Canada is a vast country harboring influences from all over the world. When Canadians aren't skiing down slopes in winter, trekking through the woods, or fishing from igloos (only joking), we love to travel. Pick up some tips and tricks from these Canadian travel bloggers, travel-obsessed folks who are sharing their experiences in Japan and across the world!
10 Canadian Travel Bloggers Featuring Japan
Here are 10 Canadian travel blogs to fuel your wanderlust!
- La Carmina
- Treksplorer
- Solo Traveler
- Brendan’s Adventures
- Traveling Canucks
- Retired and Travelling
- Ken Kaminesky
- Seattle’s Travels
- For Two, Please
- Carpe Diem Our Way
1. La Carmina
La Carmina is a TV presenter, fashion blogger, and travel journalist from Vancouver. Yearly trips to her parent’s native Hong Kong ignited her passion for travel and, once she started traveling independently, Tokyo became her first love. From 2007, she started sharing her tales of Tokyo goth nightlife through her blog. From there, it evolved to share her passion for the world’s alternative culture, goth fashion, and bizarre trends. To this day, she’s traveled to more than sixty countries. Tokyo continues to be one of her favorites. She believes everyone is sure to find something to their liking in this city that offers incredible food and relaxing outdoor baths.
Her latest article takes us out of Tokyo to explore Japan’s many feline-populated islands. With the help of faithful collaborator, Tokyo drag sensation Yukiro Dravarious, she takes us through Tashirojima, the paradise of felines, where cats are celebrated with a cat-themed cafe, cat shrine, and manga museum.
Website: https://www.lacarmina.com
2. Treksplorer
Ryan O’Rourke is a part-time traveler who made it his mission to show people that it is possible to travel to your heart’s content without throwing your job out the window. His blog, Treksplorer, has a handy Travel Guides section that covers the whole of Japan from the must-sees of Kyoto and Nara to the lesser-known city of Otaru in Hokkaido and its charming little restaurants and art galleries facing the canal. Striving to help travelers by giving them honest advice, he doesn’t rely on sponsors.
Planning a trip can be quite complex, which is why articles such as “Best Time to Visit Hokkaido: When to Go & Weather Guide” help to pinpoint the optimal time to travel. Summer in Hokkaido is cooler than other humid regions of Japan and is the perfect time to admire the blooming flowers. In winter, layer up and go skiing at the prefecture’s famous ski resorts. At night, admire the impressive towering ice sculptures of the Sapporo Ice Festival! Ryan’s unpretentious blog makes “mid-range luxury travel” available to anyone.
Website: https://www.treksplorer.com
3. Solo Traveler
Janice Waugh owned a publishing company with her husband before creating her blog, Solo Traveler. Now, she travels by herself, writing about her worldwide adventures. Her goal is to convince people that solo travel can be a very fulfilling experience. To that end, a big part of her blog is aimed at developing the skills needed to set out on independent adventures.
Members of the Solo Travel Society regularly share their travel stories and photos on the blog. Janice and many of her fellow solo travelers have visited Japan. During her time in Tokyo, Janice experienced the best of Japan’s omotenashi culture from the moment she arrived at Tokyo Station. Many kind Tokyoites helped her make the most out of the cherry blossom season and guided her through the urban maze of their city.
Website: https://solotravelerworld.com
4. Brendan’s Adventures
Brendan van Son is a Canadian photographer and YouTuber. In nine years, camera in hand, he visited more than a hundred countries. Memorable trips abound, but Japan was his first ever trip and has a special significance for him. At the age of thirteen, he went there on a school exchange and later returned in April 2018 for a month to slowly take in the beauty of the sakura.
His post “Random Thoughts After a Month in Japan” is an honest review of the high and lows of Japan. He loved walking through the not-too-crowded and somewhat quiet streets of downtown Tokyo. Along the way, random acts of kindness and little gifts he received from locals led him to believe the Japanese were some of the kindest people. However, the garbage paradox left him perplexed; he barely found any garbage bins yet there was still very little trash on the streets!
Website: https://www.brendansadventures.com
5. Traveling Canucks
Nicole and Cameron Wears are a couple of hockey fans from Vancouver, British Columbia. Being seasoned voyagers, they hope to inspire everyone to travel, whether it’s going to an all-inclusive resort under the sun or backpacking around the world with no particular plan in mind. They went on all sorts of different trips themselves. Their stay in Malaysia in 2004 had them hooked on traveling. This came to an end in 2011, when their first son was born, followed by a second addition two years later. The family settled down in Vancouver for a short while before resuming a life of travel as a family.
In October 2019, their love of world sporting events led them to attend the Rugby World Cup in Japan. Among hordes of enthusiastic fans, they cheered as Canada faced South Africa. Their trip, which combined sports matches and sightseeing, seems to have been a blast.
Website: https://travelingcanucks.com
6. Retired and Travelling
Linda and David are a couple who use their retirement to spend more time taking pictures and writing on their travel blog. They particularly enjoy the occasional cruise across the globe. Their boat journeys are generally not sponsored as they strive to give their honest opinions. In March of last year, they took a cruise throughout Japan, stopping in Shimizu to learn about Japanese art and tea, and to briefly admire the view of Mount Fuji through the clouds.
Website: https://retiredandtravelling.com
7. Ken Kaminesky
Ken is a photographer who worked with photography agencies, stock photo websites, and took photos for editorials. In 2016, he founded his own tour company, Discovery Photo Tours, which organizes travel photography tours in Jordan, Italy, Iceland and of course, Japan. For three weeks in 2014, he visited Japan, waking up early to snap pictures of the Bamboo Forest in Kyoto before it was swamped with tourists. He also stopped in Tokyo, where he met with the people at Fujifilm, helping them promote their new line of cameras.
Website: https://blog.kenkaminesky.com
8. Seattle’s Travels
Seattle started her blog in 2010, right after she got a degree in geography from a university in Toronto. She traveled so much, filling out so many passports, that her usual trips around the world lost their initial appeal. Even though she settled in rural Ontario with her boyfriend and three dogs, her love of travel is still very much alive and she goes on trips abroad often.
Back in 2015, she had a very Instagrammable trip in Okinawa courtesy of the Okinawa Prefectural Government. In a series of videos that look like they were taken right out of The Bachelor, seven influencers from different countries discovered this seaside paradise, each through their specific field of expertise. With topics ranging from food, music, photography, dance, drinks, and fitness, each expert organized challenges for their fellow travel influencers to undertake.
Website: http://seattlestravels.com
9. For Two, Please
For Two, Please is the brainchild of Cat and Kev, who met in Taiwan in 2011 and have been partners in crime ever since! Their unique bilingual blog caters to both the English and Mandarin-speaking audiences. Their no-nonsense reviews cover a broad range of topics from luxury to more action-oriented experiences, without sugar-coating. They even offer full trip itineraries. What’s not to like? For their honeymoon, these two Japan lovers traveled to Tokyo to stay at a very bougie five star hotel, dined at Michelin-starred restaurants and strolled around the city in kimonos.
Website: https://fortwoplz.com
10. Carpe Diem Our Way
Lindsay is a Vancouver native with a love of many things including travel and photography. Her newest love is writing. She has always been journaling sporadically, but after her first trip with her two sons, she decided to turn her passion for writing into a blog. Lindsay’s blog is unique, as she is one of the rare experts of traveling as a solo parent. In 2018, she traveled through Japan’s Shimane Prefecture. While this part of Japan isn’t very touristy, it’s filled with hidden gems such as the Tachikuekyo Gorge and its more than 1400 Buddha statues, and Iwami Ginzan, Japan’s leading silver-producing town.
Website: https://carpediemourway.com
Feeling inspired to travel? Browse food experiences across Japan and start planning your trip today!
Or, check out these 10 Japanese food bloggers for more tips and recipes!
