of screw-ups at the printer (whom I won’t mention by name), it has been delayed until now. I am in the process of trying to get this problem resolved. It will be available as soon as possible–I apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience.

Osaka Insider Guidebook Coming Soon!

Despite the fact that I’ve been living and writing in Fukuoka since early 2011, I have also been working on a thorough Osaka Prefecture guidebook for sightseers and foreign residents, titled Osaka Insider: A Travel Guide for Osaka Prefecture. It will cover Osaka City and the surrounding prefecture in detail, giving you information you can’t find anywhere else on interesting things to see and do. I have visited each destination personally and engaged in a massive amount of research to ensure that you can see the best Osaka has to offer, and the guidebook’s rating system for each destination helps travelers determine where to go first. There will also be detailed information for visitors coming to Japan for the first time, ramen and okonomiyaki restaurant guides, walking maps for the historical and retro buildings of the Kitahama/Yodoyabashi/Nakanoshima area, a few short essays and more!

I have added a new page to this site where you can access online maps for every destination and restaurant listed in the guide. This is meant to be used in conjunction with the printed guidebook when it is published, but you can browse it now to get an idea of what the guidebook will contain.

Look for Osaka Insider: A Travel Guide for Osaka Prefecture in late 2011 or early 2012!

Finding Fukuoka: The New Blog Is Online!

The new blog is up! Please take a look at Finding Fukuoka, where I will be writing on Fukuoka and Kyushu from my new home in Yakuin, Fukuoka City. You have all been supportive and wonderful readers as I struggled to get Osaka Insider off the ground, and I hope you will show the same support for Finding Fukuoka. Thanks again for reading!

Osaka Insider is Moving Out

あけましておめでとうございます！！ (Happy New Year!!)

I have some sad but exciting news for all my readers out there: I will be leaving Osaka at the start of February, and relocating to Fukuoka (that’s in Kyushu, for those who don’t know). Naturally, I will no longer be continuing blog updates about Osaka and Kansai, because I will be living outside of this area for some time.

I am, however, working on the website portion when time permits, and if possible I will still put up the tourism section of the site. All of the text is written, I just need to build the pages, finish up a few maps, and proofread and fact-check everything as much as possible.

I also intend to undertake a new, similar blogging project in Kyushu in a couple of months, once I have finished my traveling and have settled down in my new apartment over there. Links to that blog will be put up here on Osaka Insider.

It has been great writing for all of you, and I will keep this site up as a reference for visitors to and residents of Kansai, in hopes that they can enjoy Osaka as much as I have.

Thanks again for all your support, and best of luck to each and every one of you in 2011!

P.S. Anyone who has a cool blog name suggestion for my Fukuoka project, drop me a line! I can’t really call myself an “Insider” over there because I know hardly anything about the place yet. 🙂

Accessible Japan

Accessible Japan is a highly useful, much-needed English-language site specializing in sightseeing, lodging, and other tourism-related information for travelers who require wheelchair accessibility. I stumbled across this site by pure chance, and because many travelers require this kind of information, I decided to post the link here (it’s also been added to my links section on the right). Not only does it provide information on locations of ramps, availability of rental wheelchairs and accessible toilets, information on inclines and other landscape characteristics, and other such information, it also has a lot of good general recommendations and advice for tourists.
If accessibility is an obstacle that has prevented you from making the journey to Japan, I suggest you check out this site. Be sure to take a look at their extensive links sections, as well.
Accessible Japan is put up by TESCO Premium Search Co., Ltd., a company that aims to provide job opportunities for people with disabilities.

Osaka Live Cams

Just in case you have time to kill at work or elsewhere, here are two live webcams I’ve found for Osaka.

• Taiyo no To (Tower of the Sun) at Banpaku Expo Memorial Park
• Midosuji Blvd.

Osaka Insider Progress Report

Osaka Insider here. It’s time for another progress report, where I make yet more excuses about why things are taking me so long 😛

As you can see, I have changed the design theme for my blog. I have done so for two reasons: (1) I wanted a better layout that allows for larger pictures and improved readability, and (2) I am finally starting to put together the main Osaka Insider website, which will be integrated with this blog upon release. I was originally planning on making it separately and then integrating the blog with the website later, but I’ve decided to stick with the free route and just create it with this blog at the center. I will probably get a domain name eventually, but seeing as how the website’s debut has been delayed more than predicted, I will just aim to get it up for the time being. Besides, I’m not doing this for money, so I don’t feel the need to start paying money for it unless I start receiving some first. I have had all the information and most of the photos gathered for a long time, and a majority of the text has been ready for awhile, but I haven’t had time to take care of all the little things.

The point is, I have started the tedious process of transferring all the info from the site I was building (using Dreamweaver) into WordPress, which will be followed by more rewriting, proofreading, and so forth. The blog will continue to be updated as usual.

Any thoughts on the new design? Feel free to e-mail me (see the “About section for contact info) or write a comment here! I personally like the straightforward, subdued design, and have also been influenced by the recent trend toward simplification (I’m sure you’ve noticed this with Google and Wikipedia, among others). The previous look seemed a bit dated, also.

Osaka Insider will be Outside This Week

I’m heading back to visit my homeland for the first time in two and a half years. Oregon, USA. So this time around, I’ll let some fellow bloggers do the talking for me.

• Eye on East Asia has some great reading recommendations from around the continent on this week’s blog roundup.
• an englishman in osaka, my favorite blog out there on Osaka, has decided to shut down. Even so, there is a massive archives, which I highly recommend browsing through.
• Gaijin Tonic comments on Strong Off, Asahi’s newest low-calorie beer (the name sounds dirty, doesn’t it?).
• A nice write-up with great pics of Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju, South Korea at Chris in South Korea. I had the pleasure of visiting this temple during my last trip to Korea.
• Two lovely posts over at More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan, this time down in Nagasaki: one on Sofuki-ji, the Chinese temple, and another on “Battleship Island,” a place I’ve always longed to visit. The photos for both are absolutely stunning.
• And last but not least, Jonathan Fleming takes us on a journey through the lovely, winding streets of Kyoto.

Thanks to all you bloggers out there for continuing to provide insightful and fascinating content! For everyone in Japan: have a safe and enjoyable Golden Week vacation!