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Sapporo Kaitakushi Beer Premium

2012-02-02T08:15:00.000+09:00

サッポロ札幌開拓使麦酒

One of the better classic Japanese beer re-releases for the winter season is Sapporo's Kaitakushi Beer Premium, supposedly a return to the taste of the first beers produced at the Sapporo brewery way back in the late 19th century.

The limited release beer is available in convenience stores and is one of the best pale ale type beers we have sampled in Japan. With an ABV of 5.5%, Sapporo Kaitakushi Beer Premium has more of a kick than common or garden Japanese lagers and it's fairly tasty and with a nice color and aroma to boot.

Hadaka Naked Festival Konomiya 2012

2012-02-01T09:30:00.001+09:00

国府宮神社の裸祭り

The Konomiya Hadaka (Naked) Festival takes place this year on February 4.

Hadaka Matsuri has its origins in an attempt to dispel an outbreak of plague and the festival began in 767.

The boisterous behavior at Konomiya has sometimes got out of hand. Riots occured in the 16th century. Upto 10,000 semi-naked men usually attend with over 100,000 spectators and the crush and subsequent frenzy can be scary.

The festival has a set of defined stages.

On the second day of the lunar new year a post marked with the words "naoi shinji" is set up outside Konomiya Shrine, this happened this year on January 24.

An hour later at 10am a group of applicants arrive in the hope of being selected as that year's shin-otoko or ("god-man"). To be chosen as shin-otoko is considered a great honor, though a strange one in most people's eyes in view of the bruising experience that is to follow.

A huge 4-ton rice-cake (mochi) is prepared and is presented to the shin-otoko on the eve of the main festival. For three days prior to the start of the matsuri the shin-otoko is kept alone, enclosed in a small hall in Konomiya Shrine. He is fed only rice-gruel and water and has all his body hair shaved off as part of the purification rite.

The festival begins in mid-afternoon on the 13th day of the lunar new year when thousands of men dressed only in loincloths carry a bamboo pole covered with pieces of paper carrying the excuses of people who couldn't make it to the festival that year.

When the shin-otoko appears from the shrine the assembled men - many of them aged 23 or 42 (ages considered unlucky or yakudoshi) - converge on the shin-otoko in an effort to touch him and thus pass on their bad luck and so rid themselves of evil.

The shin-otoko's guards, who attempt to stop him getting killed in the crush, throw cold water on the crowds to help cool things down. The event can be dangerous and people have suffered injuries in the past.

At 3am the next morning the shin-otoko carrying a "mud cake" on his back - symbolizing bad luck and calamity is chased away from the shrine and the mud cake is buried by the shrine priests. This part of the festival is known as yonaoi shinji.

Later that morning the large rice cake presented earlier is cut up and distributed to worshippers. Eating the rice cake is supposed to ward off illness and misfortune.
Access: Take a Meitetsu Line train from Nagoya Station bound for Gifu to Konomiya Station (north exit and then a short 3-minute walk) or a JR Tokaido Line train from Nagoya Station to Inazawa Station and then a 15-minute walk to Konomiya shrine.

Konomiya Shrine
1-1-1 Konomiya, Inazawa city
Tel: 0587 23 2121

Konomiya is located just outside Nagoya.

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Japan Naked Festival Hadaka Matsuri Nagoya Japan Festivals Konomiya

Oden

2012-01-31T01:04:00.001+09:00

おでん

In these cold winter months in Japan, a favorite winter warmer is oden, a selection of ingredients boiled in a soy-flavored dashi broth. Dashi is made with konbu seaweed and shaved tuna flakes (kezurikatsuo), so oden is not really vegetarian, though many of the other ingredients are staples for non-meat eaters: daikon radish, potatoes, konnyaku (konjac or devil's tongue), kinchaku (mochi in a deep-fried tofu pouch) and tofu. Other things found in oden include boiled eggs, chikuwa fish cakes, folded seaweed, meatballs on sticks, sausages, octopus and sometimes skewered beef.

Convenience store oden

Oden can be found at food stalls at temple fairs and festivals, convenience stores, izakaya and at some specialized Japanese restaurants. There are many regional differences and the oden you eat in Tokyo is likely to differ from that popular in Osaka, Hiroshima or Kyoto.

Aomori oden - heavy on the eggs

You order your oden by the piece and it is served in a either in a bowl with broth or just plain on a tray. Mustard is served to dab on the pieces and to increase the heat effect.

Oden goes well with hot sake rather than beer.

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Spectacles Japan

2012-01-30T11:17:00.000+09:00

眼鏡

Japan is one of the most myopic nations on the planet. Between 50%-60% of Japan's general population wears eye glasses or contact lenses.

With 60-72 million potential customers, competition between rival opticians and contact lens retailers is fierce. 25 years ago, each neighborhood would have a local optician, these small family businesses have largely disappeared, replaced by cut-price mega stores with 1000s of pairs of eye glasses from different makers to choose from. Styles range from cheap and functional to highly fashionable designer specs costing 100s of dollars.

Many stores make a literal spectacle of themselves to increase custom. Here outside this store in Tokyo a young man takes to rapping to draw the crowds.

The Japanese word for spectacles is megane, often seen written in katana - メガネ or hiragana めがね.

It is thought the first spectacles where brought to Japan by the Jesuit priest Francisco Xavier (1506-1552) and presented to a local feudal lord.

Early Japanese spectacles often used tortoiseshell (鼈甲, bekkou) in their manufacture and an early pair of ivory-made glasses can be seen at Daisenin Temple in Kyoto. Other historical eye-glasses are a pair that belonged to Ieyasu Tokugawa kept at the Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko.

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Japan News This Week 29 January 2012

2012-01-29T01:55:00.002+09:00

今週の日本

Japan: Nuclear Contamination Cleanup Near Stricken Plant to Start in Spring

New York Times

Japan did not keep records of nuclear disaster meetings

BBC

Japan reports first trade deficit in 32 years after tsunami

Guardian

Nuclear foes defy order to remove tents from the grounds of METI

Japan Times

Japón sufre su primer déficit comercial en tres décadas

El Pais

« La Fissure », un webdocu sur le Japon de l'après-Fukushima

Rue 89

伊恩•坎贝尔：日本贸易逆差不只意味着不幸

Caijing

Henoko and the U.S. Military: A History of Dependence and Resistance

Japan Focus

Oakland manager Melvin excited about Japan series

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Of the nine attacks involving a firearm in 2011 that are suspected to be the work of the Japanese mafia (yakuza), eight took place in Fukuoka Prefecture. The one other was an attack on an entertainment company office in Tokyo.

In 2012 to date, the one attack was the January 17 shooting of a construction company president in Fukuoka.
Source: Asahi Shinbun

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Flea Market Toji Temple Kyoto

2012-01-28T01:19:00.023+09:00

初弘法

Toji Temple in south Kyoto is best known for the large pagoda that can be seen from the bullet train as it pulls into Kyoto Station.

Toji was created in 796 C.E. and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Toji Temple is also famous for its monthly flea market.

On the 21st of each month, the temple hosts a large outdoor market known as "Kobo-san."

The market is held in honor of Kukai, the founder the temple.

Kukai's full name was Kobo Daishi. He died on the 21st of March; therefore, the flea market is held on the 21st. Stalls are set up and sell antiques, food, pottery, crafts, art, clothes, etc.

On the first flea market of 2012, it was cold and rainy. However, over 100,000 people showed up.

Information

Kujo Subway Station (Karasuma Line).
1 Kujo, Minami-ku, Kyoto.
Tel: 075 691 3325
Free Admission. (9am-4.30pm).

Toji is a short walk or cycle ride west from Kujo subway station along Kujo Street or from Toji Station, one stop south of Kyoto Station on the Kintetsu Line. Buses #202, #207, #208 and #19 pass by the main entrance to the temple.

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The Big Issue Comes to a Station Near Me

2012-01-27T00:01:00.004+09:00

ビッグイシュー

The Japanese edition of The Big Issue is, indeed, big in Japan. And from yesterday it just got a little bigger: I was coming out of Asakusabashi station, my station, on Tokyo's Sobu Line, went down the stairs onto the street, and just to the left of the little mobile lottery booth was the sight, familiar in much of Tokyo, but not in Asakusabashi, of a man selling The Big Issue.

I walked past, thought, looked in my wallet, found I had coins, went back, and bought a copy. It featured the Japanese pop artist Yayoi Kusama on the cover, and an interview with her inside.

The vendor told me that this was the first day for The Big Issue to go on sale in Asakusabashi, and that he would be a regular fixture from hereon in.

160 yen of the 300 yen you buy the 30-page Big Issue for goes to the vendor. He was also selling Big Issue merchandise, notably fabric shopping bags.

The issue I bought was number 183. The Big Issue being a monthly, that makes this year the 15th year of The Big Issue in Japan.

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Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru

2012-01-26T00:01:00.000+09:00

メモリアル・シップ八甲田丸

The Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru, located in Mutsu Bay near Aomori Station in Aomori is Japan's first railroad ferry museum.

From 1966 until 1988 the Hakkoda Maru transported trains 113km from Aomori in Honshu to Hakodate in Hokkaido. The opening of the Seikan Tunnel linking the two towns made this journey redundant and the ship was transformed into a floating museum dedicated to the history of the historic crossing.

The Seikan Ferry crossing between Aomori and Hokkaido had been in operation since 1908, with the first train ferry going into service in 1924. In 1954, five ferries including the Toya Maru were sunk in the Tsugaru Strait by Typhoon Marie, with over 1,400 deaths.

On display are models of other Japanese ships, uniforms of the crew, historic documents and panel displays showing how the trains were loaded onto the ship.

The Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru also offers a full bar and restaurant service and the rear of the ship serves as a beer garden in summer.

The Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru is a short walk from Aomori Station under Aomori Bay Bridge.

Other attractions in Aomori include the reproduction of Showa-era food stalls at Yatai Mura, the Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum, the Aomori Contemporary Art Center, A-Factory, ASPAM, Wa-Rasse, Aomori Machinaka Baths and the fish market in the basement of the AUGA department store.

Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru (Official site in Japanese)
112-15 Yanagawa
Aomori
Tel: 017 735 8150
Hours: 9am-7pm; 9am-5pm November-March
Admission: 500 yen
Memorial Ship Hakkoda Maru map

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Snow in Tokyo

2012-01-25T00:01:00.002+09:00

東京に雪

It snowed in Tokyo on Monday night. I happened to look outside at about 11pm, and witnessed a full-on snowstorm: masses of huge snowflakes whirling through the air coating the railing, the plants - everything, and even flying in through the open door.

Tuesday morning, the whole of Tokyo was frosted under a layer of about 3cm of glistening, crunching snow. The trains were late, pedestrians lost their footing, and shopkeepers were bent over shovels scraping snow off the sidewalk in front of their store, as were the kids from the nearest junior high school off the promenade alongside the Sumida River where they go for their morning group jog.

Most snow in Japan's main island of Honshu falls on the Japan Sea side, where the winds that make it over the mountains have usually left most of their moisture. However, very occasionally, maybe once or twice ever winter, they are still laden with sufficient water to deposit a coat of snow on the Pacific side.

A snowfall is rare enough phenomenon with Tokyo weather to send a bit of a thrill through the city, but bothersome enough to make Tokyoites glad that it's not regular.

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Kisogawa Station

2012-01-24T13:40:00.001+09:00

木曽川駅

JR Kisogawa Station is on the JR Tokaido Line with trains to Nagoya Station, Okazaki, Ogaki and Gifu.

The nearby Kiso River is known for its cherry blossoms in spring. The first train from Kisogawa Station on weekdays to Nagoya is 5.26am with the last train at 11.55pm.

Shin-Kisogawa is a nearby station on the Meitetsu Line.

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Beauty - a kanji lesson

2012-01-23T00:01:00.003+09:00

美　漢字レッスン

One of the best words to learn in any language is that which stands for one of the best concepts in any language: beauty, beautiful. Who can be offended, who cannot be charmed, if you point at something or someone and say just the word "Beautiful"? (Well, exceptions do come to mind!) Let's have a look at how to write the word "beauty" or "beautiful" in the Japanese language.

The character for beauty is particularly appealing one in that, in its symmetry, it is, indeed, beautiful. The roots of the character might make you think twice, though. The upper part, 羊, is the character for "sheep," and the bottom part, 大, for "big." Old China, pastoral idylls, shepherdly musings - and the imagination starts to race. Enough! Whatever its provenance, beauty is beauty.

In Japanese, the character alone is pronounced bi (its onyomi, or "sound reading", and as an everyday word it is pronounced "utsukushii" (its kunyomi, or "meaning reading"), the final "shii" being adended in hiragana like so: 美しい.

Aesthetics in Japanese is 美学 (bigaku), literally "beauty study"). You get your hair done at a 美容室 (biyoshitsu), literally "beuatiful looks room," or, in normal English "beauty salon." Your mother-in-law is (at least upon first meeting) a 美人 (bijin), literally "beautiful person," or, in normal English, a "beauty." Beautification or glorification is, in Japanese, 美化, (bika), literally "beauty transformation." And 審美眼 (shinbigan), literally "judging beauty eye," is to have aesthetic sense, or an eye for beauty.

So, remember this symbol of beauty whose form reflects so faithfully its meaning, and its Japanese pronunciation, utsukushii, that will so often come buoyantly to your rescue when conversation has started to sink.

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Japan News This Week 22 January 2012

2012-01-22T01:30:00.001+09:00

今週の日本

Japan’s Prime Minister Shuffles Cabinet in a Bid for Tax Support

New York Times

New video of Fukushima nuclear reactor interior

BBC

How a Japanese paper rose to the occasion in tsunami disaster

Guardian

New Kimigayo ruling

Japan Times

Japón permitirá a sus nucleares funcionar hasta los 60 años como máximo

El Pais

Nucléaire au Japon : « L'Etat est un traître pour les travailleurs »

Rue 89

日本将试验开采海底“可燃冰”

Caijing

Megasolar Japan: The Prospects for Green Alternatives to Nuclear Power

Japan Focus

Texas spent time getting to know Yu before $107M

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

The number of tourists who visited Japan in 2011 declined by 27.8% compared with the previous year.

6.2 million tourists visited Japan in 2011, which was a large drop from the 8.6 million in 2010.

Source: Kyodo News

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Crazy English on Japanese Clothing

2012-01-21T12:00:00.002+09:00

Japan is rightly famous for its crazy English used to give a touch of the exotic to clothes and accessories.

We all have our own particular favorites of misspelled and grammatically incorrect English as well as the plain bizarre.

Here's a recent example which takes song lyrics from Minute By Minute by the Doobie Brothers:

You Will Stay

Just To Watch Me,

Darlin'. Wilt Away On Lies

From You

Does the wearer know he is sporting Doobie Brothers' lyrics? Does he care? Is it copyright infringement?

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Japanese Supermarkets

2012-01-20T02:02:00.001+09:00

スーパーマーケット

Japanese supermarkets look pretty much like their counterparts elsewhere around the world. Though as fish and seafood is so much part of the Japanese diet, the fresh fish counter in Japanese supermarkets is prominent and a specialized butcher's counter is usually noted for its absence or small size.

Japanese supermarkets usually open around 10am until 8pm though some supermarkets in Japan are 24 hours. Credit cards can be used and many supermarkets offer a points card and a variety of vouchers for deductions on future purchases.

Service at the checkout at japanese supermarkets is speedy and polite. Plastic bags often cost an extra 5 yen to encourage customers to bring their own bags.

Goods stocked in Japanese supermarkets include fruit and vegetables, dairy products, dried goods, canned food, snacks, beer, wines and Japanese sake, non-alcoholic drinks, toiletries and ready-to-eat, pre-prepared foods including a variety of often excellent salads, yakitori and grilled fish. If you can't cook Japanese food, you can buy most of the classic dishes pre-prepared and just reheat them in the microwave and serve with rice prepared in a rice-cooker.

Large supermarket chains in Japan include Aeon, Valor and Daiei along with Costco from the US with several stores in Japan including those in Kobe, Sapporo, Kawasaki and Machida-shi near Tokyo.

French supermarket Carrefour sold its operation in Japan to Aeon in 2005 and left the Japanese market.

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Ano Prosim Czech restaurant in Hiroo Tokyo

2012-01-19T00:01:00.002+09:00

アノプロシィームチェコレストラン

In Tokyo's pleasant Minami Azabu district, near Hiroo station, is something of a rarity for Tokyo, indeed for Japan: a Czech restaurant, called Ano Prosim (formerly Cafe Ano).

I went to Ano Prosim with a group of friends last Sunday, having made a reservation. First impression: surprise that one of our party, who had arrived first, was standing out in the cold, having found outside the front of the restaurant to be warmer than the welcome he'd found inside. Not a great start.

Indeed, on the whole party entering, the "welcome" was decidedly low-key, if there at all. And, what's more, the place was empty! Near Hiroo station, on Sunday lunchtime, and completely empty? Hmm. We were shown the more expensive evening menu, and had to request the lunch menu.

I started with a plate of chicken liver pate, sausage and Camembert cheese: gourmet quality, but there was no bread. We requested it, and they went out to buy some from the local bakery for us, which took about 10 minutes. For mains I had the pork roast, which was a very happy meeting of heartiness and haute cuisine. The bread was good - but having to ask for it, and their not having any on the premises, did seem a little odd.

We didn't order drinks for a variety of reasons: non-drinkers, too much last night, etc., but the drinks menu did look good, featuring beers and wines from the Czech Republic and elsewhere.

Fortunately we were a party of five: big enough to keep a good vibe going. Perhaps we struck them on a bad day, but it's certainly not the kind of place I'd take a date.

More reviews of Tokyo restaurants

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Bunka-Den at Atsuta Jingu

2012-01-18T09:31:00.000+09:00

文化殿

The Bunka-den treasure storehouse museum (also known as the Atsuta Jingu Museum) is located within the grounds of Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. A modern ferro-concrete building constructed in 1966 to mimic Azekura (log-cabin) style architecture, the Bunka-den has over 4,000 pieces in store of which a small number are on revolving display, changed every month.

The exhibits, which have been donated by members of the Imperial and Tokugawa families as well as the general public, include daggers, swords, garments, Bugaku dance masks and historic documents.

Bunka-den
1-1-1- Jingu
Atsuta-ku
Nagoya
456-0031
Tel: 052 671 0852
Hours: 9am-4.30pm; closed last Wednesday of the month

The nearest stations are Jingu-mae on the Meitetsu Line and Jingu-nishi subway station on the Meijo Line.

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Raijin

2012-01-17T07:39:00.000+09:00

雷神

Raijin is the Japanese god of thunder and lightening and depictions of raijin in paintings and sculpture are commonplace in classical Japanese art. Raijin is often shown with drums beating out the sounds of thunder.

In Shinto mythology raijin seems to have both positive and negative connotations: positive in the sense that thunder and lightening are often precursors of rain but negative in the sense of danger and the possibility of fire.

This image of raijin can be seen at Kenninji Temple in Kyoto. A famous sculpture of raijin along with his fellow god fujin (the god of wind) can be seen at Sanjusangendo Temple, also in Kyoto.

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Kyoto Municipal Zoo

2012-01-16T01:35:00.001+09:00

京都市立動物園

Kyoto Municipal Zoo is Japan's second largest zoo. By American standards, it seems quite small, but only Tokyo's Ueno Zoo is larger.

Kyoto's zoo is located in Okazaki Park close to The National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto, Kyoto Municipal Museum, Heian Shrine, and Nanzenji Temple.

The zoo is home to roughly 700 animals.

It opened in April 1903 and retains a bit aged feel.

Some of the conditions in which the animals are housed are not ideal - barren concrete floors are standard - but it is for the most part a good day out.

Information

Okazaki, Hoshoji-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
Telephone : 075 771 0210
Hours: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm (March - November)

Fees

General: 500 yen
Junior High School Students: 300 yen
Elementary School Students and under: Free

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Japan News This Week 15 January 2012

2012-01-15T01:04:00.004+09:00

今週の日本

Japan - Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Crisis (2011)

New York Times

Japanese earthquake recorded from sea floor

BBC

Quota market could save whales

Guardian

New Noda Cabinet on tax push

Japan Times

Fukushima analizará la leche materna de 10.000 mujeres en busca de radiación

El Pais

Le Louvre envoie des œuvres à Fukushima. Raisonnable ?

Rue 89

日本华媒：且看日本社会如何强力“打黑”

Caijing

Okinawa, New Year 2012: Tokyo’s Year End Surprise Attack

Japan Focus

Japan’s Maeda set for West Ham switch

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Japan's oil imports, by country, in 2010:

Saudi Arabia: 29.2%
UAE: 20.9%
Qatar: 11.6%
Iran: 9.8%
Russia: 7.1%
Kuwait: 7%
Other: 6%
Iraq: 3.3%
Oman: 2.7%
Indonesia: 2.4%

Source: Asahi Shinbun

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Contribute to Japan Visitor Blog

2012-01-14T00:10:00.001+09:00

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Super Hotel

2012-01-13T11:11:00.003+09:00

スーパーホテル

The nationwide Super Hotel chain in Japan is a cut-price accommodation option for both domestic and international travelers.

Usually (though not always) located near major railway stations in Japan, Super Hotels offer buffet-style breakfast starts, clean, though small, rooms and Internet access.

The majority of Super Hotel's over 100 hotels in Japan are located in Tokyo and Osaka (where the company first grew), though most large Japanese towns and cities have a Super Hotel including Aomori, Nara, Tottori, Yamaguchi, Kagawa, Kochi, Izumo and Hakata.

Check in at Super Hotels is 3pm and check out is 10pm and guests are expected to vacate their rooms for cleaning during these hours unless they confirm beforehand at the reception.

To book online in Japanese, English, Korean or Chinese, you will need to become a member after which you will receive a point card after you check in to receive reductions on future hotel bookings.

Though definitely aimed at the single male business traveler, Super Hotels offer both rooms for couples and families. A single room with breakfast will cost less than 5,000 yen and often less than this if taking advantage of special offers when booking well in advance.

Super Hotel
Tel: 06 6543 9000

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Asahi Style Free

2012-01-12T08:05:00.004+09:00

アサヒスタイルフリー

Asahi, one of Japan's big four beer makers, has joined Kirin in producing a totally alcohol-free beer.

The rather oddly named "Style Free" (don't Japanese advertising companies employ English-speakers?) joins Kirin's Free on the creaking shelves of convenience stores and liquor shops throughout Japan.

Style Free is 0.00 % alcohol and has proved popular with long-distance drivers (that's when I tried it), sea lions and recovering alcoholics. The taste is tinny and hoppy and one can of Style Free is usually enough (for life).

If you'd like to see some rather damning reviews of Style Free, have a laugh over at ratebeer.com

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Hibachi

2012-01-11T08:33:00.001+09:00

火鉢

As generators of heat in Japan's cold winter months, hibachi are now little more than curiosities. These antique charcoal braziers are usually ceramic and lined with metal. Hibachi were (and occasionally still are) used to boil a kettle and also as an outsize ashtray as smokers would light their bamboo kiseru pipes on the charcoal and then empty them into the ash by tapping the bowls on the metal rim.

Hibachi can still be bought in antique shops and flea markets such as those at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine and Toji Temple in Kyoto. Hibachi can make for garden ornaments either as fish ponds or plant vases. They are also attractive as interior decorations.

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Mount Fuji View

2012-01-10T07:56:00.001+09:00

富士山

Japan's iconic mountain Fuji is visible in the distance.

Late 2011 was warm, so snow only crowns the peak of the mountain.

Normally, the entire mountain would be blanketed in white.

Climbing season when many climbers go to see sunrise on from the summit of Mt Fuji is long over, but still it was unseasonably warm.

The Pacific Ocean spreads out from Yaezu, in Shizuoka Prefecture, with the Izu Peninsula in the distance.

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Kyoto Tourist Information Center

2012-01-09T09:11:00.002+09:00

京都総合観光案内所,京なび

As befits its position as one of the most visited cities in Japan, Kyoto has one of Japan's largest and best-equipped Tourist Information Centers.

Located on the second floor of Kyoto Station Kyo Navi (京なび) is a spacious, high-tech plaza offering tourist information not just on Kyoto city and Kyoto Prefecture but on other Japanese cities as well.

The multi-lingual staff can offer travel advice in English, Chinese, Korean and some other languages and visitors are free to surf the computers in the center to find the specific information they require as well as choose from a wealth of travel brochures in a variety of languages.

The welcoming staff can offer help on booking hotel accommodation in Kyoto and tips on how to spend your time in Japan's ancient capital from festival frolics to Zen meditation.

Free copies of the monthly English magazine Kyoto Visitors' Guide are also available. The old Kyoto Tourist Information Center before the new Hiroshi Hara-designed Kyoto Station was opened was located next to the old Kintetsu Department Store, which is now Yodobashi.

Kyoto Tourist Information Center (Kyo Navi)
Tel: 075 343 0548
Hours: 8.30am-7pm daily

Further tourist information on Kyoto can be found at the Kyoto City Tourism Association Visitor Information building (Tel: 075 752 0227; 9am-5pm) opposite Heian Shrine in the Okazaki district.

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Japan News This Week 8 January 2012

2012-01-08T01:45:00.002+09:00

今週の日本

The Myth of Japan’s Failure

New York Times

Top sumo wrestler ushers in the New Year

BBC

Yakuza gangs face fight for survival as Japan cracks down on organised crime

Guardian

Nuke regulators get teeth via bills

Japan Times

La industria baja los humos al coche eléctrico

El Pais

The Flowers of War, Christian Bale et les travers du cinéma chinois

Rue 89

消息称日本三井住友拟收购中邮基金20%股权

Caijing

Science with a Skew: The Nuclear Power Industry After Chernobyl and Fukushima

Japan Focus

Japan striker Lee looks to join Southampton

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

The number of new adults - 20 years old is the legal age of adulthood in Japan - was 1.22 million on New Year's Day. That is half the peak number, in 1970, when there were 2.46 million.

Source: Kyodo News

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Biwa

2012-01-07T09:53:00.000+09:00

琵琶

A biwa is a Japanese traditional instrument usually translated into English as a "short-necked lute" with four strings and played with a plectrum.

The biwa can be made from a variety of wood including rosewood, cherry, mulberry and zelkova.

The biwa is related to the Persian oud and probably came to Japan via China sometime before the Nara Period (710-794).

The biwa is usually held upwards from the lap while the players sits in seza (a kneeling position) and plucked with the large triangular-shaped plectrum.

The biwa became associated with court music (gagaku) in the Heian Period (794-1192). Many of the later players were blind and sang narrative songs to the accompaniment of the biwa, often about the battles of the Heike and Genji clans from the classic Tale of the Heike (平家物語).

The biwa remained a popular instrument in Japan until the end of the Edo Period and the coming of western instruments and music from the 1870s onward.

Later variations of the instrument originated in Kyushu and are called Chikuzen biwa and Satsuma biwa, the later style popular with the region's samurai to encourage their martial values listening to tales of past heroism and derring-do.

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Aomori Contemporary Art Center

2012-01-06T16:43:00.006+09:00

国際芸術センター青森（ACAC）

The Aomori Contemporary Art Center (ACAC) south of Aomori city is located on the grounds of Aomori Public College.

The Aomori Contemporary Art Center was designed by self-trained architect Tadao Ando, whose prolific CV includes the Suntory Museum in Osaka, Omotesando Hills in Tokyo and the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum on Naoshima Island in the Inland Sea.

The Aomori Contemporary Art Center's circular exhibition hall is surrounded by a graceful water feature and set in a pleasant natural environment. There are also various studios and workshops for woodwork, printing, AV and photography on site, plus a residential hall and lounge.

ACAC showcases both contemporary Japanese and foreign art and includes an Artist in Residence Program (AIR) for both Japanese and foreign artists.

2011's summer exhibition "Re-Modernologio" included works by Tomii Motohiro, Niwa Yoshinori, Asakai Yoko and Romanian visual artist Pal Peter.

The Aomori Contemporary Art Center can be reached in 40 minutes by a JR bus or Aomori city bus from Aomori Station.

Aomori Contemporary Art Center
152-6 Yamazaki Goshizawa
Aomori
Tel: 017 764 5200
Hours: 9am-7pm daily
Admission: Free
Aomori Contemporary Art Center map

Anamorphosis 3, the sculpture you walk on by Pal Peter

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Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum

2012-01-05T09:22:00.001+09:00

青森県立郷土館

Prefectural museums in Japan are not always guaranteed to excite but the Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum in Aomori is an exception and well worth a visit for its broad sweep of Tohoku culture from the Jomon Period to the present day.

The Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum is housed in a grand 1930s building that was previously a bank. The museum itself opened in 1973 and its several floors have exhibition rooms dedicated to a variety of subjects as well as occasional special exhibitions - such as the comic cut-outs of people sleeping off too much sake at cherry blossom time (see image below).

The Archeology Exhibit has some fantastic earthenware and clay figures from the Jomon Period sites around Sannai-Maruyama, just west of Aomori city and the Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum is an important reference for anyone interested in this early period of Japanese history.

Aomori's nature is covered with dioramas and taxidermy exhibits and the nature Exhibit includes a model of the Aomori Elephant or Naumann Elephant, named after the fiery German geologist Heinrich Edmund Naumann (1854-1927), who spent a decade teaching and researching in Japan in the 1870s and 1880s.

The History Exhibit covers Aomori's history from the Nara Period onward including the history of the powerful Edo era Tsugaru and Nanbu clans, the Hakkoda-san Incident of 1902 and World War II. Original photographs, uniforms and newspapers help recreate 1940s Aomori, which was heavily bombed by the US air force.

The Folk Customs Exhibit displays agricultural implements, clothes and a number of oshira - pillar like household gods unique to the Tohoku area.

Other exhibits include an Apple Exhibit dedicated to Aomori's agricultural mainstay - apples, a Personal Experience Room, very much with school children in mind, where visitors can play with various exhibits, the Pioneers of Aomori Exhibit dedicated to such Aomori alumni as writer Osamu Dazai (1909-1948), Pulitzer Prize-winning war photographer Kyouichi Sawada (1936-1970) and singer Noriko Awaya (1907-1999) and the "Refined" Collection Exhibit, over 11,000 pieces donated by a local doctor.

The Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum is one block south of Yatai Mura and about a 15 minute walk from Aomori Station.

Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum
Honmachi 2-8-14
Aomori
030-0802
Tel: 017 777 1585
Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum map

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Sanfuri Yokocho

2012-01-04T08:49:00.001+09:00

さんふり横丁,青森

Aomori in the far north of Japan has a well-deserved reputation for the excellence of its local food.

Sanfuri Yokocho (Yataimura) in the east of the city is a recreation of intimate Showa-style food stalls offering a few seats (8-12) around a counter presided over by a mama. The 15 stalls are arranged in an alley covered with paper lanterns. Sanfuri Yokocho opened in 2005 and is open in the evenings.

Diners can try some of Aomori's excellent sashimi (raw fish), kaiyaki miso (pictured above), and oden washed down with a glass or two of local sake or beer.

Yatai Mura is north of Amenity Street, one block north of the Aomori Prefectural Folk Museum.

Yatai Mura
Honmachi 3-8-3
Aomori
030-0802
Tel: 017 745 4242
Map of Yatai Mura

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Hatsumode

2012-01-03T07:19:00.001+09:00

初詣

Click here for the sound of New Year hatsumode at Toyokawa Inari shrine, Tokyo.

Hatsumode - is the first prayer of the New Year as people all over the country flock to shrines to pray for success and health in the coming year. Shop owners and business people may visit one of the thousands of Inari shrines in Japan, which are particularly associated with financial and commercial fecundity. Toyokawa Inari, a grand, 700-year old Shinto shrine in Tokyo's Akasaka district, is a very popular shrine at this time.

In the big cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya subways and commuter trains run all night to ferry the faithful to the popular shrines.

Hatsumode usually takes places in the first three days of the new year in Japan. New omamori (lucky charms) can be bought at many shrines, such as these daruma dolls below, and old ones are often burnt at this time or later at Setsubun.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-02T09:11:00.000+09:00

あけましておめでとうございます

Happy 2012 to all our visitors. It's the Year of the Dragon in 2012 and our nengajo (New Year's Card) shows the kanji character for the year of the dragon (辰; tatsu).

2011 may have been one to forget for many people in Japan following the huge earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku area of north eastern Japan followed by a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi (Number 1) nuclear plant.

Join our Japan newsletter to keep up to date to all that is new on Japan Visitor for 2012.

E-mail us if you would like to receive the glossy New Year's card above (until January 20).
desk [at] japanvisitor [dot] com
Subject "new year card"
Just include your name and snail mail address, and we will promptly post it to you, written in beautiful calligraphy.

We wish you all a peaceful and healthy 2012.

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Japan News This Week 1 January 2012

2012-01-01T01:52:00.004+09:00

今週の日本

Japan Panel Cites Failure in Tsunami

New York Times

Japan delays sales tax increase amid growing opposition

BBC

Japan streets ahead in global plastic recycling race

Guardian

Japan, India hike defense, economic ties

Japan Times

China y Japón estrechan lazos financieros

El Pais

Fukushima : le rapport d'enquête dénonce une cascade de défaillances

Rue 89

日本忧未来遭九级强震袭击

Caijing

A Problem for all Humanity: Nagasaki Writer Hayashi Kyoko Probes the Dangers of Nuclear Energy

Japan Focus

Brewers win right to negotiate with Japan’s Aoki

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Per capita GDP in 2010 in Japan was $42,983. That was 14th of the developed countries in the world.

It rose from the previous year, when it was 16th. That was primarily due to the strength of the yen.

Luxembourg was top of the 34 OECD countries at $105,313.

The US was eighth at $46,588.

China's per capita GDP was $4,430. Note: China is not a member of the OECD.

Source: Kyodo News

In CD singles sales in 2011, J-Pop group AKB48 claimed 1st through 5th place on the Oricon chart. "Flying Get" was the top single and sold 1.59 copies.

The top album was "Beautiful World" by Arashi. It sold 908,000 copies.

Source: Daily Yomiuri

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Kohaku Uta Gassen Lineup 2011

2011-12-31T03:16:00.001+09:00

紅白歌合戦

The big New Year's Eve television extravaganza to herald the New Year is NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen.

Unlike the West, New Year's Eve in Japan is a fairly quiet night. Many Japanese families stay at home and watch Kohaku, which literally means "Red White."

In short, the program is a singing "battle" between Red (female) and White (male) teams. A panel of almost as famous judges evaluates each act, and then just prior to the tolling of the temple bells to ring in the New Year one team is declared the winner.

In recent years, the men have been very strong.

The list of guests on the NHK program was recently announced.

Here is the 2011 lineup which is not so different from the 2010 version of the show.

Red Team

aiko
Ashida Mana
Ayaka
Angela Aki
Ikimonogakari
Ishikawa Sayuri
AKB48
KARA
Kawanaka Miyuki
Kanda Sayaka
Koda Kumi
Godai Natsuko
Kobayashi Sachiko
Sakamoto Fuyumi
Shiina Ringo
Shoujo Jidai
Tendou Yoshimi
Natsukawa Rimi
Nishino Kana
Perfume
Hamasaki Ayumi
Matsuda Seiko
Matsutouya Yumi
Mizuki Nana
Mizumori Kaori
Wada Akiko

White Team

Akikawa Masafumi
Arashi
Itski Hiroshi
Inawashirokos
EXILE
NYC
Kitajima Saburou
Gou Hiromi
Suzuki Fuku
SMAP
Sen Masao
Tohoshinki
TOKIO
Tokunaga Hideaki
AAA
Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi
Ishida Toshiyuki
Hikawa Kiyoshi
Hirai Ken
FUNKY MONKEY BABYS
Fukuyama Masaharu
flumpool
Hosokawa Takashi
Porno Graffitti
Mori Shinichi
Yuzu
L'arc-en-Ciel

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Kanji Character For 2011 Kizuna

2011-12-30T02:30:00.000+09:00

2011年漢字一文字「絆」

絆

At the end of every year, the Japan Kanji [i.e. Chinese character] Proficiency Certification Society solicits from the public the kanji that best sums up the past year.

A ceremony takes place at Kyoto's Kiyomizu-dera Temple where the selected kanji is publicly put to parchment by the head priest, presently Seihan Mori.

The kanji selected this year was the character for bonds, ties or connections pronounced kizuna.

This character was chosen due to the large level of support and help ordinary Japanese gave to the victims of the earthquake and tsunmai in March this year that devastated the Tohoku area of the country north east of Tokyo.

The kanji chosen in 2010 was sho meaning hot, due to the record summer temperatures experienced that year.

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Kitazawa Flotation & Power Plants Sado

2011-12-29T03:08:00.003+09:00

北沢火力発電所

Located in the town of Aikawa on Sado Island the Kitazawa Flotation & Power Plants are an industrial relic from the early 20th century.

By 1938 the Kitazawa flotation plant was the largest gold ore concentrator in East Asia as Japan stepped up its gold production to pay for imports following economic sanctions imposed on it by the Western powers following the Mukden Incident of 1937 in China.

During the Second World War copper was also smelted here brought from Japan's South East Asian empire.

By the 1950s gold mine operations on Sado were much reduced and the gold ore concentrator was stopped.

The brick building pictured below is a thermal power plant built in 1908 to provide power and replacing the previous steam engines. Inside the building are photographs and other exhibits on the history of Aikawa.

The Kitazawa Flotation & Power Plant is very close to the Sado Gold Mine and just across the road from the Edo Period Sado Bugyosho.

Google map

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Charles R Jenkins

2011-12-28T11:58:00.002+09:00

チャールズ・ロバート・ジェンキンス

Charles Robert Jenkins is an ex-US soldier who deserted his unit in Korea and went over to the North Korean side of the DMZ.

Charles R Jenkins

Jenkins was kept in North Korea from 1965-2004, at first in confinement with three other American deserters and later given more freedom. In 1980 Jenkins married Hitomi Soga, a Japanese nurse 19 years his junior. Soga, together with her mother, had been abducted by North Korean agents in 1978 from Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture. The couple had two daughters in the mid-1980s.

Jenkins photographed with Japanese celebrities

In 2002 Soga was allowed to return to her homeland supposedly for just a week by the North Korean authorities but her and the other abductees did not return to North Korea and the Japanese government lobbied for their families to be allowed to join them in Japan.

In 2004 Jenkins and his two daughters were released to Jakarta and then came to Japan. Jenkins was held for a symbolic 24 days for desertion by the US army at Camp Zama in Kanagawa and then released.

Jenkins now lives with his family on Sado Island and works at a souvenir shop selling rice crackers and other souvenirs at the Sado Rekishi Densetsukan (Sado Historical Folklore Museum), adjacent to Mano-gu, the tomb of the exiled Emperor Juntoku. When tourists drop off in the winter, Jenkins is not present at the shop but is replaced by a life-sized cardboard cut-out (see first image above).

Jenkins has written a book about his experiences in North Korea, which was produced as a Japanese-language version, entitled 告白 - (kokukaku, To Tell the Truth, 2005). An English book on Jenkins titled The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea came out in 2008.

Sado Historical Folklore Museum

Sado Historical Folklore Museum map

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Koban Gold Coins

2011-12-27T07:29:00.003+09:00

小判

The koban gold coin (not to be confused with koban meaning police box) was an Edo Period Japanese flat, thinly beaten coin, oval in shape.

Koban gold coins, Sado Gold Mine Museum

The gold koban were produced from metal mined from Sado Gold Mine on Sado Island and each koban was equal in value to one ryo, which in turn was equal to three koku of rice - a koku being the estimation of rice needed to feed one person for one year (about 150kg).

Koban at Sado Gold Museum, Aikawa

The Tokugawa currency gradually became debased over the centuries leading to inflation, which was one of the reasons the Tokugawa regime was in deep financial trouble by the time Commodore Perry arrived in 1853. The koban was replaced in the Meiji Period with the Yen based on Western standards.

Gold koban

Japanese ceramic maneki neko are often made holding a koban coin for luck and are called "Koban Maneki Neko."

Sado Gold Mine map

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MAX Shinkansen

2011-12-26T10:58:00.004+09:00

E4系新幹線

The MAX Shinkansen is part of the E4 series of Shinkansen and has double-decker carriages. The MAX (Multi Amenity Express) runs on the Joetsu, Tohoku and sometimes Nagano shinkansen routes from Tokyo and Ueno stations at a maximum speed of 240kph.

When 16 cars are used the train can carry over 1,600 people, the highest capacity for a train set in the world.

The interior of the trains have special spaces for storing skis on the journey to ski resorts of Nagano and Echigo Yuzawa.

Max E4 Series Shinkansen Tokyo Station

The present E4 series is planned to be discontinued in 2016.

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Japan News This Week 25 December 2011

2011-12-25T01:52:00.003+09:00

今週の日本

Japan Says Decommissioning Damaged Reactors Could Take 40 Years

New York Times

Japan, Latvia and Georgia

BBC

Japanese mothers rise up against nuclear power

Guardian

Gender gap shows scant improvement

Japan Times

Las nucleares deberán invertir 500 millones en cinco años para cumplir los requisitos pos-Fukushima

El Pais

Au Japon, Lionel Messi vit une interview pas facile

Rue 89

日本筹备30万亿日元遏阻日元升值

Caijing

Why the New “Emphasis on Asia” in U.S. Policy?

Japan Focus

Japan hopes to bring back Club World Cup

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Welfare recipients in Japan hit a new high in September 2011. In that month, 2,065,896 Japanese received benefits.

That is the highest number since 1951.

Source: Kyodo News

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Kano Tanyu Byobu

2011-12-24T08:29:00.006+09:00

狩野探幽

Kano Tanyu (1602-1674) was one of the foremost painters of the Kyoto-based Kano School of artists and the grandson of the Kano Eitoku (1543-1590), who himself was a direct descendant of the founder of the Kano School, Kano Masanobu. It was Eitoku who was sponsored by the warlords Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi to decorate their castles in Azuchi and Osaka.

When the Tokugawa shoguns took up residence in Edo they invited the Kano painters to become official painters of the shogunate and move from Kyoto to Edo.

The motto of the Kano School was "a brush stroke unchanging over a thousand years" and the work of the various artists affiliated with the movement had a lasting effect on the decorative art of the Edo Period (1603-1867).

Commissioned by the Tokugawa shogunate as well as rich merchant and clerical patrons, the work of the Kano School, in both ink-on-silk landscapes and paintings on sliding doors, walls and byobu screens in temples, shrines, castles and wealthy patrons' homes, meant that the Kano School of art dominated Japanese painting until the end of the Edo Period and the coming of Western techniques at the beginning of the Meiji Period.

One of the most iconic paintings of the period is the 17th century mural by Kano Tanyu done on a sliding door in Nijo Castle, Kyoto. The hawk and pine trees in combination represent the power and longevity of the Tokugawa shogun.

This Kano Tanyu Miniature Byobu is available from our sister site Goods From Japan painted by a contemporary Kyoto master of byobu screen art.

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Heisei Emperor's Birthday

2011-12-23T12:30:00.000+09:00

天皇誕生日

Today is a public holiday in Japan to celebrate the present Emperor's Birthday (Tenno tanjobi).

Emperor Akihito was born on December 23, 1933 and is now 78. His father, the Showa Emperor, had his birthday on 29 April and this day remains a public holiday and was renamed first Greenery Day and is now Showa Day, one of the holidays during the Golden Week period. Greenery Day is now on May 4.

On this day, the Emperor's Birthday, the Emperor, accompanied by his wife the Empress Michiko and other members of the Imperial family will wave to crowds of well-wishers waving small Japanese flags. Only on this day and January 2 are the public granted access to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

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New Japan Immigration Card For 2012

2011-12-22T09:27:00.002+09:00

外国登録証明

New residence registration cards for foreign nationals (zairyu cards) will start replacing the old alien registration cards (aka "gaijin cards") from July 2012.

The move mirrors the change in authority for issuing foreign residence cards from the local municipalities (ward offices) to the Justice Ministry (MOJ).

Special permanent residents of Korean origin (zainichi) will be exempt from the changes, but foreign nationals residing in Japan under medium- to long-term residence status will need to change from the old alien registration card, first introduced in 1947, to the new cards with an embedded IC chip in them.

Foreigners can apply for the new cards at their nearest regional immigration office from January 13, 2012, though the present alien registration card remain valid for 3 years when they will be replaced by the new card. Check the front of your gaijin card where it says in red: "Renew within 30 days starting from." to see how long it is still valid.

Permanent residents will have to apply for the new residence cards within 3 years from July 2012. According to the Japan Times newspaper, "Required materials necessary for an application have not been determined yet," which sounds rather ominous.

Information stored on the chip will include the type of visa of the card holder and work and home addresses. The fine of 200,000 yen for failure to carry the new card remains the same as the old alien registration card.

As a sweetener to yet more controls on foreigners entering or residing in Japan in addition to mandatory electronic fingerprinting on arrival, the maximum period of stay for some types of visa will be increased from 3 to 5 years and re-entry permits (aka "gaijin tax") will be abolished as long as the period outside Japan is less than one year.

New arrivals on medium and long-term Japan entry visas will receive an application form for the new card. Other changes afoot from the MOJ include "the issuance of a Special permanent Resident Certificate."

Akihiro Yamaguchi, a spokesman for the Japanese Ministry of Justice added, "Foreigners are a potential threat to a homogeneous society such as Japan and need to be strictly monitored and controlled through finger printing and IC chips to protect and reassure the Japanese people." I made the last bit up, but that could be interpreted to be the message the foreign community in Japan is hearing.

However, the MOJ in its Basic Plan for Immigration Control (4th Edition) argues that as the government is actively promoting immigration to counter population decline ("In the future, Japan intends to actively promote the acceptance of foreign nationals") and also encouraging overseas students to study in Japan to reach the government target of 300,000 foreign students, more efficient and centralized means of immigration control are required as these foreigners begin to settle in Japan. Hence the need for the new cards.

For further information see the pdf document Basic Plan for Immigration Control (4th Edition) provisional translation from the MOJ website.

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Kikuya House Hagi

2011-12-21T01:20:00.004+09:00

菊屋家住宅, 萩

Kikuya House (Kikuya-ke Jutaku) in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture is an historic merchant's house and garden which is open to the public. Kikuya House contains a number of buildings including traditional Japanese storehouses (kura) hidden behind its distinctive black and white check walls.

Garden of Kikuya House, Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture

The Kikuya family moved to Hagi from nearby Yamaguchi in the early 17th century and quickly became one of the richest families in town involved in the construction of housing for samurai and the laying out of the town of Hagi as it grew. The house contains around 5,000 artifacts from the Edo and later periods of Japanese history including paintings, scrolls, ceramics and ornamental Japanese dolls.

Stone lantern in the garden of Kikuya House, Hagi

Kikuya House
1-1 Gofuku
Hagi
758-0072
Tel: 0838 25 8282
Hours: 9am-5.30pm
Admission: 500 yen
Google map of Kikuya House

Visitors to Hagi can enjoy the city's beautiful walls, the historic Meirin Elementary School, Shoin Shrine, the Takayoshi Kido residence, Kikugahama Beach, a tour boat of Hagi and Ito Hirobumi's Residence, all a short distance from Hagi Station.

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Cosplay Kobe

2011-12-20T01:31:00.000+09:00

神戸コスプレ

On a chilly December Sunday in Kobe, two young women were preening and photographing themselves.

And not just these two "Pocky" girls (both were holding Pocky chocolate boxes).

Nearby were many young people in eye-catching "costume play" wear.

The source of all of the merriment was not Christmas or Halloween but a cosplay convention at the Kobe Fashion Museum.

Inside were hundreds more wildly dressed young people.

Kobe Fashion Museum

Kobe Fashion Museum
9, 2-chome, Koyocho-naka, Higashinada
Kobe 658-0032
Telephone: 078 858 0050

Hours: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Admission Fee: 500 yen

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Kawahara Castle Tottori

2011-12-19T04:32:00.001+09:00

河原城

Japanese castles come in all shapes and sizes including ones constructed in the 20th century such as Kawahara Castle, a replica castle in Kawahara, south of Tottori city, located on Oshiroyama (Castle Mountain).

Kawahara Castle by Jake Davies

Supposedly situated on the site of former castle, Kawahara Castle was built in 1994 and is now a museum showcasing Kawahara Town's local history, culture, and flora and fauna with dioramas and interactive exhibits that are fun for kids. There are good vistas of Tottori Sand Dunes, Tottori Prefecture's most famous sight and the surrounding Chugoku mountains on a fine day.

Kawahara Castle is surrounded by a plum park with over 1,000 plum trees which flower usually in February or March.

Kawahara Castle
1011 Tanihitotsugi
Kawahara-cho
Kawahara-shi
Tel: 0858 85 0046
Hours: Closed Monday; 9am-5pm open later in summer
Admission: Free

From JR Tottori Station buses to Chizo reach Kawahara in half an hour. Kawahara Castle is then a further 15 minute walk up the hill.
Kawahara Castle map

View Japanese Castles Map in a larger map

Castles covered on our Japan blog include Matsumoto Castle, Inuyama Castle, Oita Castle, Kokura Castle and Nijo Castle in Kyoto.

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Japan News This Week 18 December 2011

2011-12-18T01:13:00.004+09:00

今週の日本

Statue Deepens Dispute Over Wartime Sexual Slavery

New York Times

Japan PM says Fukushima nuclear site finally stabilised

BBC

China banks on bloody blockbuster to win friends … and Oscars

Guardian

Futenma base relocation has little hope left

Japan Times

Messi también juega en Japón

El Pais

A Séoul, les « femmes de réconfort » de l'armée japonaise réclament justice

Rue 89

日本在野党：首脑会谈应要求韩方拆除和平碑

Caijing

Postwar Japan's National Salvation

Japan Focus

Japan’s government endorses Tokyo 2020 bid

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Of the 83,000 workers at Japan's 18 nuclear power plants, 88% are contract workers.

Source: Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency

Most Influential Cities (based on political engagement, cultural experience, human capital, and business activity)

1. New York
2. London
3. Tokyo
4. Paris
5. Hong Kong
6. Chicago
7. Los Angeles
8. Singapore
9. Sydney
10. Seoul

15. Beijing

Source: National Geographic

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Niigata To Sado Island Ferries

2011-12-17T10:48:00.002+09:00

新潟ー佐渡島のフェリー

From the ferry terminal in Niigata city there are two options to get to Ryotsu on Sado-ga-shima: the quicker, more expensive Jetfoil which takes 65 minutes (traveling at 80kph) or the slower, cheaper car ferry which does the journey in two hours and thirty minutes.

Niigata-Sado-ga-shima Jetfoil

Both boats are operated by Sado Kisen.

Niigata Ferry Terminal is reached by bus from Bay #5 of Niigata Bus Station or take a taxi from outside JR Niigata Station for around 1000 yen, which does the journey in about 20 minutes depending on traffic.

Niigata-Sado-ga-shima Car Ferry

The number of Niigata-Sado sailings is seasonal with more boats in the busier summer months with the last car ferry leaving Ryotsu at 10.40pm in August arriving in Niigata at 1.10am.

The first boat, a car ferry, leaves Niigata at 6am and Ryotsu at 5.30am all year round.

The adult single fare Niigata-Ryotsu on the Jetfoil is presently 6,220 yen with return 11,250 yen.

The adult single fare Niigata-Ryotsu 2nd Class on the car ferry is presently 2,320 yen one way. Return fare is double. The car ferry can accommodate 1,700 passengers; the Jetfoil 260.

Niigata Ferry Terminal

The ferry terminals in both Niigata and Ryotsu have cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops and the terminal in Ryotsu has a Tourist Information Center (Tel: 0259 27 5000) with brochures in English and other languages. The Niigata Tourist Information Center is just outside Niigata Station.

There are also ferries to Sado from Terodomari in Niigata to Akadomari on Sado and from Naoetsu to Ogi on Sado.

Sado Kisen
Tel: 025 245 1234 (Niigata)
Tel: 0259 27 5111 (Ryotsu)

Niigata is connected to Tokyo Station and Ueno Station by the Joetsu Shinkansen in two hours via the ski and onsen resort of Echigo Yuzawa.

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On board the Niigata-Sado Jetfoil

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Proof by David Auburn

2011-12-16T14:08:00.001+09:00

プルーフ

Nameless Media and Productions Theatre (NMP Theatre) will be presenting performances of Proof by David Auburn at the Electric Cultural Center in Fushimi, Nagoya next month.

Proof was first produced in 2000 and the play went on to have an award-winning run on Broadway. The 2005 film version of Proof, directed by John Madden, starred Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins.

The play has four characters Catherine, Hal, Robert and Claire and the plot unfolds over a weekend following the death of Robert, a brilliant but mentally unstable mathematician. His daughter Catherine, who has cared for her father during his illness, is joined at the house by her estranged sister Claire and Hal, a former student of her father's, with whom she becomes romantically involved.

The four parts in the NMP Theatre Production are played by Irene Dewald, Michael Kruse, Jessica A. Robison and Ritchie Croan.

For further information and tickets visit www.nmptheatre.com or the Facebook page shakespearenagoya

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Aidan O'Connor Appeal

2011-12-15T10:44:00.000+09:00

エイダン

It came as a great shock to hear of the news that Aidan O'Connor, a contributor to our site JapanVisitor.com had been struck down with a rare type of Leukaemia (AML M4 - Acute Myelomonocytic Leukaemia).

Put simply, Aidan is a lovely man, kind and gentle, totally without malice, a caring husband to his wife and loving father to his two young children.

Now Aidan is struggling to survive as he needs an expensive bone marrow transplant to overcome his illness. Close friends of his in the Osaka area have rallied around and started an appeal site Save Aidan. We hope you can consider reading his story.

Aidan is a foodie and contributes book reviews for us on Japanese food and drink. You can read one of his guides to Japanese sake here.

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Shopping in Aomori

2011-12-14T01:05:00.001+09:00

青森

There is a lot of good shopping to be had in Aomori city in northern Japan. Turn left out of Aomori Station and you will fall into the A-Factory (Tel: 017 752 1890) selling local Aomori Prefecture produce including Aomori apples, local souvenirs and the lovely, sweet, bottled cider (cidre) of the Aomori area.

Walking straight out of Aomori Station along Shinmachi Shopping Street (aka Amenity Street) brings you to the Auga Department Store on your right. Here in the basement is a fantastic fresh fish market, plus a number of sushi bars and stores selling just about everything including, you guessed it, Aomori apples.

Just across the road from the Auga Department Store is another fresh fish and vegetable market, the Aomori Fresh Fish & Vegetable Center where you can sample more freshly-caught seafood.

A-Factory Aomori City, Aomori Prefecture

Amenity Street is the main drag with a number of good antique shops selling rare Tohoku items.

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Goethe-Institut Tokyo

2011-12-13T00:01:00.003+09:00

ドイツ文化センターゲーテ・インスティトゥート・ジャパン

The German Goethe-Institut Tokyo is in Tokyo's elegant and centrally located Akasaka district.

The Goethe Institute is in the imposing German Cultural Center building, occupying a corner property just a short walk from Aoyama-dori Avenue.

The Goethe-Institut Tokyo has extensive Japanese-language information on Germany, and even extensive German-language information on Japanese cities. The Institute sponsors seminars, covering all aspects of German life and culture. Music lovers can regularly find some talk, presentation, seminar or even performance of educational interest at the Goethe-Institut Tokyo, from Bach to the latest trends in electro.

The Goethe-Institut Tokyo also organizes student exchanges between Japan and Germany.

There is also a cafe on the ground floor, towards the rear of the building, with meals and a selection of breads and pastries.

The Goethe-Institut is most easily accessed from Exit 4 of Aoyama Itchome station on the Hanzomon and Oedo subway lines.

Goethe-Institut Tokyo, 7-5-56 Akasaka, Tokyo 107-0052
Tel. 03 3584 3201; Fax 03 3586 3069
Google Map to the Goethe Institute Tokyo

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Asahi Beer New Design

2011-12-12T01:07:00.001+09:00

アサヒ

Asahi Beer have re-released one of their classic beer bottle designs on cans of their Asahi lager for the Christmas and New Year period.

The striking design features the old Rising Sun flag (though with more rays than the original sixteen of the now military tainted kyokujitsu-ki, 旭日旗), rising from Hokusai inspired waves, a motif taken from the artist's The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

The new limited edition design marks a change from the silver and black, plain style of Asahi Super Dry, which tastes how it looks, metallic and boring.

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Japan News This Week 11 December 2011

2011-12-11T01:59:00.002+09:00

今週の日本

Japan Poll Finds Record Good Will for U.S.

New York Times

Worries over Japanese food safety

BBC

Japan nuclear operator scraps plan to dump contaminated water in sea

Guardian

¥2.3 billion for Tohoku diverted to whale hunt

Japan Times

El 'kimchi' conquista Europa

El Pais

Global Voices 29/11/2011 à 15h26
Génération Y au Japon : « Laissez-nous rêver ! »

Rue 89

日本自民党总裁：中日关系源于一种心态变化

Caijing

War Claims and Compensation: Franco-Vietnamese Contention over Japanese War Reparations and the Vietnam War

Japan Focus

Japan’s Darvish says he plans to head to majors

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

On Thursday, Mount Sakurajima erupted for the 897th time this year. The active volcano located in Kagoshima broke its own record.

Source: Daily Yomiuri

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Kitaca

2011-12-10T00:20:00.001+09:00

キタカ

The Kitaca IC smart card, (Kita is north in Japanese) is a travel smart card for public transport in the Sapporo area, Hokkaido.

The Kitaca is valid on trains on the Hakodate Main Line from Otaru to Iwamizawa on the Chitose Line from Sapporo Station to to Shin-Chitose-Kuko (New Chitose Airport) and to Tomakomai, an important ferry terminal with ferries to Sendai and Nagoya and the Sassho Line connecting Sapporo with Hokkaido-Iryo-Daigaku.
Kitaca is rechargeable and it's logo is a flying squirrel. The Kitaca is integrated with JR East's popular Suica card.

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Christmas in Tokyo 2011

2011-12-09T21:13:00.000+09:00

東京のクリスマス2011

If the decorations are anything to go by, Christmas came to Tokyo about three weeks ago, in the second week of November.

Tokyo department stores put up the Christmas trees, tinsel and baubles almost before the trees have started to drop their leaves.

Snapped here is some of the yuletide dazzle of Ginza shopping - some of the most high-class and expensive in Tokyo.

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Shutoku Expressway

2011-12-08T12:33:00.001+09:00

首都高速道路

The Shutoku Expressway is Tokyo is a series of mostly elevated highways snaking their way through Tokyo.

Routes include the C1 Inner Circular Route, the Ueno Route that goes out to Haneda Airport, the Shinjuku Route and the Daiba Route across Rainbow Bridge.

In all there are three circular routes (C1, C2, Y) and twelve radial routes in inner Tokyo (Routes 1-11 and B for Bayshore), five routes to Kanagawa (K1, K2, K3, K5, K6) including to Kawasaki and three routes out to Saitama (S1, S2, S5) including to Omiya.

The Yamate Tunnel part of the Shutoku is presently under construction in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro areas. Once completed the tunnel will be the longest underground road tunnel in Japan (around 18km) and the second longest in the world after the tunnel between Lærdal and Aurland in Norway (24km).

A fixed toll is charged on the Shutoku Expressway, 700 yen for the Tokyo routes, 400 for Saitama routes and 600 for Kanagawa routes. The Shotoku became a popular venue in the 1990s for illegal street racing particularly the the Bayshore Route (Wangan) in Tokyo Bay.

Click image to expand

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Namboku Line Sapporo

2011-12-07T10:19:00.000+09:00

札幌市営南北線

The Namboku Line of the Sapporo Subway runs north-south through Sapporo Station, Susukino, Odori and Nakajima Park.

The Namboku Line (color coded green) was the first of Sapporo's three subway lines to be constructed in 1971 in time for the Winter Olympics of the following year.

The Namboku Line (South-North Line) runs from Asabu Station in Kita-ku (northern ward) to Makomanai Station in Minami-ku.

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Aomori Apples

2011-12-06T01:06:00.003+09:00

青森のりんご

As Hokkaido is famous for its potatoes and corn, Aomori, the northern most prefecture in Honshu, is known for its delicious apples, which thrive in the cooler climate and extreme diurnal temperatures. Aomori produces about half of all the apples grown in Japan.

Apple orchards can be seen throughout the prefecture and there is an amazing variety of Aomori apples to chose from such as Akane, Akibae, Gold, Kiou, Miki, Mutsu, Santsugaru, Sekaiichi, Saika, Sansa, Sweet Melody, Toki, Tsugaru, Fuji, Wasefuji, Orin and Kinsei - the last two are green varieties.

The classic Aomori apple is oversized, very red and sweet, a meal in itself.

The basement of the Auga Department Store has a famous fresh fish market but you can also find Aomori's signature apples on sale too.

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A Christmas Present From Japan

2011-12-05T10:42:00.000+09:00

Christmas is upon us so what do you buy her or him that has everything? What to give the kids to get them past Boxing Day with a toy that hasn't got them bored 30 minutes after unwrapping it?

The answer is a toy gyroscope made by Tiger Co. of Nagoya. These toy gyroscopes seem to be the hot item from Japan for Christmas 2011. Sleek, fun, educational and precision engineered by a company that has been in business for the last 90 years.

Nagoya is Japan's engineering center and the home of such companies as NGK spark plugs, Toyota cars, of course, and Mitsubishi aircraft.

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Japan News This Week 4 December 2011

2011-12-04T01:30:00.002+09:00

今週の日本

Unfurling a Thousand Years of Gods, Demons and Romance

New York Times

Strong yen hits Japanese carmakers

BBC

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant operator 'ignored tsunami warning'

Guardian

'Nadeshiko' buzzword of year, 3/11 terms next

Japan Times

La fusión de Fukushima fue peor de lo anunciado

El Pais

Global Voices 29/11/2011 à 15h26
Génération Y au Japon : « Laissez-nous rêver ! »

Rue 89

日本车企擘画“中国策”

Caijing

Fallout From the Fukushima Shock: Japan’s Emerging Energy Policy

Japan Focus

Japan parliament debates loss to N. Korea

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Facebook statistics in Japan:

Total Facebook Users: 5,241,440
Position in the list: 27
Penetration of population: 4.13%
Penetration of online population 5.29%

Source: SocialBakers.com

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Hokkaido Potatoes

2011-12-03T09:54:00.000+09:00

北海度じゃがバター

Another Sapporo and Hokkaido treat is a lovely boiled Ezo spud with lashings of butter and salt. Oishiiiiiiiii!

Hokkaido accounts for two thirds of all the potatoes grown in Japan and Hokkaido potatoes are full of potassium and vitamin C. The butter spread on top of the steaming spud is also locally produced.

Potatoes from Hokkaido are used to make potato chips (crisps to Brits), other potato-based snacks and, of course, shochu - a clear Japanese spirit.

Potatoes came to Japan through European traders in the 16th and 17th centuries but production took off in Hokkaido, which is more suited in climate for their growth, being cooler than the rest of the country.

Japan remains a net importer of potatoes, mainly from China.

Fans of good Japanese food may also want to try Jingisukan and visit Sapporo Central Food Market for fresh sushi and Sapporo Ramen Kyowakoku and Ramen Yokocho for Hokkaido ramen.

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New Goods From Japan

2011-12-02T00:54:00.000+09:00

We have updated our sister site Goods From Japan with a new design so if you are looking for a Christmas present from Japan we would be honored if we can serve you and will offer you a voucher of 10% off your next purchase.

Popular items for Christmas so far have been hanten coats, byobu, toy gyroscopes and specialty kendama.

Fukuchiyama Station

2011-12-01T11:34:00.001+09:00

福知山駅

Fukuchiyama in Kyoto Prefecture may seem like a town whose best days are behind it, but Fukuchiyama's sparkling new station gives an impression of modernity and drive. The modern Fukuchiyama Station connects the city by train with both Osaka and Kyoto, Kansai's two biggest cities.

Fukuchiyama Station is on the San'in Main Line from Kyoto and Nijo Station and Sonobe and eventually on to Shimonoseki. From Fukuchiyama Station there are San'in Main Line trains to Kinosaki Onsen, Tottori, Yonago, Matsue, Izumo, Yunotsu, Kuromatsu, Gotsu, Masuda, Hagi and Shimonoseki.

Journey time from Kyoto to Fukuchiyama is around 70 minutes. There are also connections from Fukuchiyama Station to Osaka on the Fukuchiyama Line via Amagasaki, Itami, Takarazuka and Sanda.

The Kitakinki Tango Railway operates the 30km Miyafuku Line from Fukuchiyama to Miyazu via Oe. From Miyazu change to the Miyazu Line to reach the beauty spot of Amanohashidate.

Fukuchiyama Tourist Information Office is just outside the main station entrance to your right.

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Disney Store in Shibuya

2011-11-30T00:01:00.000+09:00

ディズニーストア渋谷公園通り店

Tokyo has ten Disney Stores, six of them in Tokyo proper (i.e., the 23 wards.)

Nearly all of the Disney Stores in Tokyo are inside department stores or shopping centers. Sure, they have fun, brightly colored entrances, but they blend in to some degree with the dozens of surrounding stores on the same floor.

There is only one Disney Store in Tokyo that has a streetfront entrance: the Shibuya Koen Dori Disney Store. There is something so much more magical about stepping into a Disney Store from the pavement than just gliding in off a shopping mall aisle.

Shibuya Koen Dori Disney Store is in Shibuya, which is Tokyo's most glam youth fashion district. Harajuku shopping might have a streetier edge, Daikanyama shopping might have a more thinking take on fashion, Ginza shopping might be higher class, but Shibuya shopping is the brashest, most glamorous and in your Dior shaded face.

And, true to being in Shibuya, the Shibuya Disney Store has an entrance made in, er, Disneyland (read "heaven" for Disney's millions of Japanese devotees). This is the quinkiest, quirtiest, queutiest little storefront you're going to see anywhere, with its bulging, bouncing curves and contours, and its constantly changing theme: Christmas at the moment, as in the photo above.

And inside is a mind-boggling array of Disney goods - always new and different - that keep the Disneyites coming back for more, more, more of the newly tweaked same.

If you're in Tokyo, the Shibuya Koen Dori Disney Store is the Disney Store to visit!

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Pussy in Ginza

2011-11-29T00:01:00.000+09:00

銀座の猫たち

Ginza is Tokyo's most high-class shopping district, and, like all shopping districts in Tokyo, is crowded on weekends. This is especially so in Ginza, however, because it is one of the few places in Tokyo that is pedestrianized on weekends.

I was in Ginza shopping last weekend and noticed a small crowd, cameras raised, around one of the district's elegant old street signs. On closer inspection, it was clear why. A couple of cats, one with an ornate collar, were perched on top of it, basking in the bright fall sunshine.

A major strain of Japanese culture is the culture of cute, which was very much on display here with the adoration paid these felines by the steady stream of mainly female devotees who pointed and clicked at them. Cats are particularly iconic for their cuteness, as the runaway, and ongoing, popularity of the Hello Kitty brand is witness to.

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Top Three in Japan

2011-11-28T00:56:00.000+09:00

三景

The custom of making lists of the top three things in Japan supposedly goes back to the sankei list of the Three Best Views thought up by the Confucian scholar and thinker Hayashi Razan (1583-1657) in 1643.

Razan's Three Best Views are Amanohashidate on the Japan Sea Coast in Kyoto Prefecture, Matsushima, near Sendai in Miyagi and the island and shrine at Miyajima outside Hiroshima.

Since the Edo Period, Top Three Lists have grown up for just about everything from Famous Japanese Castles (Nagoya Castle Nagoya, Osaka Castle and Kumamoto Castle), the Top Three Japanese Gardens (Kairakuen in Mito [see video below], Kanazawa's Kenrokuen and Korakuen in Okayama).

There are Japan Top Threes for night views (Nagasaki viewed from Mt Inasa, Hakodate from Mt Hakodate and the neon of Kobe and Osaka seen from Mt Rokko), Chinatowns in Japan (Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki), caves (Akiyoshi-do, Ryuga-do and Ryusen-do), festivals (Gion Matsuri, Kanda and Sanno Matsuri, Tenjin Matsuri in Osaka), hot springs (Atami, Beppu, Shirahama), Disney characters (Mickey, Minnie and Pluto), Top Three Theme Parks (Huis Ten Bosch, Nagashima Spa Land, Meiji Mura), Top Three Oden (Egg, Daikon, Konnyaku) - I made the last few up, but you see what I mean, as basically anything can be put into a Top Three in Japan list.

Do you have any suggestions for a new Top Three in Japan list?

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Japan News This Week 27 November 2011

2011-11-27T01:42:00.005+09:00

今週の日本

3 Olympus Executives Resign Ahead of Crucial Meeting

New York Times

Gangster son takes on conservative Osaka mayor

BBC

Olympus directors have to quit, says former chief Michael Woodford

Guardian

Giants ex-GM Kiyotake tells his side of the story

Japan Times

¿Un cuarteto de Tokio sin japoneses?

El Pais

L'aïkido, cet art martial qui amadoue les ennemis du sport

Rue 89

中行日本神户分行正式开业

Caijing

Fukushima and Okinawa – the “Abandoned People,” and Civic Empowerment

Japan Focus

Japan basketball team hires female head coach

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Worker hourly productivity, 2009 (purchasing power parity, in US dollars)

1) Luxembourg (74.0)
2) Norway (73.3)
3) Ireland (60.2)
4) USA (57.4)
5) Belgium (56.5)
6) Holland (56.4)
7) France (54.5)
8) Germany (53.3)
9) Sweden (48.8)
10) Australia (48.1)

20) Japan (38.2)

Source: OECD

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Christmas Comes to the Japan Year-End Jumbo

2011-11-26T00:01:00.001+09:00

年末ジャンボー2011年

It's a month before Christmas, and coming out of JR Asakusabashi Station in Tokyo, there they were, the long queues, lined up in front of the tiny street booth, in which sat a beneficent-looking old man dressed up like Santa. (Unfortunately the full glory of his white curly beard doesn't come out in the photo.)

It's Nen-Matsu Jumbo Takarakuji time: the Year-End Jumbo Lottery.

The lottery in Japan has been in its present form since 1948. It is primarily a way for local government organizations in Japan to make money.

The latest statistics available for the Japanese lottery are from 2008, when the lottery generated a total of 1.419 trillion yen, or USD15.7 billion at the exchange rate as of the end of that year. 45.7% of it went back to people in the form of prizes, 14.2% was used for administrative expenses, and the remaining 40.1% went to six different public-service corporations (all of which were headed by ex government officials who received their positions by way of amakudari, i.e., the old-boy network that bridges public and private in Japan by which public officials finally get lucrative jobs in private positions.

Anyway, this year's End-of-Year Jumbo lottery is paying 132 prizes of 200 million yen (about USD2.5 million) each, and 66 of 100 million yen each, to be drawn on 31 December, to some pretty big Ho ho hos!

Read more about gambling in Japan

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Billiken Osaka

2011-11-25T01:43:00.000+09:00

ビリケン大阪

In a somewhat worn out stretch of south Osaka known as Shinsekai (new world), there are many Billiken figures.

Billiken was originally a charm doll made by an American in the early part of the twentieth century.

Billiken is part elf - pointed ears, odd smile, elongated head - and part quasi-Buddha.

The boom in Billiken dolls outside of Saint Louis, where the inventor lived, was brief.

However, Billiken lives on in Japan, particularly in Osaka.

Billiken became famous at a long-gone amusement park, Luna Park, in Shinsekai. The park was next to the Tsutenkaku Tower. According to local legend, when the park closed in 1923, the wooden statue of the Billiken was stolen.

Almost sixty years later, in 1980, a replica was placed at Tsutenkaku Tower. That replica is now on the observation deck, and the area is full of many Billiken.

Visitors place a donation and then rub his feet for luck.

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Hiking Mt. Kinka

2011-11-24T11:57:00.002+09:00

岐阜城, 金華山

The cooler weather in November and December in Japan makes for excellent hiking conditions.

One pleasant 90 minute hike is to the top of 329m-high Mt. Kinka in Gifu city to Gifu Castle at the top. On the way up there are some excellent views of the Nagara River below.

There are a number of trails to the top of Kinka-san varying in difficulty, whether you choose to head straight up the mountain or take a more roundabout route with a gentler gradient.

To get to the starting point of the trails up Mt. Kinka take a bus from JR Gifu Station or Meitetsu Gifu Station to Gifu Castle Park.

You can walk back down Kinka-san or if you are short of time or energy take the ropeway. Gifu is an easy day out from Nagoya to the south.

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Sapporo Garden Palace Hotel

2011-11-23T16:36:00.000+09:00

ホテル札幌ガーデンパレス

The Garden Palace Hotel in Sapporo is part of a chain of Garden Palace Hotels in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Kanazawa, Osaka and Fukuoka.

The rooms at Garden Palace hotels are boxy functional in shades of beige. The excellent buffet breakfasts are a feature of all Garden Palace Hotels.

The Garden Palace Hotel in Sapporo is a short walk from Sapporo Station, very close to Sapporo Botanical Garden and the Old Hokkaido Government Building.

The Garden Palace Hotel
North 1, West 6
Chuo-ku
Sapporo
060-0001
Tel: 011-261-5311
Garden Palace Sapporo Map

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Genghis Khan Jingisukan BBQ

2011-11-22T01:02:00.007+09:00

ジンギスカン

No trip to Sapporo in Hokkaido would be complete without trying the signature dish of Jingisukan - a grilled mutton barbecue prepared on a hot plate at your table.

Jingisukan can be sampled at a number of places throughout Sapporo including the Sapporo Beer Garden (aka Sapporo Bier Garten), the two branches of the Kirin Beer Garden, the main one (pictured below) near Nakajima Subway Station (Tel: 011 533 3000) and the new branch near Susukino (Tel: 011 533 7677) as well as in various specialist Jingisukan restaurants in Susukino and at Sapporo Station. Many places offer tabehodai (all-you-can-eat) deals.

Jingisukan is no-nonsense fare, BBQ mutton with onions and cabbage washed down with beer. Diners are offered a plastic apron to keep the fat and "strong" smell of the cooking lamb off their clothes. Lamb is generally not much eaten in Japan due to its perceived unpleasant odor.

Foodies may also want to visit Sapporo Central Food Market for fresh sushi and Sapporo Ramen Kyowakoku and Ramen Yokocho for Hokkaido ramen.

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SMAP in drag for Softbank

2011-11-21T00:01:00.001+09:00

ソフトバンクのためのスマップの女装

SMAP is Japan's most popular boyband. SMAP is the most successful act of Japan's most successful entertainment promoters, Johnnie's, and took off in the mid-1990s. SMAP is the biggest-earning entertainment act in Japan, and has a fanatical following in the form of millions of Japanese women.

Softbank is one of Japan's biggest mobile phone providers, and much of its reputation today rides on it having introduced the iPhone to Japan, which has proved immensely popular.

In 2010, Softbank bagged Ayumi Hamasaki, arguably Japan's biggest female pop star, as the company spokesperson. Softbank has followed this up by scooping SMAP to promote a new phone billed as a cross between a traditional folding mobile phone and a smart phone. To the "sma" of "smart" (and "smap") is appended the "kei" of "keitai" ("mobile") for "smakei" (スマケー), the name of the model of the phone being promoted.

I was in a Softbank branch the other day that has just opened in my neighborhood, and saw the advertisement pictured here. SMAP are pictured three times, from suit and tie conventionality at bottom, fantasy Japanese feudal in the middle, and PamAm-type air hostesses at top.

Male pop stars in English-speaking countries might be too cautious about their image to go so far as dressing up as women to advertise a product, and, likewise, mainstream companies would probably be too cautious about the possible negative perceptions to even get as far as suggesting a mainstream popstar do it.

Perhaps it's Japan's long history of cross-dressing on stage, but drag does not evoke the moral outrage in Japan that it might (still) in some sections of Western society. Females were banned from performing on stage in the 17th century, making cross-dressing for drama a commercial necessity, and a cultural norm.

Japan's gay scene has its drag queens, like anywhere else, but associating cross-dressing in Japan with being gay is a little rash. And in SMAP's case, there is no cause to infer anything more than that they are entertainers who take entertaining seriously, and "respectability" with a big grain of salt.

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Japan News This Week 20 November 2011

2011-11-20T01:32:00.002+09:00

今週の日本

Utility Reform Eluding Japan After Nuclear Plant Disaster

New York Times

Aerial footage of Japan communities eight months after tsunami

BBC

Fukushima rice banned by Japan

Guardian

Olympus trio face weekend interrogation

Japan Times

Japón prohíbe el arroz de Fukushima al hallar niveles de radiactividad excesivos

El Pais

Fukushima : l'espoir d'une décontamination par les algues

Rue 89

日本华媒：日本大胆刺破楼市“泡沫”启示中国

Caijing

Who Should Bear the Burden of US Bases? Governor Nakaima’s Plea for a “Relocation Site Outside of Okinawa Prefecture, but within Japan”

Japan Focus

Japan anthem booed in North Korea

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Sixty percent of college students who will graduate in 2012 - Japanese college fourth-year students finish the school year in March, and enter the work force in April - have found jobs.

However, 171,000 graduating students have yet to find work.

Source: Kyodo News

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Japan Visitor Newsletter November 2011

2011-11-19T22:36:00.001+09:00

ジャパンニュースレター

Thank you to all those people who entered our latest competition in our Japan Visitor newsletter.

The level of the answers was incredibly high.

Take a look at November's Japan Visitor newsletter to see what you will receive in your email inbox if you decide to subscribe.

Ninomaru Garden Nagoya Castle

2011-11-18T01:18:00.000+09:00

二之丸庭園

The lovely Ninomaru Garden in the grounds of Nagoya Castle in Nagoya, central Japan, is a traditional Japanese garden.

The Ninomaru Garden was laid out between 1615-1623 along with the Ninomaru Palace. The garden was transformed into a strolling garden with grass lawns and dry stone gardens in the early 18th century.

The East Ninomaru Garden has more expanse of lawn and was rebuilt after the end of World War II from an old illustration. The reconstruction of East Ninomaru Garden contains two ponds, a tea arbor and a stone drain all based on the originals.

Ninomaru Teahouse

The Ninomaru Teahouse, within Ninomaru Garden, is a modern addition, and serves green tea and confectionary (see image above).

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Shokokuji Temple Kyoto

2011-11-17T04:54:00.003+09:00

相国寺

Shokokuji Temple in north central Kyoto is one of the city's five great Zen temples.

Shokokuji was built by the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in 1382. It has in the ensuing centuries been burned down and or destroyed.

It was rebuilt after a fire in 1788 ravaged the temple complex.

Shokokuji is the main temple of the Rinzai sect, and - from this writer's perspective - more importantly it is a living religious space that is peaceful and filled with neighbors and students and people on a walk.

Also within the complex is the Shotenkaku Museum, which has periodic exhibits.

Address

Imadegawa-dori, Karasuma Higashi-iru Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-0898
Telephone: 075 231 0301
Shokokuji Temple map

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Marimo

2011-11-16T11:25:00.000+09:00

Marimo is a species of green algae (Cladophora sauteri) that forms in spherical balls.

First discovered in 1823 by Dr. Anton E. Sauter in Lake Zeller in Austria, marimo can be found in a number of lakes in the northern hemisphere including Lake Akan in northern Hokkaido.

Every October a marimo festival is held at Lake Akan led by local Ainu elders. The marimo has been protected in Japan since 1921. The Marimo Exhibition and Observation Center was built on the shores of Lake Akan in the 1970s and renovated in the 1990s.

These marimo were photographed in a tank in the Tanuki-koji covered arcade in the Susukino district of Sapporo.

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African Festa 2011 in Yokohama

2011-11-15T00:01:00.000+09:00

アフリカン　フェスタ 2011 in Yokohama

African Festa 2011 in Yokohama took place in Yokohama's beautiful Yamashita Park, overlooking the also very picturesque Yokohama Bay.

African Festa 2011 ran for two days: Saturday November 12 and Sunday November 13. I went on Sunday.

For an ethnic festival in Japan, of which I have been to many, it was big. The sprawling size of the African Festa 2011 made sense, though, as thirty African countries were represented here, as well as a staggering 54 other booths run by a huge range of organizations ranging from Hunger Free World, to We Love Morocco, to Action for Greening Sahel, to Medecins du Monde Japon, to the Japan Africa Friendship Association, to name just a few.

African Festa 2011 was very well attended, with hundreds of people milling around all day, in very pleasant fall weather, looking at the variety of informative materials (pamphlets, videos, books, etc.), handicrafts, foods and beverages on offer or sale, and taking in the various performances.

I was given a pamphlet on visiting Gabon by a very young member of the booth staff (see video), told the price of some snakeskin wallets, browsed some children's books featuring Africa, drank some African tea, and, finally, clapped and swayed along to the music of Cheick Tidiane Seck whose concert was the final one of the day. (I got there too late to hear Mamadou Doumbia, and Nyama Kante & Jelidon who had appeared beforehand.) Cheick Tidiane Seck performed a miracle in managing to get a Japanese crowd to engage in a little interaction with the stage, although there was a good, if small, hard core boogying down stage right.

See the above YouTube video of African Festa 2011: a taste of Africa in Japan.

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Tsugaru Jamisen

2011-11-14T00:01:00.001+09:00

津軽三味線

Tsugaru jamisen is a kind of folk music from Hirosaki in the Tsugaru area of northern Tohoku.

The Tsugaru jamisen has a thicker neck and strings than the ordinary shamisen and is struck harder with the plectrum.

Tsugaru jamisen is said to have its roots in the performances of blind women players called goze, further refined and developed by male performers known as bosama. In the Meiji Period, Tsugaru jamisen accompanied minyo folk songs before developing into a solo instrument.

Tsugaru jamisen can be heard at various live houses and restaurants in the castle town of Hirosaki and at the ASPAM building in Aomori. The Tsugaru Shamisen Tourist Hall in Goshogawaru introduces the Tsugaru shamisen and Tsugaru folk music. Visitors can hear live performances and try their hand at the instrument. The Tsugaru Shamisen Tourist Hall is a short walk from Kanagi Station.

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Japan News This Week 13 November 2011

2011-11-13T01:26:00.005+09:00

今週の日本

Fission at Fukushima?

BBC

A Visit to Fukushima Begins

New York Times

Olympus admits hiding losses for 20 years

Guardian

Can big business save Japan's fishing industry?

Christian Science Monitor

Japan will join TPP dialogue, Noda decides

Japan Times

Japón desde la autocaravana

El Pais

Le « bruit du crabe » : récit d'un « gitan » du nucléaire japonais

Rue 89

日本国家债务达12.3万亿美元创新高

Caijing

Fallout From the Fukushima Shock: Japan’s Emerging Energy Policy

Japan Focus

Japan, Uzbekistan advance in Asian qualifying

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Bribe Payers Index, by country, 2010.

Countries are scored on a scale of 0-10, where a maximum score of 10 corresponds with the view that companies from that country never bribe abroad and a 0 corresponds with the view that they always do.

1) Netherlands (8.8)
2) Switzerland (8.8)
3) Belgium (8.7)
4) Germany (8.6)
5) Japan (8.6)
6) Australia (8.5)
7) Canada (8.5)
8) Singapore (8.3)
9) United Kingdom (8.3)
10) USA (8.1)

27) China (6.5)
28) Russia (6.1)

Source: Transparency International

As of July, more than 2.05 million Japanese were living on welfare. That is a postwar high. Causes are the March earthquake, an aging population, and a struggling economy.

Source: Kyodo News

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Sapporo Central Fish Market

2011-11-12T10:35:00.000+09:00

札幌市中央卸売市場

The Sapporo Central Fish Market in Sapporo has become a popular excursion for Japanese tourists to Sapporo with many of the fresh fish retailers offering free bus tours from your hotel and then on to Sapporo Station. Your luggage will be kept in a safe place while you browse the various shops on either side of the street for souvenirs or enjoy a sushi breakfast washed down with a Sapporo Classic beer.

Sapporo Central Fish Market is famous for its Hokkaido crabs, Atka mackerel, shellfish, squid and salmon. The shopkeepers will even send your purchases to your home address in Japan if you give them the necessary details.

The Sapporo Central Fish Market is not a place for vegetarians or animal rightists -- it is rather sad to see the crabs bound and stacked up one on top of the other.

A smaller fish market in Sapporo is the Nijo Fish market near Odori Station, Odori Park and the Sapporo TV Tower.

Central Fish Market Sapporo
North 11, West 21
Chuo-ku
Map of Sapporo Central Market

Access

Sapporo Central Fish market is a 10-minute walk from JR Soen Station or Nijuyonken subway station on the Tozai Line and not far from Hokkaido University.

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The Nape of a Japanese Woman's Neck

2011-11-11T09:57:00.000+09:00

女の項

The nape of the neck is apart from the hands and face the one part of the body exposed when a woman wears a kimono.

As such, in Japan it is a highly erotic area of the body.

In Japanese literature and daily life, the nape is fetishized to a degree incomprehensible to men in the West.

At a junior high school entrance ceremony in Kyoto this spring, several women came in kimono.

And those in the back paid little attention to the drone of speeches up at the front of the auditorium.

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Tokyo population growth and construction boom

2011-11-10T00:01:00.000+09:00

東京　人口と建設

Tokyo's population (here we're talking about the 23 wards, not the greater Tokyo area) hit 1 million in the late 1870s, and was over 7 million before World War 2. It was almost halved in the course of that conflict to 3.4 million in its immediate aftermath.

Within 8 years, by 1953, it had reached its pre-war level, and until the mid-1970s it grew steadily till it was over 11.6 million in 1975. In the two decades from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, Tokyo's population hardly grew at all, shrinking slightly in the late 1970s, to then hover around the 11.7 million mark.

Since 1996, Tokyo's population has been growing, from 11.7 million to its present population of almost 13 million. The median annual growth rate of Tokyo's population during that time is about 0.77%, or roughly an extra 100,000 people every year, or over 1,900 extra people every week.

This constant growth throughout the 21st century to date means that there has been an ongoing building boom in Tokyo, mainly in the form of apartment buildings. Not only the rate, but the speed, of construction of apartment buildings in Tokyo is blinding. A typical multi-story building is complete in less than 6 months, and at no cost in terms of building safety, as was evidenced by the complete lack of any serious damage to contemporary buildings in the Great East Japan earthquake of March 11this year that also hit Tokyo very hard.

The above photo is of a demolition presently taking place in Tokyo's Kojimachi district, one of the many areas where there has been an apartment building boom. The sound of pneumatic drills has become very much a part of the Tokyo landscape and at the rate the population of the city continues to grow, is likely to remain so.

Facts about Tokyo

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Video disks: vintage trash on Tokyo streets

2011-11-09T07:53:00.000+09:00

VHDメディア

I was walking the streets of Asakusabashi in Tokyo's Taito ward this evening on my way to the supermarket when I saw what looked like a bookcase on the sidewalk against the wall of a house.

On closer inspection, it turned out to be a case of videodiscs. The only way I could identify them as video discs, even, was by the words "Video Disc" on one that was placed on top of the cabinet.

I looked it up in Wikipedia, and discovered that video discs in Japan were marketed by the Victor Company of Japan, Ltd (JVC) in the Video High Density (VHD) format, that the pictured disk is clearly in, back in 1983. VHD's main use was in karaoke systems. Reading that I half recalled the old karaoke systems of my first days in Japan in the late 1980s, with faded images in my head of bar owners inserting these huge 25cm square caddies, as the discs' plastic covers are called, into players.

Apparently, for the mainstream consumer market as opposed to commercial customers, video discs became a thing of the past in 1984, only a year after they were introduced.

However, this set must have been for karaoke, as track no.11, Anytime Woman, by the singer Eikichi Yazawa, was released in 1992. It's most probable that a nearby karaoke bar has finally gone 21st century digital: high time for such a move with Tokyo's electronics town, Akihabara, being only 10 minutes walk away from where these disks were dumped.

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Apple Store Osaka

2011-11-08T06:20:00.000+09:00

アップル大阪店

Along the elegant European boulevard that runs through the heart of Osaka is a large Apple store.

Midosuji, Osaka's answer to the Champs Elysee, is a tree-lined street full of high-end boutiques and cafes.

The Apple store is catty corner to the Daimaru Department Store (pictured below left), just south of Shinsaibashisuji Dori.

It is a large, open space with many helpful staff.

On a recent holiday, approximately 50 people were waiting in line to enter the store just prior to opening.

It was a sunny holiday; we kept walking.

Address

Urban Building Shinsaibashi
1-5-5 Nishi Shinsaibashi, Chuo Ward
Osaka

Tel: 06-4963-4500

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Sapporo Classic Beer

2011-11-07T09:00:00.003+09:00

サッポロクラシック

Sapporo Classic Beer can be found everywhere in Hokkaido and Sapporo in liquor stores, supermarkets and convenience stores, though the beer is unfortunately something of a rarity in the rest of Japan.

5% alcohol content with a light gold color and nice aroma, Sapporo Classic goes well with Hokkaido"s delicious cuisine, especially the fresh seafood, shimahokke in particular.

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Japan News This Week 6 November 2011

2011-11-06T01:28:00.000+09:00

今週の日本

Monkeys work in Japanese restaurant

BBC

Japan Revives a Sea Barrier That Failed to Hold

New York Times

The Japanese engineer calling for a life without electricity

Guardian

DeNA buys BayStars, awaits OK to add its name to team's

Japan Times

La reacción nuclear en Fukushima continúa ocho meses después

El Pais

Beau, bon, un peu bio... le « bento », boîte à manger japonaise

Rue 89

戛纳20国峰会只能充当欧洲一根救命稻草

Caijing

Gender, Equity and the Japanese Welfare System

Japan Focus

Japan to send government staff to game in NKorea

Yahoo Sports

Last Week's News

Statistics

Overall Poverty Rate

Iceland: 6.4%
Canada: 12%
New Zealand: 11%
Britan: 11%
Japan: 157%
USA: 17.3%

Source: Bertelsmann Stifung

The Global Gender Gap 2011 Rankings: Influence women wield over the political process, by country (1=total equality)

1. Iceland 0.846
2. Norway 0.8404
3. Finland 0.8260
4. Sweden 0.8024
5. New Zealand 0.7808
6. Ireland 0.7773
7. Denmark 0.7719
8. Lesotho 0.7678
9. Philippines 0.7654
10. Switzerland 0.7562

17. USA 0.7411

94. Japan 0.6524

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Tomb of Christ Shingo Aomori

2011-11-05T06:31:00.003+09:00

キリストの墓, 新郷村

Most people believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross at Golgotha in Jersusalem over 2000 years ago. Not so, according to legend in the far north of Japan in the small village of Shingo in Aomori Prefecture.

Claims that Jesus did not in fact die on the Cross in Jerusalem but that his brother, known in Japan as Isukiri, took his place began in the 1930s, with the "discovery" of an ancient divine text. Jesus supposedly fled to the Tohoku region of Japan via Siberia and took up rice farming, living to the ripe old age of 106.

Now the site of the Tomb of Christ consists of two wooden crosses marking the tombs of Jesus and his brother, a meditation path and a museum housing the sacred documents. There's even a commemorative stone from the Israeli government marking the spot, no doubt glad to wash their hands of any inherited historic responsibility for Christ's torture and execution, for which they have been blamed over the centuries.

Shingo village is a long, winding 31km along Route 454 off Route 103 from Towado-ko. Nearby are the equally mysterious Oishigami Pyramids, supposedly predating the Egyptian Pyramids. Total nonsense of course as they are a grouping of boulders, but let's not let the truth get in the way of a good story.

One explanation for the Tomb of Christ appearing in northern Japan is that a local "Hidden Christian" (Kakure Kirishitan 隠れキリシタン) in the Edo Period had passed himself off as The Saviour in a fervor of religious belief and these old, half-remembered tales formed the basis of the "sacred documents" later revealed in the tempestuous, seemingly apocalyptic times of the 1930s.

Tomb of Christ map

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