The Cocolo Chronicles

Let the world get larger. Write down what exceeds it.

Japan as it is now, looked at closely — what is shifting, what is worth questioning, what you do not notice first.

Five things you are doing in an onsen that count as rude

14 February 2025

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Interview with a solo traveller in Japan

5 January 2020

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How to keep clear of the crowds on a trip to Japan

4 January 2020

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SUZUCAFE

Published in At the Table on 19 January 2026

A new year, and new addresses to find. In Tokyo, even after several visits, wanting a coffee is sometimes enough to turn up something worth knowing. That is what happened to me in Shibuya, where I came across a café almost by accident and stayed put. This weekend I was looking for somewhere quiet and pleasant to have a coffee with a small group, and I came across SUZUCAFE Jinnan. Several couples were queuing at the door — a common enough sight in Japan, and usually a good sign: it means the kitchen is liked.

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Umezono Café & Gallery

Published in At the Table on 4 December 2025

One evening, walking home in Kyoto, I went into a café by accident, without knowing it would become a habit I would come to value. Since that day I have gone back whenever I can, when I need to stop and let a quiet, local, reassuring room do the work. It is a good place to slow down, eat something Japanese and sweet, and sit for a while outside the day. What I like most is where it is: the street is unexpectedly quiet given how close it stands to Nishiki market (a 7–10 minute walk) and the activity around

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Café Accueil Ebisu

Published in At the Table on 15 August 2025

Today the Cocolo Travel team went to Café Accueil, in the modern district of Ebisu. Its speciality: pancakes and sweets that give you a taste of Japan tuned to each season. [Café Accueil] (https://accueil.co.jp/ebisu/) Opening hours: 11:00-22:00 Price range: around 2000-3000 yen per person Ebisu, which takes its name from one of the most popular deities in the Japanese pantheon, has become a fixture of Tokyo life. Long known for the Yebisu brewery, it now carries an elegant, busy atmosphere that appeals to young

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Seasons

Published in Open Country on 14 February 2025

Everything we say about activities in our articles and itineraries is based on an ordinary day. Waiting times, opening hours, how busy a place gets: all of it shifts sharply during the busiest periods. If your trip falls in one of them, read this article carefully. Golden Week is a week in which several public holidays fall one after another, which lets Japanese people take time off. It is the busiest travel period in Japan, and most Japanese people are away. Hotels cost more as a result, and the well-known sites

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Five Japanese dishes you probably haven't tried yet

Published in At the Table on 14 February 2025

Ramen, onigiri, sushi. These dishes stand for Japanese food abroad and need no introduction. But there are plenty of others, just as good, that you have most likely never tasted. Here are five Japanese dishes you probably don't know yet, and that are worth seeking out on a trip to Japan. Sukiyaki is a Japanese hotpot in which a range of ingredients — vegetables, noodles, meat, tofu — cook in a simmering broth. What sets it apart from other hotpots is the raw egg served alongside. The egg is the sauce: you dip each

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Discovering Japanese ryokans

Published in Hands & Materials on 14 February 2025

If you want your trip to Japan to include something closer to the country itself, a night in a ryokan — a traditional inn — belongs in the plan. Staying in a ryokan is a way into Japanese tradition and hospitality rather than simply a bed for the night. Whether you have travelled in Japan many times or none, it is worth doing at least once. You will also appreciate the hot baths, which loosen the muscles a trip tends to punish. These places offer more than accommodation: they open onto Japanese daily life and

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Five traditional Japanese sweets worth knowing

Published in At the Table on 14 February 2025

Wagashi: 和菓子 (和 wa = Japan; 菓子 kashi/gashi = confectionery) are, as the name says, traditional Japanese sweets. Japanese pastry chefs today are among the best in the world and Western cakes are much loved, but wagashi remain popular and you will have no trouble finding shops that sell them. Traditionally they are eaten during the tea ceremony, with matcha. The bitterness of the matcha balances how sweet they are, and the two together are the point. There are many kinds of wagashi. We have chosen the five most

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Five things you are doing in an onsen that count as rude

Published in Perspectives on 14 February 2025

Bathing in an onsen is one of the things we would make room for on any trip to Japan. Going in does mean following certain rules, so as not to give offence. Here is a short guide to the five mistakes to avoid while you bathe. And if you want to go further into Japanese culture, here is an article on ryokan, traditional Japanese inns Onsen are large baths shared by a lot of people. To keep hygiene where it needs to be, washing BEFORE you get in is compulsory. There is always a small room with showers and everything

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Periods to avoid

Published in Perspectives on 14 February 2025

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Five places to eat French food in Tokyo

Published in At the Table on 14 February 2025

Fancy a proper French meal during your stay in Japan? Finding somewhere affordable that still tastes the way it should can be difficult. So we took it upon ourselves to test a good many addresses, and here are the five we liked best in Tokyo: With two restaurants in Tokyo, one in Shinjuku and the other in Omotesando, Breizh café is a crêperie you may already know, because it exists in Paris too. You will find real Breton crêpes, good cider, and French and Japanese staff who are properly bilingual. Expect between

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Tokyo in the Rain

Published in Cities on 14 February 2025

You are in Tokyo, you had planned a full day out in the city, and it is raining. Here is what is worth doing in the capital when the weather turns. One note: some of the activities below need booking, so keep an eye on the forecast and plan the rain in. Teamlab is one of the more absorbing digital art experiences you can walk into: sensory, artistic, and firmly turned towards the future. There are two in Tokyo: teamlab planet and teamlab borderless. The latter opened recently and needs booking well ahead; tickets

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Seasons to avoid in Japan

Published in Open Country on 14 February 2025

Planning a trip to Japan? Choosing the right dates does much of the work of making the trip a good one. If you would rather avoid packed streets, hotels at their highest prices and bad weather, this article sets out the periods to keep clear of. From 29 April to 5 May (dates shift slightly from year to year), Golden Week is the week Japanese people take their holidays: overloaded sites, crowded transport and hotel prices at their peak. It is the one week to keep clear of. Obon is the festival of the dead, the

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The minshuku

Published in Hands & Materials on 15 January 2025

When people plan a trip, they often treat where they sleep as an afterthought. It can be the part that stays with you. This article covers a traditional form of Japanese lodging: the minshuku. These are singular places to stay, and they change the shape of a trip. If you are after something more immersive and closer to local life while travelling in Japan, a minshuku may be exactly right for you. The minshuku is the Japanese equivalent of a guesthouse or an inn: a friendly, affordable alternative for your stay. A

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Ten places we send people first in Japan

Published in Open Country on 3 January 2024

You want to see Japan but have not settled on where to go. Here are ten destinations we recommend for a first trip. Pick the ones that pull at you. Visiting Japan without Tokyo is like going to France and skipping Paris. The capital does not show you every side of Japan, but it remains essential. Three or four days in Tokyo will let you take in its different quarters without rushing. Some ideas for what to do: Visit Meiji Jingu shrine. Visit Sensou-ji temple. Go to TeamLab. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government

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Japanese castles

Published in Perspectives on 2 January 2024

Japanese castles are a central part of Japanese culture. Their architecture sits at the opposite end from anything European, and they are the surviving trace of the warlike past of feudal Japan and its samurai. A pillar of medieval Japanese culture, the castle was above all a fortress, and a good number were built during the Sengoku period, known for its political instability. Early castles were put up on mountain tops, where the terrain itself did the defensive work. Climbing a mountain was punishing for enemy

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Five films that help make sense of Japanese culture

Published in Stage & Screen on 1 January 2024

"Japan is a modern country without being a Western one." The phrase belongs to Pierre-François Souyri, a historian of Japan, and it holds up well. Japan is a developed country, and it is easy to find things there that look familiar. Watch how people behave, though, and talk to anyone local, and the differences in how life is lived and how the world is seen become hard to miss. Here are five films we suggest watching before you travel to Japan, to give you a firmer grip on Japanese society and on where it diverges

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Five reasons Hiroshima earns a place in your itinerary

Published in Cities on 1 January 2024

A little under two hours from Kyoto or Osaka and four hours from Tokyo, Hiroshima is a city we would build into any route through Japan. Known for the tragedy that followed the atomic bomb, Hiroshima is a livelier and more cheerful place than its history suggests. Whether or not history interests you, there is something here for you. Plenty of travellers leave the city off their itinerary. We think that is a mistake. Here are our five reasons you will be glad you went: The island of Miyajima, also called

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Interview with a solo traveller in Japan

Published in Perspectives on 5 January 2020

DIDIER has just finished a two-week solo trip through Japan, taking in Tokyo, Hakone, the Nakasendo, Takayama, Hiroshima and Kyoto, among others. He agreed to answer a few of our questions about the trip, so that future travellers can get a better sense of what to expect in the land of the rising sun. FANNY: Hello Didier, and thank you for taking the time. Could you start by telling us why you chose Japan? DIDIER: Of course. I was looking for a country with a different culture, a different way of living, somewhere

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How to keep clear of the crowds on a trip to Japan

Published in Perspectives on 4 January 2020

Japan is a popular destination, and it draws a lot of visitors. Avoiding the crowds altogether is not possible, but the advice below will help you shape a route that keeps you out of the heaviest periods. Shifting your trip by a week or two is sometimes enough to miss the busiest stretches. Planning matters here: watch the main tourist periods, and watch the Japanese holidays too. For more on the most congested times of year in Japan, see our guide to the seasons to avoid in Japan. Starting your day early is a

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Travel Notes

A few things to read before you go. What is useful to know, chosen from our pages.

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