What's inside
- The camera — the photo mistakes that quietly annoy locals, and how to shoot freely without making them
- Eating — why walking-and-eating reads as rude, and where snacking is totally fine
- Trash — the "there are no bins" mystery, finally solved
- Trains & stations — luggage, silence, and the unspoken choreography of rush hour
- Temples & shrines — the 90-second version of doing it right
- Lines & reservations — why no-shows are closing doors to tourists, and how not to be one
- Onsen & ryokan — bathing without the panic (yes, including tattoos)
- Neighborhoods at night, money & friction, and 20 quick answers to things you'll wonder about
- For anime fans — the complete seichi junrei pilgrimage code, so you don't ruin the spot for the next fan
- Shops & konbini — the counter, the tray, and the tax-free rule that changes on 1 November 2026
- When you go — the weeks Japan is already full without you, and the ones nobody uses
- Asking and refusing — how a Japanese "no" actually sounds, so you stop pushing past one
- Appendix — the one-page cheat sheet and useful phrases in romaji
Who it's for
First-time visitors who'd rather not learn the rules by breaking them. Anime fans planning a pilgrimage. Anyone who wants the warm, generous version of Japan that opens up to good guests. No lectures, no walking on eggshells — just the current, real stuff a good senpai would tell you the night before your trip.
Be a good guest. Japan will love you back.
Book 2: Seichi Junrei — The Anime Pilgrimage Handbook
Anime fans call it seichi junrei, sacred-site pilgrimage. It is a borrowed phrase: Japan has had real pilgrims for twelve hundred years, and worked out long ago how a stranger walks through somebody else's town without wearing it out.
No location list — lists go stale, and a stale list keeps sending visitors to places that have since asked to be left alone. Instead: a five-test method for checking any location yourself in ten minutes, worked through on six real cases.
Get Seichi Junrei on Amazon — $6.99