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Culture Posts

Ready to Enjoy "Sake" for Sake of Your Fantastic Memories?

Bamboo Tells What Japan Is All About!

Kyoto, Japan

Top Japanese Culture: 5 Traditions You Must Try In Japan

Japanese Culture: The Differences Between Old and Modern

Your In-depth Guide To The Colosseum

Japanese Buddhism: Facts To Know Before Visiting Japan

You'll Never Say, "What a Shock!" "Wa-shoku" Is the Very Soul of "Omotenashi" Japan!

Kyoto, Japan

Medinet Habu

Ancient Egyptian Language

Luxor, Egypt

Hinadolls！　What wonderful dolls they are !

Vending Machines

Kyoto, Japan

Nyoirin Kannon ('Bodhisattva of Compassion') which I fell in love

Kyoto, Japan

Yasaka-no-tou(Yasaka Pagoda)

Kyoto, Japan

Imperial Palace Tour by the Imperial Household Agency: Only seeing some of the public buildings fro

Tokyo, Japan

Samurai District

Kanazawa, Japan

Bamboo craftsman in Sado Island

Supreme "Sakura Empire?" Japan

Natural Mineral Pigments used for Modern Japanese-style Painting

Hakone, Japan

Eleven-faced Kannon Bodhisattva statue at Murouji Temple (National Treasure)

Kyoto, Japan

Great Buddha and Various Historical and Cultural Spots in Kamakura

Kamakura, Japan

"Temple or Shrine; That Is the Question!"

Osaka, Japan

Japanese Maple Is Not Just Beautiful, but Super "Crisp!"

Osaka, Japan

New Year's preparation at Ushio Shrine, Sado Island

Buddhism Sect Transition In Japan, Zen, Samurai Spirit And Japanese Culture

Kyoto, Japan

Omiya Bonsai Museum in Saitama Prefecture

Saitama, Japan

Viva Festival - Traditional Kanda Festival meets pop culture

Tokyo, Japan

Gioji, a tranquil small world in Sagano

Kyoto, Japan

Houkokubyou, the mausoleum of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who achieved his ambition

Kyoto, Japan

Hinamatsuri, Doll’s（Girls') Festival

Kyoto, Japan

Arts and Crafts

Kanazawa, Japan

D.T. Suzuki Museum

Kanazawa, Japan

How to Celebrate Christmas in Japan - Places to See and Things to Do

Culture Posts

Ready to Enjoy "Sake" for Sake of Your Fantastic Memories?

Warm welcome to Sake. Super Happy News!! Traditional Saka Making was designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage on December 5, 2024. I think you can't leave Japan without trying Sake?:) On Sake here's another fantastic story. Junmai Ginjo Fukuju ma...

Bamboo Tells What Japan Is All About!

Hello. Welcome to "Bamboo Japan."As you see, Japan is a "bamboo country" with various kinds of bamboo rooted deep into diverse aspects of our lives. Actually when you travel across the country, you'll see bamboos out there all the time.In the spring bambo...

Top Japanese Culture: 5 Traditions You Must Try In Japan

There are many types of Japanese traditions and culture that you’ll experience in Japan. One typical aspect of Japanese culture that you will see often is bowing. The Japanese bow to say hello or welcome, to say goodbye or come again, to say thank you, to...

Japanese Culture: The Differences Between Old and Modern

When you think of a country where modern and ancient cultures are blended in harmony, I'm sure the first place you'd think of is Japan.Japanese culture and customs have been constantly evolving. Neither side is more favored than the other and the new and ...

Your In-depth Guide To The Colosseum

The Colosseum is arguably the most iconic landmark in all of Rome, standing as a symbol of Roman power for almost 2,000 years, the gargantuan amphitheater has stood as a witness to the eternal city's history. Officially recognized as one of the seven won...

Japanese Buddhism: Facts To Know Before Visiting Japan

Buddhism in Japan is more a part of the culture of Japan rather than a religion. This may seem odd to people belonging to religions like Christianity or Islam, but maybe this social influence is one of the unique characteristics of Japan. This influence o...

You'll Never Say, "What a Shock!" "Wa-shoku" Is the Very Soul of "Omotenashi" Japan!

Hello. Huge welcome to Wa-shoku! And I'm sorry for my trivial pun in the title. Hopefuly I'm not a "pun man?"First of all, a touch of information about Omotenashi just for your reference. Currently the term, Omotenashi, is one of the key words in Japan's ...

Medinet Habu

Ancient Egyptian Language

Hinadolls！ What wonderful dolls they are !

At a hotel lobby A empress doll made by my mother A empress doll made by my mother Have you ever heard of "Hina-Matsuri" (Doll's Festival / Girl's Festival) ? Families with girls celebrate March 3rd to wish thier health, growth, and happiness. They ...

Vending Machines

If you come to Japan, you may find many unique vending machines. You can get bottled cold drinks such as water, Coke, Sprite, green tea, and so on if you push the blue button and get bottled hot drinks such as coffee, tea, cocoa, green tea, and so on if y...

Nyoirin Kannon ('Bodhisattva of Compassion') which I fell in love

Since I began studying as a tour guide, I have had so many chances to see Buddhist statues at many temples and museums, and recently, I saw (found!) a cute Buddhist statue which melted my heart on a website page. The picture had no name of the statue and...

Yasaka-no-tou(Yasaka Pagoda)

You have seen a picture of this pagoda ('Tou' in Japanese).People call this tower 'Yasaka-no-tou' (official name is 'Hokanji Temple'.) It's located in the center, between Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizudera Temple and registered as an Important Cultural Proper...

Imperial Palace Tour by the Imperial Household Agency: Only seeing some of the public buildings fro

The Imperial Palace is such a vast place with many trees that you cannot have a glimpse of the Imperial Residence near the Hanzomon.It differs from Buckingham Palace that the Residential area and the surroundings are completely off limits. www.kunaicho.go...

Samurai District

These traditional streets retains the atmosphere of a castle town about 150 years ago. These mud walls have roofs and covers to protect from the snow. The heights of the walls are different depending on the samurais’ ranking. Footman House This house w...

Bamboo craftsman in Sado Island

Mr. Akio Kazuma, only a few bamboo craftsman living in Sado Island. He showcases and sells his bamboo works once a year in mid-October. First, bamboo vase with beautiful flowers. This is "Toki's nest". Toki is an internationally protected bird and there...

Supreme "Sakura Empire?" Japan

Huge thanks for visiting sakura Japan. Ever since the Heian period (794 - 1185) "hana" (referring to flower) has long been about sakura (cherry blossom). This is why sakura is regarded as a national flower. The sakura front moves from the south to the nor...

Natural Mineral Pigments used for Modern Japanese-style Painting

I studfied natural miveral pigments which are used for Japanese-style painting. Please refer following.What is natural mineral pigments? That is one of the pigments which is used for the East. Examples of them are ultramarine blue, verdigris, vermilion, ...

Eleven-faced Kannon Bodhisattva statue at Murouji Temple (National Treasure)

(borrowed from the document folder which I bought at the official shop at Murouji Temple) As I wrote in my another blog, 'Nyoirin Kannon (Bodhisattva of Compassion) which I fell in love', my favorite Buddhist statue is Nyoirin Kannon at Daigoji Temple in ...

Great Buddha and Various Historical and Cultural Spots in Kamakura

There are two large statues of Buddha in Japan (Nara and Kamakura) called “Daibutsu” which means “Great Buddha”.The Great Buddha(13.5 meters, 121tons)” is one of the major landmarks and most popular tourist spot in Kamakura.“The Great Buddha” was complete...

"Temple or Shrine; That Is the Question!"

Super welcome to "Temple or Shrine." "Dad, is this a temple or shrine?" "It must be a temple. Coz there's a pagoda behind the temple. "Yeah, but it also looks like a shrine, honey. See. There's a shrine gate." "Right. What the heck happened?...

Japanese Maple Is Not Just Beautiful, but Super "Crisp!"

Welcome to Maple Japan! Autumn colors are the pride of Japan, being enjoyed across Japan. In the western part of Japan, like Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Kobe and Himeji, the autumn leaves are at their best from mid-November through early-December. The following ...

New Year's preparation at Ushio Shrine, Sado Island

Newly braided "Shimenawa" sacred rope adorns the facade of the worship hall of Ushio Shrine The priest ties "shide" paper strips to shimenawa. This is the finishing touch of the decoration. Parishioners gathered at 8 a.m. to braid shimenawa on Dec. 10...

Buddhism Sect Transition In Japan, Zen, Samurai Spirit And Japanese Culture

For foreign tourists coming to Japan and Japanese people including me to truly understand lots of historical sites background in Japan such as Temples, gardens, castles, traditional culture of tea ceremony and so-on, we need to realize various Buddhism sp...

Omiya Bonsai Museum in Saitama Prefecture

One of the Japanese traditional culture and symbol which is well known in the world is Bonsai. The root of Bonsai is from China called Bonkei. It is said that Bonkei appeared in Tang dynasty (China: 618-907). Landscape painted by two dimension is Shan sh...

Viva Festival - Traditional Kanda Festival meets pop culture

Viva Festival - Traditional Kanda Festival has close relation with Anime Old traditional culture meets modern pop culture On this weekend Kanda Myojin Shrine hosts Kanda Festival, one of three major festivals in Tokyo. 108 towns around the shrine partici...

Gioji, a tranquil small world in Sagano

In Sagano area in Kyoto, there is a small hermitage, called Gioji Temple. A small hermitage is surrounded by trees and moss. About 800 years ago, there was a dancer whose name was Gio. She was loved by the powerful leader, Taira-no-Kiyomori since she wa...

Houkokubyou, the mausoleum of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who achieved his ambition

Have you ever heard about Toyotomi Hideyoshi before? He unified Japan about 400 years ago (before 'Tokugawa'). He was born in a very poor farmer family and became the leader of Japan thanks to his talent. He served his master, Oda Nobunaga and won his fav...

Hinamatsuri, Doll’s（Girls') Festival

We, Japanese people, especially who have daughters celebrate 'Hinamatsuri', Doll's (Girls') Festival on March 3. Hinamatsuri has been an occasion to pray for daughters' growth and happiness. Most families with girls display dolls for the Doll's Festival ...

Arts and Crafts

Kanazawa in known as a city of crafts. Feudal lords promoted art and craft technique a lot, so we have a lot of traditional art such as gold leaf, lacquerware, and silk dying. Kaga Temari Originally, these balls were children’s toys, but now people use t...

D.T. Suzuki Museum

It’s dedicated to the life and works of Daisetz Suzuki, a world-renowned Buddhist philosopher from Kanazawa. He made Zen culture known around the world. Water Mirror Garden We can enjoy the reflection of the trees on the flat water. You can breathe bet...

How to Celebrate Christmas in Japan - Places to See and Things to Do

Christmas is incredibly popular in Japan. Although Christmas in Japan might not be traditional, there are many places to see and things to do that keep the Christmas spirit alive. With almost every store chiming with carols and Christmas themed sweet trea...

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Hinadolls！　What wonderful dolls they are !

There are two large statues of Buddha in Japan (Nara and Kamakura) called “Daibutsu” which means　“Great Buddha”.The Great Buddha(13.5 meters, 121tons)” is one of the major landmarks and most popular tourist spot in Kamakura.“The Great Buddha” was complete...