京都競輪
On a recent day at the races at the Kyoto Keirin track in Mukomachi, we took in a few track cycling races, lost a bit of money, partook of one cup of Cup Sake, and met a few of the punters.
The track is 400 meters long and one race is five laps, or 2,000 meters.
The first 2-3 laps are slow going, with a lead bike taking the nine racers out. At that point, the lead bike drops out, and the action begins.
It is a cat-and-mouse game, followed by sudden bursts of great speed.
On race day the men - the crowd is 99% male - place bets in the intervals between races. Nearly all carried racing forms, well marked, and other study aids.
Access
Hankyu Railways: Get off at Higashi Mukomachi Station. There is a free shuttle on race days, or it can be walked in 15 minutes.
Japan Railways (JR): Get off at Mukomachi Station, the third local stop from Kyoto Station. There is a free shuttle on race days, or it can be walked in 20 minutes.
Tel: 075 921 0317
Entrance Fee
50 yen for one day
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Kyoto Keirin
Labels: bicycle, Bicycle Race, Kyoto Keirin
Monday, May 30, 2011
Higashiyama and Kodaiji Temple
高台寺
Kodaiji Temple is a dramatic temple on top of a hill in the Higashiyama area of Kyoto. It was established by Nene in 1606 in memory of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Nene, who is enshrined at the temple, was the wife of Hideyoshi.
Kodaiji is a zen temple, and the buildings and grounds are lovely.
The main hall building on the grounds is bookended by two gorgeous gardens.
One is a rock garden that is said to symbolize a vast ocean. The other garden is an has a pond, man made hills, decorative rocks and pine and maple trees.
The entire area is classic Kyoto.
Below Kodaiji is the Path of Nene, a beautifully preserved cityscape full of shops and other temples.
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Labels: Book Review, Books, Kodaiji, kyoto, Nene no michi, Temple, temples
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Japan News This Week 29 May 2011
今週の日本
Japan eyes solar panels on all new buildings
Crave
Japan's car production plunges due to parts shortages
BBC
5 beautiful Japanese travel movies
CNN
Japan nuclear plant confirms meltdown of two more reactors
Guardian
Angry Parents in Japan Confront Government over Radiation Levels
New York Times
Transfer of Korean archives OK'd
Japan Times
Japón vuelve a registrar inflación dos años y cuatro meses después
El Pais
日本4月份国内汽车产量骤减六成
Caijing
Deception and Diplomacy: The US, Japan, and Okinawa
Japan Focus
Japan name teen star for World Cup warmup
Yahoo Sports
Last Week's News
Statistics
Average Nippon Pro Baseball Salary by team, Central League, 2010 (in USD):
Tokyo Giants $940,827
Chunichi Dragons $730,379
Hanshin Tigers $643,724
Yohohama Bay Stars $420,896
Yakult Swallows $371,379
Hiroshima Carp $259,965
Source: http://nenshu-up.mokuren.ne.jp/
Average Major League Player Salary, 2011:
$2,476,589
Source: USA Today
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Saturday, May 28, 2011
Iyeyasu & Mikawa Bushi Museum
三河武士のやかた家康, 愛知県
Okazaki Park consists of the former grounds of Okazaki Castle where Ieyasu Tokugawa (1542-1616), one of the most famous men in Japanese history and the founding father of the Tokugawa shogunate was born.

Okazaki Park also contains the interesting Iyeyasu and Mikawa Bushi Museum (Tel: 0564 24 2204) which details the history of Ieyasu and the local Mikawa area clan to which he belonged. Note the different spelling of Tokugawa's first name in the name of the museum.
The museum focuses on the emergence of Ieyasu's Matsudaira clan in the Chubu area through video presentations, his early life at Okazaki Castle and his years spent as a hostage firstly with the Oda clan from age 6-8 and later with the Inagawa clan until he was 19. Life wasn't all bad however, as at 14 he married his captor Imagawa Yoshimoto's niece, Lady Tsukiyama.
The Iyeyasu & Mikawa Bushi Museum also has replicas of Ieyasu's armor, original swords, battle helmets, documents, wooden statues, and a diorama of his most famous victory at the Battle of Sekigahara.
There are a number of video games aimed at children where you can find out lots of useful facts about Ieyasu Tokugawa: he had 16 children, was 158cm tall and his shoe size was 22.5cm.
Just outside the entrance to the Iyeyasu and Mikawa Bushi Museum is the Karakuri Tokeito, a mechanical clock from which every thirty minutes a model of Ieyasu dressed in Noh costume appears and performs a dance accompanied by Noh music. The performance ends with a few of the Ieyasu's famous precepts such as "Blame yourself, not others," "Moderation is better than excess" and "Don't hurry."

Iyeyasu & Mikawa Bushi Museum Access
Take a Meitetsu Express train to Higashi Okazaki Station from Nagoya Station (28 mins) or from Toyohashi (20 mins). The nearest station to Okazaki Park is actually Okazaki Koen-mae one stop west on a local Meitetsu train or JR Naka Okazaki.
The main JR Okazaki Station is a distance south of the downtown area so change to the Aichi Loop Line (Aikan) and take a local train two stops north to Naka Okazaki Station, just opposite the Hatcho miso factory.
By car exit the Tomei Expressway at Okazaki Interchange or take National Highway Route 1 (the old Tokaido).
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Labels: Aichi Prefecture, Book Review, Books, Edo Period, history, japanese history, Museum, okazaki, temples, Tokushima
Friday, May 27, 2011
NLGR+ 2011 Gay & Lesbian Festival in Nagoya ゲイ・レズビアン祭りイン名古屋
Nagoya's big annual gay and lesbian event, NLGR+, is happening again this year on June 4 and 5, 2011.
The main event is an outdoor festival in Nagoya's Ikeda Koen Park in Naka-ku, 4-chome on Saturday June 4 from 2pm and Sunday June 5 from 11am, 2011. The park will have various booths and tents, including a men's stage tent, a women's booth, an orientation tent, and booths representing a range of different groups such as the Bear Club of Japan, the Taiwan Red Ribbon Foundation, a gay Christian group, an HIV prevention information tent, and more.
The two days will feature a constant flow of entertainment by a huge variety of show boys and girls, bands, and speakers.
In the evening of the 4th and 5th, partiers can visit the numerous gay and lesbian bars and clubs in the area. And on Saturday night (June 4th) there are no less than 6 different club events happening, at:
-Club JBs for the mixed gay/lesbian Pierrot Vol.26 NLGR+ Special nite - drag queens galore!!
-Cafe Domina for the men-only Paisley Park NLGR+ Special nite - ripped go-go boys!
-Club Colors for the men-only Deluxe nite
-Montage Lounge for the gay/lesbian Mixture Pot nite
-Club Viper for the women-only Love Track nite
-Pub Classmate for the women-only Pt. Stripper nite
Check out the NLGR+ website for details (in Japanese only)
Google Map to the Nagoya gay and lesbian bar and club district
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Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tokyo Spring Fashion - at Shinjuku Station
東京 春のファッション
Tokyo is remarkable for the degree of fashion-consciousness of its denizens and for the huge range of clothing fads represented.
The latest in boots, stockings, bags, hats, cutesy accessories, runway spectacular, pair-look follies - Tokyo has it all.
JapanVisitor set out last weekend to see just what Tokyoites were wearing this spring. And what better place to check out the Tokyo fashion scene than Tokyo's busiest railway station, in one of Tokyo's prime shopping districts: Shinjuku Station?
Read more about Shinjuku shopping.
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Henry Heusken & Korinji Temple
ヒュースケン
Henry Heusken (1832-1861) was the young Dutch-born interpreter for Townshend Harris, the first American Consul General in Japan.
Heusken fell victim to the random violence of the sonno joi ("Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarian") movement that swept Japan during the chaotic Bakumatsu Period - the death throes of the Tokugawa regime before the Restoration of the Meiji Emperor in 1868.
Other notable victims of samurai antipathy to foreigners at the time were Charles Richardson, a British trader hacked to death at Namamugi, near Yokohama in 1862 by Satsuma han swordsmen and eleven French sailors killed in the Sakai Incident of 1868.
Henry Heusken died of his wounds at Zenpukuji Temple following an attack by unknown swordsmen on Nakanohashi Bridge in Tokyo. Heusken ignored warnings from his boss Harris not to ride in the streets after dark.
Heusken is now buried in the grounds of Korinji Temple (光林寺) not far from Zenpukuji. Also buried here is Dankichi, a Japanese castaway, who had lived in the USA and China and was an interpreter for British Consul Rutherford Alcock. The low born Dankichi was resented for his hauty attitude by his fellow Japanese and cut down on the steps of the British Legation in 1860.
A weathered tombstone with an inscription in English commemorates the young Dutchman's brief life and there are a few Bols bottles at the foot of the tombstone to remind the visitor of Heusken's roots in The Netherlands.
The grave is on your right as you enter the temple about four main rows up at the far end.
Korinji Temple is close to the Iranian Embassy in Tokyo and a 15-minute walk from Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line of Tokyo Metro. Korinji is known for its beautiful cherry blossom in season.
Korin-ji Temple
4-11-25 Minami Azabu
Tokyo
106-0047
Tel: 03 3473 2621
Korinji Map
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Spring Parking Infringement - A Haiku Anthology
駐車違反 俳句
Haiku is a simple form of Japanese poetry with a long history. Parking infringements are a simple form of criminal behavior, also with quite a long history.
See how the sublime and the dire combine beautifully in the ridiculous. Watch this haiku anthology in the form of an extended narration, on YouTube, crafted by JapanVisitor.com's in-house bard.
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Monday, May 23, 2011
Kyoto Station Happy Terrace
葉っぴてらす
Ride the escalators up to the 15th floor of Kyoto Station to enjoy the Happy Terrace, a roof garden with excellent views of Kyoto city stretched out below you.
The name in Japanese is a play on words with the "Ha" of happy being the kanji for leaf.
The 10th floor of Hiroshi Hara's giant edifice is dedicated solely to ramen restaurants so if you have a yearning for noodles on your way up or down to Happy Terrace, your needs are easily fulfilled.
If it is a fine day, you can wait for your train in a relaxing urban garden and take in the huge scale of Kyoto Station by looking down the escalators you have ridden to the top.
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Sunday, May 22, 2011
Japan News This Week 22 May 2011
今週の日本
Japanese Officials Ignored or Concealed Dangers
New York Times
Tepco President: New Face, Old Blood
Wall Street Journal
Japan PM to take visiting leaders to earthquake zone
BBC
New photographs released of tsunami hitting the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in Japan
Guardian
F-35 may be dropped as Japan's next fighter
Japan Times
Japón entra otra vez en recesión
El Pais
日本央行零利率政策不变
Caijing
Complicity and Victimhood: Director Kamanaka Hitomi's Nuclear Warnings
Japan Focus
Japan withdraw from Copa America
Yahoo Sports
Last Week's News
Statistics
Amount, in USD, of Chinese medicine used by Japan, China, and South Korea in 2010.
Japan: $9,800,000,000
China: $114,000,000,000
South Korea: $1,700,000,000
Source: Asahi Shinbun
The number of foreign visitors to Japan has plummeted in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and ensuing trouble.
Compared with April 2010, the number of visitors dropped 62.5% this April.
The total number of arrivals was 295,8000, which is the first time that figure has dipped below 300,000 since May 2003 during the SARS epidemic.
Source: Yomiuri Shinbun
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Saturday, May 21, 2011
Titty & Co Tokyo
ティティー&コ—
Lumine Est is an 8-floor fashion building that is one of the main players in Tokyo's Shinjuku shopping scene.
I was there on the weekend looking for a decent bakery (none to be had there, but some good ones in nearby Takashimaya), and my eye alighted on the above sign advertising the B1 floor shops - drawn to it by the shop called "titty & Co."
Japan is well-known for its zany English, but a women's clothing store with a strip joint name? I'd expect to find something like that over in the red light district of Kabukicho, not here.
Titty & Co. is a clothing store for women selling attire that is not, actually, very "titty" at all. If anything it all looked a bit on the cutey, punky (read "flat-chested") side of fashion. You'd expect a name a little more on target than that from a shop whose parent company is called Precision Co. Ltd.
However, they seem to be doing fine. According to Titty & Co.'s website, there are no less than eleven stores for the brand, in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo.
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Friday, May 20, 2011
Sumida River in Tokyo
隅田川 東京
The Sumida River starts in Kita ward and flows 27 kilometers (almost 17 miles) through Adachi, Arakawa, Sumida, Taito, Koto and Chuo wards into Tokyo Bay. It is spanned by 26 bridges. The oldest bridge dates from 1693, and was replaced by the Shin Ohashi Bridge in 1976.
The next oldest was built in 1659, replaced by the Ryogoku-bashi Bridge, very near the Kokugikan sumo stadium in Ryogoku.
This famous bridge featured in many paintings by the 18th/19th century ukiyoe artist, Utagawa Hiroshige. The bridges of the modern day Sumida are picturesque in the variety of their designs and the different, often vivid, colors each is painted.
The Sumida River is one of the hundreds of rivers throughout metropolitan Tokyo. The biggest bridges are on the Tama River and Arakawa River, but at the turn of the 20th century the Tokyo section of the Arakawa was diverted at Akabane, in Kita ward, to prevent flooding. The old course of the Arakawa, through seven of Tokyo’s wards, was renamed the Sumida.
There are several different river cruises on the Sumida available as a tourist attraction, between Asakusa and Hinode or Odaiba.
Each cruise offers the Tokyo visitor a fascinating cross-section of east-end Tokyo as revealed by life on the banks of the mighty Sumida. The Sumida River is also plied constantly by barges and ships of all kinds carrying oil, gravel and other products and commodities. Seabirds hover over and feed from the river well inland from Tokyo Bay.
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Thursday, May 19, 2011
Green Tokyo
緑 東京
As a metropolis, Tokyo is all about superlatives. With a daytime population of almost 15 million it is one of the world’s biggest cities, and the minimally regulated state of its construction makes for a more jumbled look architecturally than most Western cities. The streets are crammed with shops and residences, and the spacious properties that the middle class takes for granted in most surburban settings overseas are an almost impossible luxury here.
As a concrete jungle, Japan’s capital is partly redeemed by the number of parks and gardens in Tokyo, but even more so by the passion its inhabitants maintain for greenery.
A remarkable feature of Tokyo is the number of potted plants kept in front, and on the roofs, of shops and houses, and even on apartment balconies. However tight the alley and grim the streetscape, the points of cultured greenery always give it something of a lift and add, literally, touches of life.
I wandered around my neighborhood with my camera last weekend. I live in the Asakusabashi district of Tokyo’s Taito ward (near the electronic mecca of Akihabara; the tourist center of eastend Tokyo, Asakusa; and that mix of high and low culture, Ueno). My aim was to document some of the greenery that relieves the monotony of this rather unlovely part of the city.
The slideshow here is the result: a random medley of just a few examples of the effort Tokyoites put into keeping their city green. Enjoy!
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Nagoya Friends Party, THIS SATURDAY! 6-9pm (5/21)
- Time: 18:00 – 21:00
- Drinks will be served between 6:00pm-8:50pm.
- Place: The Red Rock (2F Aster Plaza Building, 4-14-6 Sakae, Nagoya (very close to Sakae Station)
- Fee: 3000 Yen
ANOTHER FUN ROUND OF TRIVIA! ! COME JOIN US FOR ANOTHER HUGE EVENT. OVER 90 PEOPLE LAST MONTH!
- Dress code: Anything (Casual, etc)
- Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party!
- Over 25,000 Yen worth of exciting prize giveaways each month!
DATE: SATURDAY MAY 21ST, 2011
Our party is not a dinner party, but we will have light food & snacks.
Quantities are limited, so please come early! Please free to come alone or bring your friends.
EVERYBODY is welcome to join regardless of nationality/gender. Reservation is greatly appreciated.
About 125-150+ people are expected to attend. Approximately 55% female and 45% male, 70% Japanese and 30% non-Japanese.
Pictures from previous Nagoya Friends Parties.
Map & Directions Contact: 080-3648-1666(Japanese) 080-5469-6317(English) Get off at Sakae Station [Exit #13] ![]() The Red Rock (2F Aster Plaza Building, 4-14-6 Sakae, Nagoya (very close to Sakae Station) The Red Rock is located behind the Chunichi Building in the Sakae business/shopping district. Subway access from Sakae Station (serving the yellow and purple lines) Exit 13. It’s a big station connected to a huge underground shopping mall so you’ll need to do a little underground walking. We’re also just a couple of minutes’ walk from the Tokyu and Precede hotels, and a 10 minute walk up Hirokoji Street from the Hilton Hotel in Fushimi.
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Labels: Dating, Speed Dating
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Kansai International Airport to Kyoto Trains
関空(京都)アクセスきっぷ
JR Haruka now has competition.
Haruka, which runs from Kansai International Airport to Kyoto Station, now will have to compete against a much less expensive option that, with one change, takes visitors right into the center of downtown.
Haruka costs 3490 yen and takes 75 minutes to Kyoto Station, from which it is a subway or bus ride to the center of town.
A limousine bus costs 2500 yen and takes roughly 90 minutes.
The new service - Nankai Line from the airport, subway in Osaka, and then along Hankyu tracks to Kyoto - will cost just 1200 yen and take one hour and 37 minutes to Kawaramachi Station.
At Tengachaya Station, passengers will need to change trains.
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Monday, May 16, 2011
Burmese Water Festival in Hibiya Park
水祭り ミャンマー
Tokyo’s Hibiya Park was the scene of the Thingyan, or Water Festival, for the city’s Burmese population. The Water Festival marks the start of the Burmese New Year. After a wet week, the sun came out on the day, making for a pleasant enough afternoon in the park.
The festival was clearly on the oppositional side of Myanmar’s political fence, with several posters expressing support for Aung San Suu Kyi, and a speaker on the stage, too, appealing for the overthrow of the present military regime.
Burmese people had to pay to attend, but it was free to non-Burmese, of which there were a few. The festival was not packed, but enough were there to make for a buzz to the air (ignoring that other buzz that tried to pass for music from the stage: tuneless shouting by two girls dressed like they were going to church to the accompaniment of dully drummed and badly played heavy metal-like sounds.)
The din from the stage was replaced at times by Burmese dancing, which was a little easier to take in.
There were several food stalls. It was Burmese fare, but pretty uninspiring, and overpriced at a flat 500 yen.
Maybe I just got there too late or left too early, but the most disappointing thing of all was the lack of the water dousing that is supposed to be the whole point of the Thingyan.
Coincidentally, though, on the way home, far from Hibiya Park, down a backstreet of Akihabara I saw three Japanese boys squirting each other in the street with a giant garish water gun - so that kind of put the icing on the somewhat disappointing Thingyan cake.
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
Japan News This Week 15 May 2011
今週の日本
Japan’s Nuclear Future in the Balance
New York Times
Tepco Rescue Plan Could Hit Investors, Banks
Wall Street Journal
Japan's government approves Tepco compensation scheme
BBC
Plan to flood Fukushima reactor could cause new blast, experts warn
Guardian
Robbers score record ¥604 million haul in Tachikawa
Japan Times
El Gobierno japonés ayudará a Tepco a pagar las indemnizaciones por Fukushima
El Pais
日本下令捕杀福岛核电站方圆20公里内的所有动物
Caijing
Japan, Europe and The Dangerous Fantasy of American Leadership
Japan Focus
Costa Rica denies Copa America participation amid speculation that Japan is to withdraw
Yahoo Sports
Last Week's News
Statistics
All Renewables Index November 2010, by Country
1) China
2) USA
3) Germany
4) India
5) UK
6) Italy
7) France
8) Spain
9) Canada
10) Portugal
15) Japan
Source: Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices
Average Age at Time of Loss of Virginity
India: 19.8
Vietnam: 19.6
China: 18.3
Poland: 17.7
France: 17,2
Japan: 17.2
USA: 16.9
UK: 16.6
Iceland: 15.6
Global Average 17.3
Source: Durex 2005 Sex Survey
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Saturday, May 14, 2011
Chozuya Water Feature At Japanese Shrines
神社
Chozuya are the water butts in front of every Japanese shrine. Here you purify your hands and mouth before entering the shrine proper. This chozuya is at Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya.
Find shrines including Momotaro Shrine in Inuyama, Toyokawa Inari Shrine, Tagata Shrine and its phallic festival in March, the Naked Festival and Shin Otoko at Konomiya Shrine and the Horse Festival at Tado Shrine in Mie Prefecture.
Nagoya's most important shrine is Atsuta Jinja.
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Friday, May 13, 2011
Anpanman Museum Kochi
The Anpanman Museum in Kochi on Shikoku is celebrating its 15th anniversary.
The museum is dedicated to the life and adventures of the children's anime, who was created by Kochi-born Yanase Takashi. Made of bread and stuffed with bean paste, Anpanman appeals mainly to the under 5s. Kindergarten buses often carry his image in Japan. Anpanman duels with Baikin-man (Bacteria Man) and can lose his power if he gets wet. However, Jam Ojisan, can re-bake him.
Access
Ride a JR train to Tosa-Yamada from Kochi Station, then bus bound in the direction of Odochi. Alight at Anpanman Myujiamu-mae (25 mins).
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Thursday, May 12, 2011
The Sumida River Tokyo
隅田川, 東京
The Sumida River is one of the hundreds of rivers throughout Tokyo. The biggest are the Tama River and Arakawa River, but at the turn of the 20th century the Tokyo section of the Arakawa was diverted at Akabane, in Kita ward, to prevent flooding. The old course of the Arakawa, through seven of Tokyo’s wards, was renamed the Sumida.
The Sumida River starts in Kita ward and flows 27 kilometers (almost 17 miles) through Adachi, Arakawa, Sumida, Taito, Koto and Chuo wards into Tokyo Bay. It is spanned by 26 bridges. The oldest bridge dates from 1693, and was replaced by the Shin Ohashi Bridge in 1976. The next oldest was built in 1659, replaced by the Ryōgoku-bashi Bridge, very near the Kokugikan sumo stadium in Ryogoku. This bridge featured in many paintings by the 18th/19th century ukiyoe artist, Utagawa Hiroshige. The bridges of the modern day Sumida are picturesque in the variety of their designs and the different, often vivid, colors each is painted.
Sumida River, looking north at Maya-bashi Bridge (green) in foreground, Komagata-bashi Bridge (blue), Azuma-bashi Bridge (red), Tobu Isesaki train line bridge (gray truss bridge), Itotoi-bashi Bridge (blue); Asahi Beer headquarters at right (gold).
There are several different river cruises on the Sumida available as a tourist attraction, between Asakusa and Hinode or Odaiba. They offer the visitor a fascinating cross-section of east-end Tokyo as revealed by life on the banks of the Sumida. The river is also plied constantly by barges and ships carrying oil and other products and commodities. Seabirds hover over and feed from it well inland from Tokyo Bay.
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Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Doctor Yellow Shinkansen
ドクターイエロー
The Doctor Yellow Shinkansen is an iconic bullet train due to its color - bright, shiny yellow as opposed to the usual white color for normal, in-service passenger-carrying shinkansen trains.
Doctor Yellow trains monitor the condition of the bullet train track and overhead wire using hi-tech on board equipment, running at similar speeds to normal shinkansen such as the N700 series.
This Doctor Yellow Shinkansen is on display at the SCMaglev & Railway Park Museum in Nagoya.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Karakuri Exhibition Room Inuyama
からくり展示館
The Karakuri Exhibition Room in Inuyama is just across the street from the Inuyama Artifacts Museum on the approach road to Inuyama Castle. Visitors can enter all three places on the same 600 yen ticket.

The Karakuri Exhibition Room is dedicated to Karakuri - mechanical puppets, automatons or proto-robots if you like, that are part of the annual Inuyama Festival held on the first week of April.

Visitors can operate some puppets, watch demonstrations by a puppet master operating and making puppets and look at the collection of amazing Japanese puppets on display.
The Karakuri Exhibition Room is a short stroll from either Inuyama Station or Inuyama-Yuen Station.
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Labels: Aichi Prefecture, Chubu, Edo Period, Exhibition, history, Inuyama, japanese history, Puppet
Monday, May 09, 2011
Nara National Museum
奈良国立博物館
In the middle of Nara Park is the Nara National Museum.
It was originally called the Imperial Nara Museum, and opened in April 1895.
It is home primarily to works of art and archaeological artifacts related to Buddhist art, which is appropriate considering the location.
The building itself speaks of an earlier age. It is elegant and stately, and a short walk from the Prefectural Government Building, Todaiji Temple, and Kasuga Grand Shrine.
Details
Nara National Museum
50 Noborioji-cho, Nara 630-8213 Japan
9:30 AM - 5:00 PM (last admission at 4:30 PM)
500 yen for adults
Extended Museum Hours
9:30 AM - 7:00 PM (last admission at 6:30 PM)
Fridays (from the end of April to end of October) as well as the following dates:
the forth Saturday of January (January 22, 2011), February 3, March 12, August 15, and December 17
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Sunday, May 08, 2011
Japan News This Week 8 May 2011
今週の日本
Japan — Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis (2011)
New York Times
Japan to Shut a Second Plant
Wall Street Journal
Near field communication transforms travel in Japan
BBC
Featured photojournalist: Kimimasa Mayama
Guardian
Police launch raids over fatal 'yakiniku' poisonings
Japan Times
Japón para la central nuclear de Hamaoka, en plena zona sísmica
El Pais
日本大地震导致各地温泉出现异常
Caijing
What Caused the High Cl-38 Radioactivity in the Fukushima Daiichi Reactor #1?
Japan Focus
Japan's Kagawa returns to Dortmund training
Yahoo Sports
Last Week's News
Statistics
Cancer rates by country, per 100,000 people:
1) Denmark: 326
2) Ireland: 317
3) Australia: 314
4) New Zealand: 309
5) Belgium: 306
6) France: 300.4
7) USA: 300.2
8) Norway: 299
9) Canada: 296
10) Czech Republic: 295
22) UK: 266
51) Japan: 247
Source: Guardian
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