Letters from Japan – Resource Page
Welcome to the Letters from Japan: Resource Page – Japan-specific monthly newsletter extension of my website, Letters from Asia, the main platform where I publish travel writing and photography related to Japan and beyond.
The idea behind this page is to make it easier to review the paid newsletter content, especially if you’re planning your Japan trip, while giving me more flexibility over the design and layout. For example, on Substack, I have to publish the travel diaries as separate posts for each day, which means you need to click through several posts to read the full series. On my website, however, you can find them as single, complete posts with a table of contents.
The page is public, but the posts are password-protected (as noted in the automated email sent immediately after becoming a paid subscriber), with a brief preview section.
Below is a quick overview of what’s available on the website’s subscriber-only page.
Travel diaries – as single posts, with a table of contents
Since the travel diaries are posted on Substack as separate entries—sometimes up to eight, as in the Walking Goto Islands series—they can be challenging to review for trip planning. This page lists them all in one place as single posts, each with its own table of contents.
So far, there are four sets of travel diaries available as single posts:
The pages are mobile-friendly, but if you have the option, the desktop version is custom-designed to make these lengthy diaries easier to read. While I will continue posting the travel diary series on Substack, once completed, they will also be continually added to the website as a single post.
Destination Itineraries
These are itinerary-focused posts that offer suggestions for planning a day or multi-day trip, depending on the destination.
Shibu Onsen and the Snow Monkeys of Nagano
Tokyo Eateries: the Non-Gourmet Version
Tohoku Onsen Hopping: Four Nights, Four Hot Springs
Biking the Shimanami Kaido in Two Days
Japan Trip Planning Series
These are logistics-heavy posts, independent of destination, aiming to bring a bit of clarity to Japan trip planning, which often feels unnecessarily confusing (even to me, despite living here).
Japan Trip Planning Q&A: Transportation
Japan Trip Planning Q&A: Accommodation
Japan Trip Planning Q&A: Miscellaneous
Traveling Japan on a Budget (this is a public post, but I still wanted to include it for the relevance)
When is the Best Time to Visit Japan? (this is again a public post – part of the monthly letters series)
Whenever I publish on Substack, I also upload the same content to my website (for the security of hosting it myself), and you can find the paid-subscriber posts appear on the relevant page just a few hours after they’re emailed. I hope you find this feature helpful and that it makes browsing the content a bit easier. The page also displays, at the bottom, all the monthly letters available to all subscribers, regardless of their subscription plan, in chronological order.
Before I go, one more thing. It has now been a year since I launched the paid option for my newsletter. While I had previously engaged in paid travel writing and photography work for magazines, websites, and tourism offices, this was the first time I had a direct payment relationship with the content’s ultimate audience. I’m tremendously grateful to all of you who subscribed to a paid plan, especially in this first year, for giving me the courage to continue.
Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Burcu
