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Shinjuku means “new station” in Japanese, because back near the start of the Edo period — call it the 1630s — it was the site of a new waystation along the Koshu Kaido, a major highway to the nearby capital city of Edo. These days it’s a ward, or administrative neighborhood, of the city of…

As amazing as Tokyo Disney Resort is, it isn’t Japan. It isn’t even Tokyo. And while our plans to visit Japan began years ago as a fantasy about visiting Disney’s Far Eastern fantasyland, our 2024 trip to Thailand left us doubly hungry for an authentic, Asian adventure. Like most Americans, I had some knowledge of…

After numerous visits to California’s Disneyland over the decades, I could probably navigate that park with my eyes closed. Not so Tokyo Disneyland, which is just like Walt’s original in many ways but just different enough to throw a native Los Angeleno for a loop. Upon passing through the gates, you’re greeted not by the…

There are plenty of people, folks who’ve had the opportunity to visit countries all over the world, who say Tokyo DisneySea is the best theme park anywhere. I, unfortunately, don’t have the life experience to make such a sweeping assessment, but if it turns out they’re right I won’t be one bit surprised. Believe it…

As a couple, our Japan story began a few months before we were married. Call it early 2011. We were interested in going to Disney World in Orlando for our honeymoon. We’d both visited the Most Magical Place on Earth, but our experiences there had been mixed so we were excited to try it under…

… pation for these upcoming entertainment dates. Surely they’ll excite some of you, too, so update your calendars accordingly. SEPTEMBER 9 Only Murders in the Building (season 5 premiere on Hulu)9 The Secret of Secrets (Dan Brown novel release)12 The Long Walk (Stephen King movie release)17 The Morning Show (season 4 premiere on Apple TV+)24…

Once you’re in Philly, it’s easy to catch a train to New York City. The trick is making sure you’re on the right one. Thanks to the mercy of an Amtrak porter and Amanda’s travel luck, which is far superior to my own, we found ourselves on a train that arrived in Manhattan sooner than…

One of the many enjoyable things about my life these past few years is my wife attends a weeklong, traveling conference every summer. In years when conference leadership chooses a location that interests me, I chip in a few hundred bucks for plane tickets and tag along. It’s a great way to see unfamiliar parts…

I want to launch this next phase of Carv’s Thinky Blog by acknowledging these are difficult times. The worst among us have been promoted to underserved power by simpletons and oligarchs. Despite that, our woes are still relieved by hope, joy, friendship and clever entertainment. I was reminded of that this week in a most…

Humans have learned so much since the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment two and a half centuries ago. We learned our universe was inconceivably larger and older than we had imagined. We learned life on earth began, not in a Mesopotamian garden with magic fruit trees and a talking snake, but in the ocean,…