Greetings, and welcome to ‘Secrets from Japan and beyond’. This site is an exploration of various aspects of Japan (and on occasion, other parts of the world) through essays and photographs, driven by research and personal observation.
Themes explored may be as diverse as history, literature, or the local baseball team. In the process of trying to understand the world through these lenses, writing about ‘place’ is common. Places have their own personalities and evoke emotions not unlike another being or work of art. The articles you will find on this site that are about places are not quite the ‘top ten things to do lists’, but a sketch about those areas outside the main tourist circuit – a tiny bit of inspiration, perhaps, for your own travels at home or afar.
You can narrow down the content of your choice by playing around with the categories on the top right of the site (eg: Japan) or by using tags at the bottom of each post (eg: Kyoto).
About the writer
This site is run by me, Sneha Nagesh, a writer based in Japan. I am a graduate of the Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Warwick in the U.K. I have been learning the Japanese language for over a decade and have a JLPT N1 certification. I have lived and worked in India, U.K, and Japan. Japan has been my home since 2019.
Publications I have written for include South China Morning Post, Kyoto Journal, Livemint, and Tsunagu Japan. Some samples of my published work can be found here:
In my personal essays – some of which can be found on this site – I explore slow contemplative travel, traditional and contemporary culture in Japan, the merge of technology with our modern lives and the importance of having green spaces integrated into urban areas.
In my being, I thrive on reading and learning all the time. I aim to read widely and document some of my findings on this site. The main motivation is a search for things that move the spirit and stick in memory – those wholesome things that apparently make it all worth it, but also those intriguing systems that form the basis of our world.
I’m always up for hearing about potential opportunities and collaborations so please contact me via the contact form on my site whenever you like!
Secrets from Japan and beyond 