The last time I went to Kyoto was already more than 10 years ago.

I decided to take a trip to Kyoto and Nara, including the shrine of Ise, Ise jingu, in this May. The reason for my interest in Kyoto and Nara is mainly the historical facts on how we Japanese and our country Japan were formed during the time of Kyoto capital period, called Heian time. Many different studies are found at present time of Japan about this mysterious time of Japanese genesis. Actually Japan has more than 2000 year history, but the precise records of country history starts appearing in Heian time with many remaining cultural assets and historical record in writings.

At least, Japan was influenced by Chinese culture and some more different cultures through Silk road in the ancient time.  Influence from middle east area seems to be true in the old Japanese history, too.

Some DNA research say that Japanese people have similar DNA structure with people in the middle Asia ( not China or Korea ) and the old Jewish people, too.  Japan is an insular country, so that unique nation and the culture was formed before some other people came to Japan across the ocean.  Gradually  people from those area started arriving to Japan.  That was the beginning of Japanese cultural growth by new stimulation from the world.

I’m looking forward to my trip to Kyoto and Nara.

Recently I went to Shinjuku in Tokyo.  When I was a college student, Shinjuku was rather a dirty place with a lot of bars and casual foods.

But the image of Shinjuku city changes from the pictures in my mind every time I visit.

Shinjuku is a large area for a town of Tokyo.  It’s divided into 3 or 4 parts depending on how we enjoy the city of Shinjuku.

Firstly, the business area is in the West area.  It’s easy to access from Shinjuku train station, you will find a lot of tall buildings once you step out on the ground from the station.  It’s a clean place with modernized city look and people are walking in business suites.  You can visit some of the beautiful buildings in this area and it’s a nice look from the top of them to see vast city of Tokyo.

I think you can check which building accepts visitors for sightseeing if you look up any guide books or through internet inforamtion.

Shopping area of Shinjuku is mainly in the East area, where there are some traditional Japanese department stores such as Isentan department store.  Other than big stores, you can enjoy a number of small shops selling fashion items, books, music CDs, and also various types of foods.

Staying on the streets in this area, we feel that Tokyo is really an amazing city with large number of entertainments around us.

Night life spots are mainly located in Kabukicho area. You can walk to this area through East area of Shinjuku, but as a note, this area is rather a sexual night spots than drinking bars or fine foods.  It’s not dangerous walking here but you must be careful if you enjoy such sexual amusement.  Recently we don’t hear much about deceivers or some bad guys, but I think there still are some who try to get money from strangers.  It might be interesting, if you are the first visitor in Shinjuku, to check this area how Japanese night life is on.

There is one more area in Shinjuku, where is in the South part of Shinjku.  This is a newly developed area in the last 10 years or so, and the main thing in this area is the huge department store called Takashimaya.   It’s new and beautiful entertainment zone not only for shopping but for foods and some attractions.

Shinjuku, especially Kabukicho Area never sleeps.  It’s 24 hour OK amusement place.  But again, visitors should be careful more than the day time.

When I was a college student, I sometimes spent the night  in Shinkjuku coffee shops or bars waiting for the first morning train for my home.  It’s a little nostalgic thing.

If you come to Japan, or wherever you may travel to,  this is a valuable information about hotel booking.

Now internet hotel reservation is already a standard method for personal travelers in spite that we hesitated using internet reservation some years ago for fear of risks on booking through on line.

At present,  there are many online hotel reservation web sites which offer very low rate compared to the standard rates when using travel agencies.

However, it’s also hard to find the BEST RESERVATION SITE among a number of reservation sites.

Below,  you can find a real beneficial hotel reservation web site.  The best rate is shown after searching hotels on a certain date by comparison of all the available hotels on your tour schedule.

This is really convenient, and after you use it, you will understand how it’s amazing and beneficial for your travel.

Click or search doesn’t cost you at all, just after the reservation is made, cost is charged on your credit card.  Please just try to know how it works !.  Before deciding the reservation, you don’t have to pay at all.

Today’s topic is about Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka city, Tokyo. Some or many should know that this is the top animator of Japan, Hayao Miyazaki’s museum, and he also often work inside here.  When guests from the world come to see him, they are often invited into this museum for coffee tolk with Hayao Miyazaki ( what a lovely experience !).

In this studio, we can see many tear dropping animation characters like the robot ( see photo ) played in the Castle in the Sky, Cat bus and big Totoro doll in the movie, TOTORO.

Also probably it’s still playing short animation for visitors, even it’s short, many who saw it say it’s wonderful as always.

If you are a fan of Hayao Miyazaki films, it’s a good choice to visit while your trip in Japan.

Museum house is rather big as Japanese houses go,  yet it’s maybe small for visitors from the USA or such big countries.  Japan has small space only.

It’s often crowded on weekend. If possible it’s better for you going on weekdays.  It’s in Mitaka city in Tokyo, but actually it takes 1 hour or so to get there bu using train and walking from the train station if you come from center of Tokyo.

For ticket information or access, please see  http://www.ghibli-museum.jp/en

Enjoy your trip !

Kyoto means the Capital City in Japanese.   Kyoto used to be the Capital of Japan for a long time.  Kyoto was formed in late 8th century and this city became the Capital of Japan until late 19th century although sometimes the headquarters of Shoguns changed from Kyoto to Kamakura or somewhere else in the time of Shogunate. Emperor kept staying almost in Kyoto before the Emperor palace moved to the present location in Tokyo.

There is a unique study about Kyoto’s origin, which is that Kyoto is similar to the formation of Jerusalem. I heard that Jerusalem means City of Peace, and the old name of Kyoto is Heian Kyo which means also Capital of peace. It is often said that Hata Clan made this city, and some say that Hata Clan is a tribe from the West and even more some say they were Jewish people.

I can’t tell the similarity of 2 cities here enough because there are a lot of facts about it.

If you are interested in that history, please refer to this site: http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~magi9/isracame.htm

Anyway, Kyoto became the total Capital of Japan then.  The religion, Shinto of Japan, was also based here in Kyoto mainly. You can see a lot of shrines of Shinto religion and also temples of Buddhism are a lot here in Kyoto.  All of them are truly beautiful and the skill of the architectures is historically important for study of Kyoto, or Japan.

There are very traditional festivals in Kyoto such as Gion Festival and Aoi Festival.  ( Just for a sample information, the Gion festival is said to have the same origin and purpose of the Jewish Festival, also the word, Gion,  derives from Zion. )

Kyoto is enjoyable for us Japanese too.  Food of Kyoto is really good and visually beautiful.  I’m not sure if they are also good for travelers from overseas, I think it worth trying at least a time.

Geisha and Maiko still exist in this city and they give us real traditional entertainment of Japan.  Japanese traditional music ( or ancient music ) is called GAGAKU.  The Gagaku music is also originated in Kyoto. Again the founder of Gagaku is said to be Hata Clan.

One of the world oldest novels called Genji Monogatari, or Genji Story was also written by Murasaki Shikibu here in Kyoto, and the book is about the Heian (Kyoto) aristocrats love story.  The aristocrat is called Fujiwara clan at the time, however, still they are very powerful in Japanese society over politics, economy, and culture.  Fujiwara Clan has played a significant role in Japanese history since this Heian period of time.  Fujiwara clan is also said to be related with Hata Clan by a study of Japanese history although some still wonder about it.

Kyoto’s best season is without a doubt Fall, then next, Spring.  Trees turn into amazing colors.  Especially Fall in Kyoto has the busiest time for sightseeing.

It’s not hard to walk around in this city because the train or bus transportation system is well networked. If you are confident in driving skill in Japan, car is also a good option for sightseeing.  But please check the heavy traffic time before you rent a car.

If you like old city sightseeing, Kyoto tour might take 3 or 4 days, or at least 2 days.  After Kyoto, going to Nara city is a good option.  Close to Nara city, there is the main Shinto shrine of Japan, Ise Jingu Shrine.  Ise Jingu is a kind of the heart of Japan.  In the old time of Japan ( still now more or less ), people never failed to visit Ise Jingu while they were alive.  They believed life is completed with the holly pilgrimage to Ise Jingu. Still this custom of Japanese is alive with us.

If you prefer modern cities like Tokyo, maybe 2 days would be enough in Kyoto, so finish Kyoto within 2 days and you can skip to Osaka, Kobe or Nagoya.  From Osaka, it’s easy to take flight to Tokyo or Fukuoka, or even to a far place of Sapporo in Hokkaido.

If you are the first time traveler to Japan,  It’s not a bad idea at all to take a trip to Kyoto.  You will see a very spiritual and beautiful part of Japan there.

KYOTO WALK

ISE JINGU WALK

Many of old Japaneses houses are already gone with the change of the times.  Yet, some of the traditional residential houses are seen in very old towns.

Shirakawago is well known for its preservation of old houses of the local community.  This area is in Gifu Prefecture of Japan, which is next to Kyoto Prefecture.  As you see in the photo, many houses are kept in traditional form of Japan, which is called Gasshou Tsukuri or Gasshou make as a old house making skill.

Shirakawago is registered as a Japanese cultural heritage and in recent year, this place was also recognized as one of the world heritages by UNESCO.

If you like urban life, this place is not interesting for you at all. However, for seeing the history of people’s life in Japan, many of the old customs are still reserved here.

This place is beautiful in both Summer and Winter.  In Winter it has much snow, then you need a winter tiers in case the you drive.  Also it’s beautiful in the night time.  Night walk in this town gives you a nice memory of your Japan tour.

If you love neon lights city, you can come back in Kyoto or Osaka in the night and you can enjoy the night life there.

Hokkaido is the north island of Japan.  It’s a very nice summer resort place but cold in winter with much snow. Driving in this large island is one of travel memories for us all.

However, there are a lot of nice food and beautiful scenery in Hokkaido that we should not miss in our travels.

Joys of Hokkaido travels are really a lot.

Transportation to Hokkaido is possibly either by air or car.  There is a tunnel from mainland to the south of Hokkaido, so we con go through it.  For saving time, the best way is taking airplane to Sapporo city from any large cities in other parts of Japan.  Flight time is not long as Japan is not big like Russia or the USA.

After arriving in Sapporo, you can rent a car and can start driving.  To be honest, the best time for driving is not Winter.  Summer, Fall, and Spring gives you fantastic beauty of landscape.

In Winter, there is a famous snow & ice festival in Sapporo, it’s scheduled from February 6th to 12th in this year, 2012. You can chech it at  http://www.snowfes.com/english/index.html

Staying in Sapporo, we, people living in mainland or southern places of Japan,  feel a little different from our ordinary life.  Land names are a little different, maybe it’s because the origin of the land names are from Ainu tribe.  But the names sound beautiful for us just like exotic places.  Sapporo, Niseko, Furano,  or lake Mashu are some examples of unique names. Actually there are more as such names.

If you like Ramen, I recommend you eat Sapporo Ramen.  It’s Miso soup based Ramen (  Not exactly same as Miso Soup taste but good !).   You can try it in Tokyo or other parts of Japan, but the main area for Miso Ramen is Sapporo.  I think you can have good one there.

Hokkaido is really beautiful.  I like there as much as  I like Tokyo,  Kyoto, and Okinawa.

HOKKAIDO IN WINTER

DRIVE IN HOKKAIDO of FALL Near FURANO CITY

I think the best traveling way in Tokyo is taking trains and walk from the nearest stations. Some say Tokyo train system is complicated but still the train routes are well organized, so soon you would be accustomed to it.

But if you are familiar to Tokyo streets already, driving in Tokyo would be a wonderful trip too.  In the rush hour like morning or evening time, I can’t recommend you use a car because of the heavy traffic.  If you can avoid that, morning time,daytime, and nighttime drive are fun.

Driving through the tall buildings and neon light of Tokyo in the night is a real excitement.

As it’s known, cars must drive on the left lane in Japan unlike the USA.  If you always run on the right lane in your country, it would be a great risk to experience driving in Tokyo for the first time.  Maybe you should make yourself feel OK on the left lane before the Tokyo drive.  It’s also good to experience in country side drive first.

Tokyo streets are actually complicated for the Japanese drivers too.  At the first or second time trials, navigator in your next seat is needed for safe drive as far as the navigator can really read the map of  Tokyo.

Tokyo express highway charge you when entering the highway network.   Entrances and exits are located many places in Tokyo but they are not always on visually clear roads. These must be confirmed before starting your drive.

If you are really worried,  maybe the best way is try in the early morning like 5 to 6am, then streets are not busy.

I’m Japanese. That’s why my comment here is biased.

I was born here and traveled a lot in the world. Also I saw nice countries, nice people, and unique cultures. I often thought Japan has no good things to see for inbound travelers to Japan.

Staying far away from Japan, I gradually noticed like “my country, Japan, seems to have many thing we should be proud of”.

A few years ago, I went back in Japan after a long time absence.

Now I think, for me, Japan is a truly best country and one and only place to live until I die. Now I can say, without any hesitation, I love this country, people, tradition, food, nature, technology Japan produces, and even the recent POP culture like Anime, Manga, films and  music.

Now I live in a mountain resort area of Japan. In this place I feel some kind of sacred spirit this country has.  Something tells me there’s God watching over me here in this place…..it might be God of forest, or God of this land.  Some people might think my comment here is odd and crazy.  But it’s also strange for me to feel like that because I didn’t have that kind of emotion until I came back here in my later life stage.

Ordinary scenes like mountains, flowers, rivers, skies, and some old and new buildings of shrines, temples, and even people’s houses sensitively convey the meaning of Japan.. how the ancestors of Japan lived and fostered this country.  Being in Japan now, it’s an amazing experience for me.

Being surrounded by people of Japan, I feel comfort. Having Japanese food, I feel relaxed over my body. Enjoying Japanese music, anime, and more entertainment stuff, I really feel fun and rejoice. Often these stuff of Japan brings me tears.

Although there are many negative aspects in Japan,  I found this is the country of my destiny.  I was born in the right place, right country.  My human nature was raised by this country’s sense, and this is the true pleasure of mine.

I often feel like traveling in Japan. I found that I didn’t travel much here.  There would be more fantastic thing if I trip in this land. There would be more surprising discovery here in this country if I could see now.

I know this feeling of mine is coming from the fact that I’m Japanese.

However, I also want more people from other countries to feel something new in Japan.  I think Japan might have something…. a kind of profound meaning of life for some people too.

Thank you for reading.

I traveled a lot of times to Hawaii, Guam, Cairns, or some more beautiful beach resort places in the world. Among them, Okinawa is really special especially focusing on the beauty of the beaches.

Okinawa’s ocean is truly transparent and its beaches are speechlessly wonderful with white sands and warm winds.  People of Okinawa is extremely kind and they live in peace.

This song, HANA, is one of the representing songs of Okinawa. When we Japanese hear this song, something inside us shakes our soul strongly.  And instantly it takes our mind to the beautiful beaches and the ultimate paradise of human life.

Hana is often sung by some other singers in Okinawa, but personally I like Rimi Natsukawa’s version together with the original singer.  Originally this was composed by an Okinawan, Shokichi Kina, who is already a legendary musician of Okinawa even he is still alive in our time.

Rimi Natsukawa’s  Hana is simply beautiful and it reaches our soul deeply.  Shokichi Kina’s version is more soulful and it has stronger sense in conveying the message of the song.

Please enjoy.