Todd Fong - Writer/Photographer

17/03/2026

With the current dollar-to-yen exchange rate, a Shinkansen splurge may not feel so much like a splurge at the moment. Now is your chance to try the Shinkansen's most premium level of service, even if you crammed yourself into Economy to get to Japan.

My first experience with Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train service was in 1996 when my then fiancé and I boarded a Kyoto-bound train at Tokyo…

18/02/2026

I should have been freezing, but Kanazawa's snowy scenes still radiate with a hidden warmth

Shot in Kenrokuen Garden, Nagamachi Samurai district, and Higashi Chaya geisha district.

01/02/2026

When it snows in Kyoto, something magical happens.

26/01/2026

I photographed a maiko for the first time thanks to an incredible Kyoto experience, and it was a humbling experience. What stands out the most to me is that despite being one of the most fetishized symbols of traditional Japan, maiko are just people, and, in fact, teenagers. When you get a chance to spend more than a few minutes with them outside of running into them in the street or watching them perform on stage, their human-ness becomes evident. They like to laugh and have fun just like any other teenagers do. I enjoyed capturing the human side of our new maiko friend as well as a wonderful portrait of her "official" smile (last shot).

16/01/2026

The rooms and corridors of the Park Hotel Tokyo are filled with amazing contemporary artwork, but I'll admit it was difficult to tear my eyes away from the masterpiece painted outside my hotel room window. 🤯

09/01/2026

What does Mt. Fuji represent to you? For me it's a beauty to behold from afar, just as the sun warms her in morning glow or the cold shades of night fall over her snow capped peak.

31/12/2025

Looking back on my favorite photos from 2025, I'm pleasantly surprised at how many of them are about people. I think in 2026, I'm going to focus more on incorporating people into my travel work. Not simply as tropes but as subject matter. My natural shyness often prevents me from capturing the images of people that I truly want to capture, so my desire for 2026 is to push beyond my comfort zone and just go for it. Goodbye 2025, you've been an incredibly complex year but one that has been incredibly fulfilling for me.

28/10/2025

There's a solace of being nowhere in particular when the world seems to be going mad. You hardly realize how much you need spaces like this until you are there, alone, with no particular demands on your time and nowhere you need to be otherwise.

21/10/2025

For my cycling friends, announcing the new Best Bike Rides Japan guide from Lonely Planet with a couple of contributions from yours truly. While you can do the Hiroshima Peace ride on your own, I recommend that you do it with a guide from sokoiko! Cycling who can give you a deep first hand account of Hiroshima's miraculous recovery after the atomic bomb. For Yabakei, it's nearly the perfect time to ride this beautiful bicycle exclusive road! Saddle up and enjoy one of dozens of rides experienced by the group of writers who contributed to this guide!

21/06/2025

From my photowalk with the incredible , who has been documenting "Disappearing Tokyo" in this area for over a decade. Despite the changes, the people living in this area of the city are as friendly and kind as ever. Some things never change I guess.

16/06/2025

Delighted to have Tokyo photographer Lee Chapman joining us as an Experience Maker on Fernwayer! I went on a preview photowalk of one of the experience Lee will be offering on Fernwayer and was delighted at what you might be able to see in these lesser-known areas of "Disappearing Tokyo."

22/04/2025

Check out the new exhbits at Ginza Sony Park starting this week.