Sébastien Duval
@sebastienplus.bsky.social
20+ years in Japan, now in Tokyo. I develop regenerative tourism, and enjoy unique Japan, rejuvenating hot springs, and delicious vegan cuisines! French & Japanese OK too.
https://linkedin.com/in/sduval/
https://linkedin.com/in/sduval/
Asucome Macrobiotic Gohan Café Meguru's owners prepared our lunch with love from newly harvested rice and vegetables picked hours ago at their organic farm. Almost art: delicate carrot tempura. Even their sweet potato tart was homemade. In Asuka near #Archaeoastronomy sites. #VeganJapan #VeganAsuka
November 12, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Asucome Macrobiotic Gohan Café Meguru's owners prepared our lunch with love from newly harvested rice and vegetables picked hours ago at their organic farm. Almost art: delicate carrot tempura. Even their sweet potato tart was homemade. In Asuka near #Archaeoastronomy sites. #VeganJapan #VeganAsuka
🧵10/ Unexpectedly, members of our #Archaeoastronomy #HistoryTour group bought many many small souvenirs in #Asuka to decorate their Christmas trees 🎄 They are indeed cute 🙂 #JapanTravel
November 12, 2025 at 1:05 AM
🧵10/ Unexpectedly, members of our #Archaeoastronomy #HistoryTour group bought many many small souvenirs in #Asuka to decorate their Christmas trees 🎄 They are indeed cute 🙂 #JapanTravel
🧵9/ City staff explained the stone tortoise at Sakafune-ishi ruins, mentioned (?) in 1,300 y.o. Nihon Shoki (Chronicles Of #Japan). The sand-filled rectangle filtered spring water into the turtle 🐢 Exciting during a #HistoryTour; #Asuka locals hope @unesco.org soon registers it as a World Heritage!
November 11, 2025 at 10:23 PM
🧵9/ City staff explained the stone tortoise at Sakafune-ishi ruins, mentioned (?) in 1,300 y.o. Nihon Shoki (Chronicles Of #Japan). The sand-filled rectangle filtered spring water into the turtle 🐢 Exciting during a #HistoryTour; #Asuka locals hope @unesco.org soon registers it as a World Heritage!
🧵8/ Sakafune-ishi stonework remains mysterious: did ancient Japanese fill it with water/alcohol to reflect & study stars, create medicine, …? In a hilltop bamboo grove of Asuka village, its carved granite feels surreal ✨ #Archaeoastronomy enthusiasts and empaths I guided told me it's a must-touch!
November 11, 2025 at 12:19 PM
🧵8/ Sakafune-ishi stonework remains mysterious: did ancient Japanese fill it with water/alcohol to reflect & study stars, create medicine, …? In a hilltop bamboo grove of Asuka village, its carved granite feels surreal ✨ #Archaeoastronomy enthusiasts and empaths I guided told me it's a must-touch!
Amazed at my first bite 🤯 This well-toasted vegan bagel (hummus, mushrooms, pink peppercorns) at Cafe Ausgang in #Kyoto might be my best ever 🥯 The room is unique & beautiful, and the music creates a peaceful, magic bubble. Coffee was good too ☕ A must-taste spot! #VeganKyoto #JapanTravel
November 10, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Amazed at my first bite 🤯 This well-toasted vegan bagel (hummus, mushrooms, pink peppercorns) at Cafe Ausgang in #Kyoto might be my best ever 🥯 The room is unique & beautiful, and the music creates a peaceful, magic bubble. Coffee was good too ☕ A must-taste spot! #VeganKyoto #JapanTravel
A pleasure of late walks in #Kyoto is seeing the illuminated lanterns of Yasaka Shinto Shrine (free, in Maruyama Park). The names on the lanterns are donors’. #八坂神社 #JapanTravel
November 9, 2025 at 11:37 PM
A pleasure of late walks in #Kyoto is seeing the illuminated lanterns of Yasaka Shinto Shrine (free, in Maruyama Park). The names on the lanterns are donors’. #八坂神社 #JapanTravel
🧵7/ In #Kyoto, 1,250 y.o. Kiyomizu-dera Buddhist temple is beautiful with #autumn leaves nowadays. The wooden structure was built without nails, and can be photographed from the bottom (I also took a vertical photo of our group there). #清水寺 #JapanTravel #Architecture
November 9, 2025 at 11:24 PM
🧵7/ In #Kyoto, 1,250 y.o. Kiyomizu-dera Buddhist temple is beautiful with #autumn leaves nowadays. The wooden structure was built without nails, and can be photographed from the bottom (I also took a vertical photo of our group there). #清水寺 #JapanTravel #Architecture
Inclusive & tasty lunch in #Kyoto at Nishiki Market Alley By Moon And Back 🍜 Japanese Curry #VeganRamen, #GlutenFree rice noodle option, wagyu soy #ramen… Great for travel agencies: English-speaking Japanese owner (tattooed), many seats (new ➡️ not packed), cooking visible counter-side… 👍🏻 #VeganKyoto
November 9, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Inclusive & tasty lunch in #Kyoto at Nishiki Market Alley By Moon And Back 🍜 Japanese Curry #VeganRamen, #GlutenFree rice noodle option, wagyu soy #ramen… Great for travel agencies: English-speaking Japanese owner (tattooed), many seats (new ➡️ not packed), cooking visible counter-side… 👍🏻 #VeganKyoto
🧵6/ Rainy 08:30 at #Kyoto Fushimi-Inari Grand Shrine, head of 30,000+ shrines, to feel #Shinto power through Inari (god of rice 🌾 with fox messengers 🦊). Immediate rewards: rare encounter with shrine maidens & priests, crowdless group photo at the torii gates tunnel, wish-come-true lucky charms… ⛩️⛩️⛩️
November 9, 2025 at 3:01 AM
🧵6/ Rainy 08:30 at #Kyoto Fushimi-Inari Grand Shrine, head of 30,000+ shrines, to feel #Shinto power through Inari (god of rice 🌾 with fox messengers 🦊). Immediate rewards: rare encounter with shrine maidens & priests, crowdless group photo at the torii gates tunnel, wish-come-true lucky charms… ⛩️⛩️⛩️
Back to #Kyoto Engine Ramen to introduce real #ramen to a French traveller! I savoured #VeganRamen "Kyoto Beaning" + extra noodles; he got the standard one + extra mushrooms. His verdict: excellent, broth in France is nowhere as good! Will he move here to enjoy more real #JapaneseFood? 🙂 #VeganKyoto
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Back to #Kyoto Engine Ramen to introduce real #ramen to a French traveller! I savoured #VeganRamen "Kyoto Beaning" + extra noodles; he got the standard one + extra mushrooms. His verdict: excellent, broth in France is nowhere as good! Will he move here to enjoy more real #JapaneseFood? 🙂 #VeganKyoto
🧵2/ The chef of Grains (Miho's Kitchen) makes her #PlantBased eel & chicken from scratch using local soy & konjac 🌿 She sells this foundation as "okacon". #VeganNagoya #VeganJapan
November 8, 2025 at 1:32 PM
🧵2/ The chef of Grains (Miho's Kitchen) makes her #PlantBased eel & chicken from scratch using local soy & konjac 🌿 She sells this foundation as "okacon". #VeganNagoya #VeganJapan
🧵1/ Exceptional #vegan & #GlutenFree lunch at Grains (Miho's Kitchen) in Nagoya with red miso soup, unagi-don eel on rice (first time I tried vegan eel ✨), karaage fried chicken (taste close to the real thing + soft chicken texture), matcha or chocolate doughnuts… 😋 #VeganNagoya #VeganJapan
November 8, 2025 at 1:23 PM
🧵1/ Exceptional #vegan & #GlutenFree lunch at Grains (Miho's Kitchen) in Nagoya with red miso soup, unagi-don eel on rice (first time I tried vegan eel ✨), karaage fried chicken (taste close to the real thing + soft chicken texture), matcha or chocolate doughnuts… 😋 #VeganNagoya #VeganJapan
🧵5/ At Kanayama Megaliths, a local journalist interviewed us (maybe the only tour without Japanese visitors for years!), and Deïmian bought Tokuda-san & Kobayashi-san’s new #archaeoastronomy signed book in English/Japanese. Fun fact: I’m on 1+ photo of the book (as 2023 #HistoryTour guide here).
November 8, 2025 at 12:58 AM
🧵5/ At Kanayama Megaliths, a local journalist interviewed us (maybe the only tour without Japanese visitors for years!), and Deïmian bought Tokuda-san & Kobayashi-san’s new #archaeoastronomy signed book in English/Japanese. Fun fact: I’m on 1+ photo of the book (as 2023 #HistoryTour guide here).
🧵4/ At Kanayama Megaliths deep in #Gifu mountains, Tokuda-san & Kobayashi-san showed/detailed 4,500 y.o. sun/stars observation points, calendar systems that they noticed & unearthed 28 years ago: solstices, equinoxes, midpoints, leap years (!)… unaffected by #Japan many earthquakes 🌋 #HistoryTour
November 7, 2025 at 11:41 PM
🧵4/ At Kanayama Megaliths deep in #Gifu mountains, Tokuda-san & Kobayashi-san showed/detailed 4,500 y.o. sun/stars observation points, calendar systems that they noticed & unearthed 28 years ago: solstices, equinoxes, midpoints, leap years (!)… unaffected by #Japan many earthquakes 🌋 #HistoryTour
🧵3/ A day trip from Tokyo let us walk on and inside 1,500 y.o. keyhole-shaped burial mounds of Hodota Kofun cluster in #Gunma and climb the mysterious cliff of 1,400 y.o. Yoshimi Hyakuana “Hundred Caves” in #Saitama! Deïmian’s storytelling & theories enlivened our #HistoryTour 👍🏻
November 7, 2025 at 3:21 PM
🧵3/ A day trip from Tokyo let us walk on and inside 1,500 y.o. keyhole-shaped burial mounds of Hodota Kofun cluster in #Gunma and climb the mysterious cliff of 1,400 y.o. Yoshimi Hyakuana “Hundred Caves” in #Saitama! Deïmian’s storytelling & theories enlivened our #HistoryTour 👍🏻
🧵2/ Our #HistoryTour lively discussions started at the Japanese archaeology gallery of Tokyo National Museum (my favourite in Japan), at the old walls of Edo Castle (with huge stones now protecting the Imperial Gardens and Nippon Budokan), and at #Tokyo oldest (1,400 y.o.) Buddhist temple Senso-ji.
November 7, 2025 at 2:27 PM
🧵2/ Our #HistoryTour lively discussions started at the Japanese archaeology gallery of Tokyo National Museum (my favourite in Japan), at the old walls of Edo Castle (with huge stones now protecting the Imperial Gardens and Nippon Budokan), and at #Tokyo oldest (1,400 y.o.) Buddhist temple Senso-ji.
🧵6/ I finally did this! As hands-on activity at #Osaka Ikegami-Sone Yayoi Learning Centre, we shaped & kept our own magatama, comma-shaped jewels mentioned in Japanese myths. Do they represent fangs, foetuses… or are they Power? It's a 3,000 y.o. mystery! Lovely #CulturalTourism souvenir 🙂
November 3, 2025 at 1:08 PM
🧵6/ I finally did this! As hands-on activity at #Osaka Ikegami-Sone Yayoi Learning Centre, we shaped & kept our own magatama, comma-shaped jewels mentioned in Japanese myths. Do they represent fangs, foetuses… or are they Power? It's a 3,000 y.o. mystery! Lovely #CulturalTourism souvenir 🙂
🧵5/ Fun time & memory trying a costume of shaman-queen Himiko at #Osaka Museum of Yayoi Culture. We took photos in the lobby and (with special authorization) inside an exhibition room. The curators liked the results, which cleared any worries regarding cultural respect. #CulturalTourism #HistoryTour
November 3, 2025 at 4:17 AM
🧵5/ Fun time & memory trying a costume of shaman-queen Himiko at #Osaka Museum of Yayoi Culture. We took photos in the lobby and (with special authorization) inside an exhibition room. The curators liked the results, which cleared any worries regarding cultural respect. #CulturalTourism #HistoryTour
🧵4/ Our immersive lunch was a bento of Yayoi & local ingredients. I had convinced the organizers to add a #PlantBased alternative so vegans joined (13%) and enjoyed with me Yayoi-era-inspired rice balls (same chef) plus complements by Merry Momo (restaurant I recommended). #JapaneseFood #VeganOsaka
November 3, 2025 at 3:33 AM
🧵4/ Our immersive lunch was a bento of Yayoi & local ingredients. I had convinced the organizers to add a #PlantBased alternative so vegans joined (13%) and enjoyed with me Yayoi-era-inspired rice balls (same chef) plus complements by Merry Momo (restaurant I recommended). #JapaneseFood #VeganOsaka
🧵3/ Exclusive during our #HistoryTour: touching millennial pottery, weighting replicas, Q&A about the source of #JapaneseCulture with #Osaka Museum of Yayoi Culture curators, climbing into a reconstructed building at Ikegami-Sone archaeological site… Special connection needed; staff came to unscrew!
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 AM
🧵3/ Exclusive during our #HistoryTour: touching millennial pottery, weighting replicas, Q&A about the source of #JapaneseCulture with #Osaka Museum of Yayoi Culture curators, climbing into a reconstructed building at Ikegami-Sone archaeological site… Special connection needed; staff came to unscrew!
🧵2/ Fascinating #HistoryTour in English: we saw #Osaka artifacts, learned about #Japan early rice cultivation, metal tools, first wars two millennia ago… The diversity of burials caught everyone's eye! We asked too many questions to also cover the emergence of rich/poor disparities 😓 Plan a guide!
November 3, 2025 at 2:40 AM
🧵2/ Fascinating #HistoryTour in English: we saw #Osaka artifacts, learned about #Japan early rice cultivation, metal tools, first wars two millennia ago… The diversity of burials caught everyone's eye! We asked too many questions to also cover the emergence of rich/poor disparities 😓 Plan a guide!
Lastly, the director of #Chitose Aquarium taught us about local #salmon preservation. This endeavour required laws and much scientific research to start succeeding, and is facing new challenges as the climate crisis worsens. Underground windows reveal the riverbed and wild fish! #biodiversity
October 25, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Lastly, the director of #Chitose Aquarium taught us about local #salmon preservation. This endeavour required laws and much scientific research to start succeeding, and is facing new challenges as the climate crisis worsens. Underground windows reveal the riverbed and wild fish! #biodiversity
I enjoyed my first time #rafting 🛶 Pure water, autumn leaves, salmon, birds, and a Japanese guide who lived in Canada welcomed us. This #Chitose route suitable for novices (request Niseko for challenging #AdventureTravel), kids, elders, and groups of ±25 is also doable on evenings (great for MICE).
October 25, 2025 at 12:04 AM
I enjoyed my first time #rafting 🛶 Pure water, autumn leaves, salmon, birds, and a Japanese guide who lived in Canada welcomed us. This #Chitose route suitable for novices (request Niseko for challenging #AdventureTravel), kids, elders, and groups of ±25 is also doable on evenings (great for MICE).
Our last day in #Chitose started with a jaw-dropping #sunrise over Shikotsu lake, visible from my and all adjacent rooms at Marukoma Onsen Ryokan inn. You can easily sleep here if you book your room 6+ months in advance. #JapanTravel
October 24, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Our last day in #Chitose started with a jaw-dropping #sunrise over Shikotsu lake, visible from my and all adjacent rooms at Marukoma Onsen Ryokan inn. You can easily sleep here if you book your room 6+ months in advance. #JapanTravel
We wrapped Day 3 at #Chitose Marukoma Onsen Ryokan, welcomed by kamishibai paper theatre skillfully introducing the origins of the inn in English, and finally slowly stargazing from the main outdoor hot spring. I’ll have to go back to test the wild hot spring too!
October 24, 2025 at 1:50 PM
We wrapped Day 3 at #Chitose Marukoma Onsen Ryokan, welcomed by kamishibai paper theatre skillfully introducing the origins of the inn in English, and finally slowly stargazing from the main outdoor hot spring. I’ll have to go back to test the wild hot spring too!