Hear the podcast: Something To Declare Japanese special - 48 Hours In - Travel - The Independent

These are just three of the questions answered in the latest edition of The Independent’s radio series, Something to Declare, produced in association with the Japanese National Tourism Organization and Virgin Atlantic Airways.

The whole programme is devoted to Japan, a much-misunderstood nation that is, as Simon Calder discovers, one of the safest places on earth. Join him as he meets travellers and travel experts in Britain and Japan, for up-to-the-minute advice on making the most of this remarkable country.

Enter URL:

Enter URL:

Voices

A family sit and enjoy a quiet train journey

Why I'm shouting about the tragic demise of the quiet carriage

voicesForcing us to overhear dull phone conversations is an offensive act, says Simon Kelner

News

Proof you shouldn't always believe what you read on social media

i100This Instagram photo does not prove Russian army is in Ukraine

News

Morrissey pictured in 2013

Morrissey: I didn't ask guard to 'get rid of' fan

people

Sport

He's watching you

sportVan Gaal has £500,000 video surveillance system installed to monitor Manchester United players

Environment

View from the Llanberis Track to the mountain lake Llyn
Du’r Arddu

Yours for just £7m

environmentA large chunk of Mount Snowdon, in north Wales, is up for sale

Life and Style

Martha Stewart wrote an opinion column for Time magazine this week titled “Why I Love My Drone”

Droning on...

lifeLifestyle guru Martha Stewart reveals she has flying robot... to take photos of her farm

Arts and Entertainment

The Secret Cinema performance of Back to the Future has been cancelled again

One week (and 59 years) late, the secret of interactive cinema is out

filmReview: Sometimes the immersive experience was so good it blurred the line between fiction and reality

News

There's bad parking and then there's Sicily's bad parking

i100

Life and Style

The director of Wall-E Andrew Stanton with Angus MacLane's Lego model

First he made the film... then he made lego Wall-E

gadgetsDesign made in Pixar animator’s spare time could get retail release

News

Dick Wagner dies

peopleGuitarist, who played with Aerosmith, Lou Reed and Alice Cooper among others, was 71

Environment

Tyred out: should fair weather cyclists have a separate slow lane?

Spokes person

environmentFormer Labour minister demands 'pootling lanes' for women cyclists

News

Bieber v Bloom: Singer takes 'fight' to Instagram

people

Most Viewed
Most Shared
Most Commented

Have you tried new the Independent Digital Edition apps?

SPONSORED FEATURES

#fashionhappy film competition

Calling all fashionistas! Enter our film competition to win a £2,000 Westfield Gift Card plus an internship at London Live.

Join the party Holiday wardrobe i100

Sun Set Style #editme Prizes & offers

Business videos

Join the party

With Prudential RideLondon taking place on 9 and 10 August, it is worth finding out where the best places to spectate are during the weekend

London Trend Holiday wardrobe i100

Sun Set Style #editme Prizes & offers

Business videos

Update your holiday wardrobe

Update your holiday wardrobe with tropical prints, the perfect pair of sandals and some seriously stylish swimwear to make a splash in. Bon voyage.

London Trend Join the party i100

Sun Set Style #editme Prizes & offers

Business videos

i100: Summer Lifehacks

This is the only wallet you need at the beach this year (and 15 other lifehacks to get you through summer)

London Trend Join the party Holiday wardrobe

Sun Set Style #editme Prizes & offers

Business videos

Sun Set Style

After a hard day spent sunbathing, breeze into dusk with relaxed separates and sunset hues. Polish it off with shimmering details and an Aperol spritz

London Trend Join the party Holiday wardrobe

i100 #editme Prizes & offers

Business videos

Get the look. See the trends.

Westfield and Snapfashion team up to create a new digital styling tool. Create a style board or browse this season's trends. #editme.

London Trend Join the party Holiday wardrobe

i100 Sun Set Style Prizes & offers

Business videos

Enter the latest Independent competitions

Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

London Trend Join the party Holiday wardrobe

i100 Sun Set Style #editme

Business videos

Business videos from commercial thought leaders

Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.

London Trend Join the party Holiday wardrobe

i100 Sun Set Style #editme

Prizes & offers

Independent Dating

Show Me

Between: and

Location:

By clicking 'Search' you
are agreeing to our
Terms of Use.

Sales and Office Administrator – Sports Media

£23,000: Sauce Recruitment: A global leader in sports and entertainment is now...

C++ Software Engineer - Hounslow, West London - C++ - to £60K +

£40000 - £60000 per annum + Pension, Healthcare : Deerfoot IT Resources Limite...

VB.NET and C# developer (VB.NET,C#,ASP.NET)

£30000 - £45000 per annum + Bonus+Benefits+Package: Harrington Starr: VB.NET a...

Visitor Experience volunteer

Unpaid voluntary role: Old Royal Naval College: To assist the Visitor Experien...

Dress the Gaza situation up all you like, but the truth hurts

Robert Fisk on Gaza conflict

Dress the situation up all you like, but the truth hurts

Save the tiger: Tiger, tiger burning less brightly as numbers plummet

Tiger, tiger burning less brightly

When William Blake wrote his famous poem there were probably more than 100,000 tigers in the wild. These days they probably number around 3,200

5 News's Andy Bell retraces his grandfather's steps on the First World War battlefields

In grandfather's footsteps

5 News's political editor Andy Bell only knows his grandfather from the compelling diary he kept during WWI. But when he returned to the killing fields where Edwin Vaughan suffered so much, his ancestor came to life

Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart reveals she has flying robot ... to take photos of her farm

Martha Stewart has flying robot

The lifestyle guru used the drone to get a bird's eye view her 153-acre farm in Bedford, New York

Former Labour minister Meg Hillier has demanded 'pootling lanes' for women cyclists

Do women cyclists need 'pootling lanes'?

Simon Usborne (who's more of a hurtler) explains why winning the space race is key to happy riding

A tale of two presidents: George W Bush downs his paintbrush to pen father’s life story

A tale of two presidents

George W Bush downs his paintbrush to pen father’s life story

Restaurateur Mitch Tonks has given the Great Western Pullman dining car a makeover

The dining car makes a comeback

Restaurateur Mitch Tonks has given the Great Western Pullman dining car a makeover

Gallery rage: How are institutions tackling the discomfort of overcrowding this summer?

Gallery rage

How are institutions tackling the discomfort of overcrowding this summer?

Louis van Gaal has £500,000 video surveillance system installed to monitor Manchester United players

Eye on the prize

Louis van Gaal has £500,000 video surveillance system installed to monitor Manchester United players

Women's rugby: Tamara Taylor adds fuel to the ire in quest to land World Cup

Women's rugby

Tamara Taylor adds fuel to the ire in quest to land World Cup

Save the tiger: The day America’s love of backyard tigers led to a horrific bloodbath

The day America’s love of backyard tigers led to a horrific bloodbath

With only six per cent of the US population of these amazing big cats held in zoos, the Zanesville incident in 2011 was inevitable

Samuel Beckett's biographer reveals secrets of the writer's time as a French Resistance spy

How Samuel Beckett became a French Resistance spy

As this year's Samuel Beckett festival opens in Enniskillen, James Knowlson, recalls how the Irish writer risked his life for liberty and narrowly escaped capture by the Gestapo

We will remember them: relatives still honour those who fought in the Great War

We will remember them

Relatives still honour those who fought in the Great War

Star Wars Episode VII is being shot on film - and now Kodak is launching a last-ditch bid to keep celluloid alive

Kodak's last-ditch bid to keep celluloid alive

Director J J Abrams and a few digital refuseniks shoot movies on film. Simon Usborne wonders what the fuss is about

Once stilted and melodramatic, Hollywood is giving acting in video games a makeover

Acting in video games gets a makeover

David Crookes meets two of the genre's most popular voices