‘1- Travel’ Archives
Castle Cities of Japan
Japan used to be a country of battles among district Shoguns or Kings of Warriors. They had their Castle in their territory and the castles still remain in some cities. Actually, most famous castle we can see is Edojo Castle, which is a Castle in Tokyo. Emperor of Japan now live in that castle, so nobody can go in now. Edojo, or Tokyo [...]
SEIBU department Yurakucho store to close this year
This is a little shocking news for me because I often visit this department store. SEIBU department store has a lot of branch stores in Japan, and Yurakucho store or the Ginza area store is one of the most sophisticated branch store of them all. It's located just near the Yurakucho station, and the building is a complex with some good cinema [...]
New Year Started with heavy snow in Japan
It's said that the world is facing global warming. However, this year started with heavy snow in my hometown and in the northern parts of Japan. When we were kids, every year we had heavy snow and we could enjoy skiing and skating. Recent years, the amount of snow in winter of Japan decreased apparently, compared to the time of our [...]
Under 7 million travelers to Japan
Recently numbers of travelers to Japan has been on the increase for a long time. According to recent statistics, the numbers of last year went down under 7 million travelers. For the last 4 years, it's been more than 7 million. This big reduction in numbers is mainly because of the financial crisis, which led higher Japanese Yen rate. The [...]
MAMPEI HOTEL in Karuizawa, Footprint of JOHN LENNON in Japan
As everyone knows, godsent genius John Lennon chose a Japanes for his second wife, Yoko Ono. While John was busy as house husband for his son, Sean, Yoko Ono and John Lennon came to Japan with Sean. In Japan, John and Yoko visited Karuizawa, a city of resort, each year from 1976 to 1979 before John was shot to death. Then the hotel they [...]
Why Hawaii ?
This is not about Japanese travel but my favourite islands, Hawaii. Please skip this article if you search for Japanese domestic travel information. I love Hawaii just like I love Japan. This is not simple meaning because I really feel like Hawaii is my home town or birth place although I was born and raised in a small country city of [...]
World No.1 Gourmet City, TOKYO by Michelin Tokyo 2010
Michelin Japan today held a press conference in Tokyo about the Michelin Guide of Tokyo 2010. according the the news, Tokyo again stayed on the NO.1 status of the world Gourmet Cities judging from the 3 star restaurant number ( 11 restaurants ) and the total star numbers of restaurants shown in the guidebook. It's not fair to decide the NO.1 [...]
Outdoor Hot Springs- Roten Buro Onsen
Furo means Bath, and Roten means nearly Outdoor. Exactly translating, Ro means Exposed and Ten means Sky or Heaven, so maybe no roof or open-exposed is the correct direct translation of ROTEN. Anyway, Roten Buro means Outdoor bath. Why Buro, not Furo ? Japanese pronunciation often changes in obedience to the combination of words to [...]
Ski Tour in Japan
Winter time in Japan is really cold. But for the ski players, it would be a paradise time as they can ski in various skiing areas. Japan has many skiing areas. Popular zones are Tohoku Zao area, Nagano highland area, and maybe Hokkaido area. Tohoku Zao area is famous for its beautiful snow trees ( juhyo: see photo), which natural wind and [...]
YOKOHAMA CHINATOWN
Yokohama city is a special place for Japan's history. After a long isolated time of Japan, the first place where Japan opened the door for the world was Yokohama city. American navy came to Japan at Meiji Era and they strongly persuaded ( or forced ) Japan to open the country. America and Japan made a friendship and trade exchange treaty in [...]
