Feel Shitamachi-style in Ueno

February 13, 2008 - 10:42 am by sachie_kobayashi in Others  

When it comes to Ueno, we think of National Museums, the spacious park, Ameyoko Market and so on. However it’s also fun to look for the vertiges of ‘Old Tokyo’,or Shitamachi as it’s called in Japanese.
What is Shitamachi? If you would like to know, I would recommend visiting ‘The Shitamachi Museum’ first; it is the worth the 300 [...]

Foreign Credit Card is now acceptable @ 12,000 Seven Eleven Banks

July 24, 2007 - 7:31 pm by akko@hakata in Travel  

On July 11(Seven Eleven!), the ATM machines of Seven Eleven Banks started to deal with foreign credit cards, master, visa, American Express, JCB. Now you can draw Japanese Yen with your credit cards anytime at nearest Seven Eleven.

Throughout Japan there’re more than 12,000 Seven Eleven Banks in each Seven Eleven Shops, the most popular convinience [...]

Foreign Money Exchage in Akihabara

July 22, 2007 - 11:24 am by akko@hakata in Travel  

Japan has a bad reputation for not having enough money exchange machine, but situation is changing.

Akihabara, the mecca of cult culture (maid kissa, manga, and of course electrics), has a Foreign Money Exchange center in front of Yodobashi Camera Shop, attached to Akihabara Station.
Beside this, you can try Daikokuya’s money exchange servicea discount ticket shop. [...]

Internet Access in Japan

June 30, 2007 - 4:49 pm by kiokitok in Travel  

Today, Internet is an essential method in order to collect information. Usually, you can find more updated information in better quality than any other methods. Depending on the environment you are in, you can choose different options.
If you do not have any laptop computers, you should simply go to Manga Kissa or Internet [...]

Football/Soccer in Japan

June 16, 2007 - 1:23 pm by kiokitok in Travel  

Football has gained its popularity for 15 years. It had never been regarded as major sports like sumo, baseball or golf until the professional league was established. On May 15, 1993, J-League had a huge ceremony to inaugurate the professional league. The ceremony was televised, and instantly had a great impact especially [...]

Tsuyu

May 26, 2007 - 11:29 pm by kiokitok in Culture  

Tsuyu season is coming. It keeps raining for nearly a month and a half. That is the period people constantly make complaints. It gets very humid while the temperature increases day by day. The sky gets dark so that they sometimes feel depressed. In the meantime, it is an important [...]

Shinto Festivals

May 12, 2007 - 3:34 pm by kiokitok in Culture  

Quite a few Japanese have their own religions. Others make use of religious events throughout their life. In New Year, many of them visit shrines and pray. Christianity is a popular religion for wedding. When they die, they cry under the name of Buddha. The Japanese enjoy these rituals.
Matsuri is [...]

Children’s Day

May 5, 2007 - 4:16 pm by kiokitok in Culture  

The Japanese celebrates Children’s Day on May 5. That particular day has been celebrated as Tango no Sekku. It was the day they pray for their children’s health and prosperity. This celebration was said to be imported from China although the Koreans claimed and was now recognized that it was born in [...]

Golden Week

April 28, 2007 - 10:54 pm by kiokitok in Culture  

In the end of April, there is about a week of holidays called Golden Week. A lot of Japanese go for a trip. Every tourist site is filled with people both in and outside of Japan. As soon as the days are over, everyone goes back to the business.
Salarymen (white-collar employees) rarely [...]

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. [...]