For your enjoyment, I offer an excerpt of my recently released book, Running the Shikoku Pilgrimage: 900 Miles to Enlightenment (Volcano Press, $18.95), edited by Mark Schumacher and with a foreword by Barefoot Ted McDonald. It's the story of a solo woman's journey running Japan's 900 Mile 88-Temple...

Here are 10 world records held by Japan for the shortest, thinnest, fewest, daintiest, briefest and smallest:

1. The shortest escalator

According to the Guinness Book of World Records (and we should believe Guinness because they make beer!), Japan boasts an inordinately short escalator. A 5-second ride, the escalator...

Taiwan is one of the four Asian Tigers (along with Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea) and has a population of over 23 million people. A recent one-month stay in Taiwan convinced me that this country is doing all the right things to cultivate an eco-friendly nation....

If you're traveling to Japan, slide right in with the culture with these seven tips:

1. Learn the word "shinhatsubai" which means "new product." This refers to a new item that has just arrived on the shelves in any given shop, restaurant, café, convenience store, etc. Have you tried the...

Growing evidence indicates that during the U.S. occupation of Okinawa from 1945 to 1972, the U.S. violated a treaty to not store herbicides within Japan's political boundaries. Accusations that the defoliant Agent Orange was present in Japan in the late 60s, is gaining ground as the latest reports...

With the announcement that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will likely approve the restart of two of Japan's nuclear reactors, I admit that I don't buy any of the reasons for doing so.

I've heard many excuses for the nuclear accident that happened as a...

Traveling in Australia for two weeks, I had the chance to watch the entire Australian Open in Melbourne on the Australian Prime Network TV. This was a real eye-opener as to what really goes on in Australian sports.

The first shocker was an advertisement for the "McOz burger" from...

So, how's your New Year's resolution coming along? Given up already? Well, I haven't. So enthusiastic am I, that I've already completed four weeks of my resolution even though we're only one week into the New Year. And I don't even consider myself an overachiever.

I have lost five...

Although it is said that most Japanese are Shinto and Buddhist, few people are aware the Japanese also participate in "commercialized Christianity" in order to take advantage of those fun Christian holidays.

Christmas, with its sparkly, over-glitzed trees, a cherry-cheeked Santa Claus and the ritual of gift-giving is irresistible...

This is the miraculous story of "Maruko," a dog who survived under the rubble of her house for 11 days with no food or water after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan. But that was just the beginning of a long, hard 6-month journey for this dog.

It had been in the back of my mind for a while to call an old friend. The problem was I couldn't remember her phone number -- a sure sign of aging.

So yesterday, I finally decided to look for it. It was very dark in the...

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Let me preface this post by saying that Southeast Asia is generally a very safe place to travel to. As a woman who has traveled around most of Southeast Asia by herself, I can say I have never had any problems. However, there is one thing everyone should know about...

If you're headed to Japan this summer, don't miss the fantastic beaches of Shikoku or those on the idyllic islands of the Seto Inland Sea. But before you dive in the water, be sure you know the rules.

Most beaches officially open in July, on a Sunday. Which Sunday...

I go to Kyoto once a year. I get lost in Kyoto once a year. Kyoto makes no sense to me. I'm more of a Tokyo girl. Give me a handful of subway lines and trains to navigate and I'm fine. Give me just two and I'm lost.

Is...

Weather forecasters must have been really lazy when I was growing up. Back then the weather was tame. I don't remember so many tornadoes, hail storms, high winds or even thunder storms. The forecasters had it easy; they probably laid in hammocks all day sipping margaritas while spewing out the...

The rolling blackouts in Tokyo mean interruptions in watching TV, running computers, stereos and electric heaters, not to mention recharging cell phones and electronics. While some have suggested that the rolling blackouts will merely reconfirm the need for nuclear power in this country with so few natural resources, I wonder...

If there is a goddess of animals, it's my mother. She has such a reputation for helping animals in despair that people are constantly bringing her homeless cats, injured birds, rejected baby raccoons, all sorts of needy animals. She takes them into her country house and nurses them back to...

I recently returned from Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, where there was much relief effort going on for Japan. The people of L.A. had come up with everything under the Rising Sun to help Japan. It's beautiful how charity brings people together.

In Little Tokyo, signs hung in every proprietor's...

Bali is still reeling from an April 9 Time magazine article by Andrew Marshall called "Holidays in Hell: Bali's Ongoing Woes." In the article, Marshall claims that water shortages, blackouts, garbage, sewage, traffic congestion and a rising crime rate are ruining the tourist paradise.

Having spent several...