Travels With Mr Hewson

Travels With Mr Hewson Melbourne-based Architect & Tutor- sharing my love for Japan & travel

07/06/2026

The Teshima Art Museum (2010) by architect Ryue Nishizawa could be described as an artistic sculpture in itself.
Instead of building traditional wooden formwork, the construction team dug a massive, hand-drawn, teardrop-shaped mold directly into the hill’s soil.
After letting the concrete dry for five weeks, workers spent six additional weeks digging and removing all the dirt from beneath the inside of the hardened shell to create the open museum space which leaves 25cm thick concrete shell that is 60 metres wide, resembling a white pod shell. There are no pillars here, the buildings design is freestanding ingeniously.

It’s one of the unique places on our October 2026 that takes in the many ‘art islands’ of the Seto Inland Sea.

05/06/2026

Putting together a plan for those who like a taste of Art Island Magic.
This Japanese Autumn, hit the road with our small group taking in the Art Islands off the coast of the Seto Sea.
A flourishing of contemporary art, performance and architecture set against spectacular scenery.
We will visit Naoshima, Teshima, Inujima, Oshima and Awaji Islands to experience the uniquely contemporary along with the rustic ordinary traditions of the Japan Inland Sea.

We will base ourselves on Teshima home to one of a kind impossible engineering of Teshima Art Museum and venture out daily, like locals, via ferry across the clear blue sea, soak in the ambience of a enchanting location now transformed by art & creativity.

Reach out if this sounds like your idea of travel.
Tentative Dates:
28 October to November 5

残念だ Zan’nen’naIt’s disappointing 🙇 Our May Old/New Tokyo tour has been postponed due to the fact many of our participant...
07/05/2026

残念だ
Zan’nen’na
It’s disappointing 🙇

Our May Old/New Tokyo tour has been postponed due to the fact many of our participants were concerned about travel or where travelling via the Middle East to Japan for the tour.

I will be run the tour later on in the year along with another tour that takes in the Art Islands of the Inland Seto Sea.

Stay tuned for the updates.

In the meantime if you are travelling to Japan and need help with your itinerary please feel free to reach out.

I will continue to post Japanese related content from now until November.
Fingers Crossed the world stays safe until then.
🤞

My father was one of ten children, 7 boys and three girls.6 of the 10 joined the AIF/WAF during World War 2.My father tr...
25/04/2026

My father was one of ten children, 7 boys and three girls.
6 of the 10 joined the AIF/WAF during World War 2.
My father travelled the furthest for King & Country, to Palestine, Syria, Greece & Crete, back to Brisbane, then to Papua New Guinea.
His older brother, Charlie put up his hand but due to ill health went as far as Paddington Barracks in Sydney.
His younger brother, Bernard or ‘Brusher’ saw service in Papua New Guinea. Uncle Edward’s dates in service coincided with the bombing of Darwin, their 21yo sister Mary donned her WAF uniform and did her bit back here in Australia.
My uncle Horace, Dad’s older brother paid the ultimate sacrifice as he was captured during the fall of Singapore in 1942 and his life, ended at 36 while working on the Thai-Burma Railway.
He left a wife & three children back home in Harden New South Wales.
This post does not glorify war.
It’s a reminder of a time that re-wrote our history & nation.
I cannot see the point of defacing war memorials.
If I did, I would be defacing the memory of what my father & his family did, especially my uncle Horace who never saw his birth place or family again.


Take a look with our small group, at the newly renovated Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku which reopens on...
23/03/2026

Take a look with our small group, at the newly renovated Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku which reopens on March 31st.

This museum which opened in 1993 is one of the best not places to learn about Tokyos rich history, from early Edo (1603-1868) through to the present houses in a brutalist style building by Kiyonori Kikutake one of the founders of the Japanese Metabolism along with Kisho Kurokawa.

Click on the link in my bio for more details.

Visit the newly opened Takanawa Gateway City designed by Kengo Kuma, a biodiverse and interactive new set of buildings t...
16/03/2026

Visit the newly opened Takanawa Gateway City designed by Kengo Kuma, a biodiverse and interactive new set of buildings that hover over the Yamanote Lines newest railway station.
Join our small group (4-6 people) for a week or even a day visiting some of Japan’s biggest metropolis old and new buildings and gardens.
This May (28 May to 2 June) we are creating a Old (Furui 古い) and New ( Ataraishi 新しい) tour that takes in some of the cities newest and oldest spaces
If you are in Tokyo during these dates, starting your holidays maybe for the first time? and wanting to avoid the stress of negotiating the subways to visit places that you have seen on social media, join our group. We curate travel for those who have an interest in architecture, gardens and design.
Costs: AUD$1050 - per attendee (5-day tour, daily guiding) OR AUD$210 per day (daily guiding). This covers the daily guiding across the tour, assistance with travel, via trains, subways, scooters/bicycles.
A small booklet will be issued explaining each days events along with a summary of the places visited.
Recommendations of local restaurants + bars. Answering queries and other assistance when required during your time in Japan.
Attendees will be met at their hotel or a designated location to start the tour and finish at a designated location.

More links in the page bio.

🇯🇵

In late May 2026, join our small group tour to TokyoWhether you are going for the first time and are nervous about where...
15/03/2026

In late May 2026, join our small group tour to Tokyo
Whether you are going for the first time and are nervous about where and what to do - plus the logistics of travel + negotiating the mega-opolis of Tokyo, consider reaching out and I will share more with you.
We trek to outside Yokohama, around an hour from the city centre to visit Sankei-en.
Sankeien’s garden (175,000 square metres) was constructed in the early part of the 20th century by Tomitaro “Sankei” Hara (1869-1939) an extremely wealthy silk merchant who curated the garden and its 17 buildings which include buildings acquired from various locations across Japan, including Kyoto.
He had an eye for houses and buildings that were recognized as being culturally significant by the government, especially a three storied pagoda (Juto Oido Hall) built in 1597 which is located high up on a hill deep inside the garden. This pagoda, originally constructed in Kyoto in the mid-1400s, was relocated to Sankei-en in 1914.

A day trip here after vibrant and cosmopolitan Tokyo is a reward for all travellers who appreciate Japanese’s beauty and culture.

New- Let’s visit Forestgate in Daikanyama designed by by Kengo Kuma, the distinctive geometric structure is reminiscent ...
12/03/2026

New-
Let’s visit Forestgate in Daikanyama designed by by Kengo Kuma, the distinctive geometric structure is reminiscent of wooden boxes stacked into a tall tower, complete with a facade of timber slats strategically lined to optimise airflow.
The design not only gives the building a distinctive character but also aligns with a minimal waste philosophy in that the timber slats can be disassembled and relocated for future upcycling.

Late May is ‘Goldilocks’ season in Japan.Not too hot..Not too cold.Just right in fact.Also, airfares start to drop signi...
06/03/2026

Late May is ‘Goldilocks’ season in Japan.
Not too hot..
Not too cold.
Just right in fact.
Also, airfares start to drop significantly as well which is an added bonus.
This May, we are running an Old/New Tour of Japans biggest city - Tokyo.
From 28th of May until June 2 we will be taking small groups of 4-6 people on a ‘tasting’ tour across the city and up into the hills visiting older buildings and neighbourhoods and modern contemporary buildings and locations
if you planning a visit to Tokyo during these dates please reach out for further information & an itinerary.
Join us for a day or a week whichever suits with the burden of negotiating Japan’s most populous city placed on our shoulders with you as our guest.

My take on the 2026 Japanese Election.Japan has had 5 elections in 5 years. Let that sink… in both Upper & Lower houses ...
08/02/2026

My take on the 2026 Japanese Election.
Japan has had 5 elections in 5 years. Let that sink… in both Upper & Lower houses (Westminster System) which essentially becomes a popularity contest rather than a testing of any serious political agendas.
Only in 1993-1994, 2009-2012 when a coalition of opposition parties ruled the country, so essentially for 70 years the country has been run entirely by fiscal conservatives.
So where has that led the country?🤔
Sounds good, right or incredibly wrong?
A democracy requires a strong opposition to review & engage and hold the government to account.
This has only happened TWICE in the last 70 years.
Think of what our country would be like if the current LNP ran the country for that long? 😦
Wages have not risen for…….30 years.
Average annual income is equivalent to AUD$61,186 (😬)
Imagine being a salaried employee who has received the same salary their entire working life.
For a country run exclusively by Conservatives, its National Debt is twice the size of its economy, so exceeding 230% of GDP.
¥1.3 Trillion Yen
PM Takeuchi wants to suspend their version of our GST costing ¥4.5 trillion yen, a spending spree on investment in AI (😬) and semi conductors, wage & babysitting support, plus a drastic rise in Defence spending.
Also a set of xenophobic foreign ownership plus a single entry fee for tourists to ¥15,000 ($150) Apparently the country will need at least 500,000 per year by 2040 to ‘stabilise’ its workforce.
No solutions for an ageing population (29% over 65) or the predicted 25 million loss by 2050, the grim shrinking rural population, fertility rates at 1.25
Japan is not back or great again…
Despite what the Algorithms will be telling you over the next month, it’s a country sadly in decline and searching for a type of Utopian idyl which won’t be happening soon.
So, tourist, start booking your holidays while the AUD is high as the clouds of nativism & insularity hit home.

Address

Melbourne, VIC
3013

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

0419158652

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Travels With Mr Hewson posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Travels With Mr Hewson:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category