Osorezan, the mountain of the dead
Sulphur, still water, and a quiet that sits somewhere between peace and unease.
The author
筆者
About Ellie
Hi, I'm Ellie. I've been travelling Japan slowly for the better part of a decade — chasing local trains, empty onsen, and the quiet corners the guidebooks tend to skip. This is where I keep the stories, guides and photographs I bring home.
Snow country, slow trains
Three weeks on the local lines north — Niigata to Aomori — where the timetables thin out, the carriages empty, and the snow does most of the talking.
特集
お便り A letter, now and then
A letter from Japan, now and then
Once or twice a month I send a short note: somewhere I've been, a few photographs, and one small thing worth the detour. Nothing more, and easy to leave whenever you like.
Recent
新着
Drift ice at dawn
The Sea of Okhotsk freezing over, shot from a very cold boat off Abashiri.
Miyajima on the last ferry
How to have the floating shrine almost to yourself, once the day-trippers go.
The slow boat to Taketomi
Sand streets, water buffalo, and an island that politely refuses to hurry.
Kamakura snow huts, after dark
Yokote in the blue hour, when the candles come on inside the snow.
Kyoto before seven
The temples that reward an early alarm, and the coffee to have on the way home.
The bath at the end of the valley
A two-train, one-bus pilgrimage to a single wooden tub of very hot water.
Between trains
Fifteen minutes on the platform at Shimbashi, photographed once a week for a year.
Three days in Kanazawa, unhurried
Gold leaf, a quiet garden in the rain, and the best market breakfast on the Sea of Japan.