Visit Okinawa’s mangrove forest

April 13, 2007 - 9:25 am by marsh in Travel  

Northern area of Okinawa Honto (main island=big island) welcomes visitors with double colors: emeraldgreen ocean and deep green mangrove forest.
Gesashi’s mangrove forest lies on the eastern coast of the big island. From Naha city, it takes 2.5 hours by car (via route 58 and Okinawa express way); but it’s worth visiting.

The area is designated as [...]

Luxurious Nagasaki; meet Ryoma @ Kagetsu!

April 12, 2007 - 1:09 pm by akko@hakata in Travel  

What do you think this is?
And who did this?

He, is the person who made this mark with his knife,
and his name is, Ryoma Sakamoto !
So now you see how treasurable it is.

This pillar is preserved and chereshed in Kagetsu, the most well-known and traditional Japanese Ryotei in Nagasaki, and is, historic site.
Ryotei is a [...]

Baseball in Japan

April 7, 2007 - 6:13 pm by kiokitok in Culture  

Although it is losing the popularity, baseball is still one of the most popular sports in Japan. It was first imported from the U.S., but took a while until it got popularity. Once being popular, baseball became the sport for the Japanese, often defeating sumo.

Baseball was first imported from the U.S. in 1871. [...]

Fukuoka Sample Tour, Let’s visit Fukuoka Essencials!

April 5, 2007 - 3:00 pm by akko@hakata in Travel  

Sorry, the application for this tour’s already closed. Please join in the next tour!

This tour is especially for people new to Fukuoka, interested in its local life, and for English speakers from abroad. No Japanese this time, sorry.
Full day tour, with only 1000 yen!
(It’ll be collected on the day of the tour, please check [...]

Hanami with Fukuoka Big Buddha & Haunted House

April 2, 2007 - 1:58 am by akko@hakata in Travel  

This weekend was the highlight of Hanami.
Hanami generally means cherry blossom viewing, but for some little girls, it means cherry blossom `chewing’.

This is Tochoji-temple in Hakata area (*).

It has something very special upstairs.

This is it !!
People believe Big Buddha exists only in Nara and Kamakura.
But now you see Fukuoka also has it, and it’s the [...]

The Street of Kyoto (3); Higashioji-dori 2

March 31, 2007 - 3:26 am by Yuk in Culture, Travel  

The third time of series of “Streets of Kyoto” is the north side area of Higashioji-dori.
I went to north from Gion along Higashioji-dori. There is a bag shop “Ichizawa-Shinzaburo hanpu“, which has made bags from canvas since 1905, at the east side of the street. It is popular bag shop among Japanese people. I think [...]

Who is spinning and drying @ Yobuko, port town in Kyushu

March 27, 2007 - 7:04 pm by akko@hakata in Travel  

Who do you think they are, dancing and spinning more beautifully than figure skaters under the sky?!

They are squid, caught in Yobuko.
These are dried squid you can take as good souvenier, but the best way to enjoy squid is, to eat it raw!

Doesn’t this look delicious ?!
Yes, Yobuko is `squid town’, so popular with fresh, [...]

Hanami Party

March 24, 2007 - 9:21 pm by kiokitok in Culture  

The Japanese enjoy mild climate in spring. Various flowers come out in this season. Among those flowers, cherry blossom is probably the most popular. When it comes out, people feel happiness because they just get over the cold winter. On the other hand, they feel sadness in their mind because cherry [...]

Ueno Park

March 17, 2007 - 5:57 pm by kiokitok in Travel  

Origin of Ueno goes back to the early Tokugawa shogunate. Ueno had been less populated area than other areas in Edo (Tokyo). In 1625, the Kan-ei-ji temple was built on the hill in this area, in order to enshrine Shoguns. In addition, Kan-ei-ji was believed to protect the Edo castle from demons [...]

Kobe

March 12, 2007 - 11:19 pm by Yuk in Culture, Food, Travel  

Kobe is a good place where I who live in Kyoto can go by the day trip. That day was Chinese New Year. So I went to Kobe by the Hankyu train. It took 2 hours from Karasuma (Kyoto) to Sannomiya (Kobe), fare was 600 yen (if you buy a ticket in Kinken shop [...]