The Hippies are coming! The Hippies are coming!

April 21, 2007 - 6:05 pm by mrmook in Travel  

Dude! Where’s my Decade?

I accidentally stumbled into the 60’s last weekend when the wife and I took a leisurely shopping stroll on a lovely, sunny, Sunday in Kyoto.

Our ultimate destination was the Bike (as in bicycle) Shop to purchase some new wheels but along the way we got caught [...]

Koishikawa Korakuen Garden

- 1:53 pm by kiokitok in Travel  

Gardening was always a popular hobby for riches in the old days. It is still a good hobby for them, and they maintain a lot of traditional gardens in Japan. Many of those old gardens are privately owned by temples, especially in Kansai (the west). There are some in Tokyo and its [...]

Form A Long Line

April 14, 2007 - 9:06 pm by kiokitok in Culture  

The Japanese do not worry about forming a line and wait for hours, in order to obtain what they want, even in this crowded city of Tokyo. According to the official statistics, Tokyo has the population density of 13,800 people per square kilometers (5,328 / sq. miles) in the 23 districts, that goes up [...]

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, [...]