The sharper edge to traveling in Asia

Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Fastest way from Narita Airport to Tokyo: Narita Express train N’EX and Suica card

Here at WoWasis, we like to get out of airports and into the city as quickly and inexpensively as we can, and Narita Airport has a solution that’s pretty much seamless. You simply take Japan Rail (JR-East’s) fast N’EX train (Narita Express) from either terminal at the airport, and you’ll get off at either the […]

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WoWasis travel product review: the SunDog indestructible book cover

Did you ever use a product that was so good and yet so simple that you used it for years and just didn’t think about how good it was?  That’s why we here at WoWasis are writing about the book covers from SunDog that we’ve been using for years. What’s a book cover? It’s a […]

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The best bath in Japan? Maybe it’s Kyoto’s Funaoka Onsen

Here at WoWasis, we’re clean freaks, or can’t you tell? We’ve reported on Thai toilet hoses, soapy massages, Bangkok Korean scrubs, you name it, we just wanna be clean. It turns out that the Japanese, like the Thais and Koreans, are water people, and they revere their public baths, which they call onsen. And there’s […]

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Why a balding, smoking, middle-aged white guy may be the new sex symbol in Japan

You can quote us here at WoWasis: Japan is different. Waaay different. By western standards, middle-aged white guys aren’t worth much, sexually or commercially. Ask yourself: how many older western guys are spokespersons, or models, or mage logos for anything hip? Can’t name one? Neither can we. Receding hairlines aren’t very popular: guys are paying […]

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WoWasis book review: ‘New Age Short Stories,’ Bangladeshi fiction edited by Niaz Zaman

Niaz Zaman is a formidable editor. In her collection New Age Short Stories (2006, ISBN 984-8715-02-9), she’s compiled twenty-seven stories over 237 pages. Nearly all of them are top-notch, and they all are compelling. These aren’t ‘New Age’ in the western sense: New Age is the name of the Bangladeshi newspaper that originally printed these […]

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WoWasis book review: Harold Stephens’ ‘The Voyages of the Schooner Third Sea’

Ever thought about cashing it all in, grabbing a sailboat, and traveling in the South Seas? Writer Harold Stephens did just that, and chronicles the romance and challenges of doing so in his thrilling book The Voyages of the Schooner Third Sea (2012, ISBN 978-0-9786951-5-6). Here at WoWasis, we’ve become real fans of the travel […]

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WoWasis book review: Hank Kim’s ‘Ask a Korean Dude’

Veteran Korean journalist Kim Hyung-geun, who goes by the name Hank Kim, has written an informative guide to Korean customs and culture that worth reading before the visitor makes his or her first trip to Korea, Ask a Korean Dude: An Authoritative and Irreverent Guide to the Korea Experience (2012, ISBN 978-89-97639-00-7 03040). The book […]

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WoWasis product review: a wristwatch compass that’s efficient and inexpensive

Carry this great small compass with you whenever you’re in an unfamliar place

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