In Japan on the first day of the New Year, having a dream that includes either Mt. Fuji, a hawk, an eggplant or all three portends a prosperous and happy year.

The last days of 2016, my husband, John, and I had a 24-hour stopover in Narita, Japan, so, for $129 and complimentary round-trip transfer from and to the airport, I booked a stay for us at the ANA Crowne Plaza Narita (68 Horinouchi, Narita-shi, Chiba; phone, in the US, 877/227-6963, crowneplaza.com).

A flier in our room...

Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 504th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine, yours because you and your fellow readers keep it going by being subscribers and providing the bulk of the material for each issue. Your participation is the key.

An easy way you can play a part right this minute is to send us a quick email or postcard telling which countries you visited last year (outside of your own own). If you’re a subscriber, email your list to editor@...

Brigit’s Garden in County Galway, Ireland

In 1997, Jenny Beale woke one morning with a concept for a garden full blown in her mind. Grabbing pencil and paper, she quickly described in two paragraphs what had popped into her head.

“Those two paragraphs continue to accurately describe the garden as you see it today,” Beale told me in September 2017 over a cup of tea in the café in the visitors’ center of the dream-turned-reality garden.

Creating the...