Immaculately wrapped gifts are the norm in Japan Anytime a Japanese person goes abroad, he or she will go armed with a long shopping list – not of things for themselves but those for their loved ones, friends, work colleagues, bosses, people in their hobby group. The list is sometimes longer than their arms, […]
Traditionally, Japanese people like to take their holidays on mass. One of the biggest holidays of the year is O-bon or the Festival of Bon, which normally falls around mid-August of each year. A Japanese Buddhist custom held in honour the spirits of one’s ancestors, O-bon has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 […]
Take kabuki and remove from it the gorgeously colourful costumes, entrancing music and fantastical stories and what you are left with, in its bare essence, is a living, breathing traditional art form. Any visitor to Japan that goes to watch a kabuki show is blown away with how dramatic it is. Perhaps this is because […]
They say that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, then, how many words do you think the photo here is worth? Too many to count, I reckon. It would be futile to try to describe a fireworks display in Japan, for they are just something that you have to experience. They don’t come […]
Summer is in full swing in Japan and that means one thing for music fans: Fuji Rock Festival. This year the festival will take place between July 27 and 29. Although other popular music festivals do exist in Japan, nothing quite compares to Fuji Rock. After the festival moved in 1999 to its current location […]
This is the time of the year where Japan braces itself for the upcoming summer temperatures and for another reason too – matsuri (festivals)!! Japan is the home to a whole smorgasbord of festivals that take place throughout the Japanese archipelago, each possessing its own distinctive history and tradition. But it is during the summer […]
Move over Tokyo Tower, there’s a new, bigger brother dominating the capital’s skyline now. Welcome to the Tokyo Skytree. When it was officially opened to the public on May 22, the Tokyo Skytree became the world’s tallest broadcast tower. Its primary purpose is to broadcast clear television and radio signals without interference from skyscrapers. […]
Watching a sumo tournament in Japan is like taking a trip back to medieval Japan. Any visit to Tokyo would not be complete without seeing this living, breathing art form. Here are some handy titbits of information that will help enhance your sumo experience. When you alight at Ryogoku, the station closest to the sumo […]
Japan Discovered Cherry Blossom Tour Feedback from Tour Leader by Yuki Ito “We finished the April Japan Discovered tour a few weeks ago. Each participant had his/her own highlights of the tour, but the group was able to particularly enjoy 2 seasonal highlights — cherry blossoms and Takayama Spring Festival. We were blessed with the […]
Climb Japan’s most extraordinary mountain with expert mountaineers and English speaking guide!! The people of Japan think that Mt Fuji is a mountain that should be climbed at least once in a lifetime. It is not just a famous landscape but a symbol of Japan. Mt Fuji can be seen in many historical art works […]
