Virge

Virge is a travel guide features the everyday favorites of carefully selected locals — people, places and things that have yet to be discovered by the outside world. What you won’t find here are popular landmarks, highly-reviewed restaurants and trendy hangouts.

What you will find are interviews with locals, followed by articles on their favorite spots. Get inspired as you read about their unique philosophies, interesting lifestyles, and intriguing backstories.

This guide is designed for a certain type of traveller, and is not for everyone. If you are looking for an efficient, find-and-go travel guide, it may be best to look elsewhere. We don’t want to be an information-heavy and consuming type of travel guide. Put simply, we want to enrich your entire travel experience from beginning to end by providing a reading experience so satisfying that even the process of deciding where to go becomes a delightful part of your journey. We have also tried our best to avoid giving you too many spoilers—because nothing beats actually being there.

One area or prefecture is featured in each issue. This issue is on Kanagawa, which is typically not a major destination for Japanese or international visitors. We provide it in the hopes of putting you in touch with what an unknown part of Japan can offer.

This guide is designed to be brief and minimal. There will be far more to discover in the neighborhoods as you create your own journey.

Virge is available only in limited bookstores and shops around the world. We are not planning to sell it online, as we value physical encounters over instant, convenient online purchases. We hope your visit to these purveyors is a pleasant experience as well.

Happy exploring.