Written by: Gail Gold who joined a self guided tour including Tokyo, Kyoto, & Takayama. Japan, to me, is where the future meets the past. You see it every day in every aspect of life. The first thing that struck me was the immaculateness of Japan. You see it on the streets, on any form […]
Spectacular scenery but word of warning – leave your baby behind!! Myself, my husband (Japanese), and my soon to be two year old daughter arrived at Nagiso station after a one hour train ride from Nagoya. The journey from Nagoya takes in just enough of rice fields and nature to get you in the mood […]
Many people say that much of modern-day Japan exists because of its samurai roots. The samurai may no longer exist but a symbol of their power and strength does: castles. Estimates vary in the number of castles still standing today in Japan. But almost every major city or area of the country has its own […]
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. […]
