Easy Japanese Books

A friend of mine and I often find ourselves spending too much money every time we visit the bookstore. We sometimes go together with the intention of stopping each other from buying more than we should, but we still end up buying a lot of stuff. Tonight we again went to the bookstore. Instead of [...]

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UFO Catching

I have a dozen of stories about UFO Catchers… mostly involving people I know who are addicted to them. I’m not that into them myself, but I’m sure if I played it often enough, I could quickly get drawn into the dark side of UFO Catching.
UFO Catchers aren’t a new thing in Japan. In fact, [...]

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Sakura Shots - Philosopher’s Path

Philosopher’s Path, known in Japanese as Tetsugaku no Michi (哲学の道), is one of the best places to view Cherry Blossoms in Kyoto. The path connects Kyoto’s Silver Pavillion, otherwise known as Ginkakuji (銀閣寺), with Nanzenji (南禅寺). It is so named for the philosopher Nishida Kitaro, who walked there everyday. It is a three-hour walk.

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Cherry Blossom Night Viewing

For those looking to enjoy Yozakura (夜桜, lit-up cherry blossoms), there are literally dozens of places to visit in the next two weeks. Below are some of the more popular ones in the Kanto Area.
Chidorigafuchi, Kitanomaru Park and Yasukuni Shrine
Chidorigafuchi is the North Eastern moat of the Imperial Palace. Together with Kitanomaru Park, it is [...]

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The Cherry Blossoms are Blooming!

Yesterday, I took a walk and saw that the Cherry Blossom Trees near my house were turning pink! A few flowers were blooming. It just made me really happy. It looks like this weekend will be great for a Hanami party!

Check out the Live Webcams on Live Japan for more images of Sakura Blooming!

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Travel Notes - Nagatoro

Nagatoro is located in Northern Saitama, a very remote tourist destination on the quaint Chichibu Line. I headed there with some friends to see the last of the Plum Blossoms. We originally meant to take the Steam Locomotive train, the Paleo Express, but since the train only opened a few days ago for the new [...]

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The Dai-ni Button Episode

One of my junior high students wrote about a graduation ceremony at her school. She said that her sempai gave one of her friends a button but this friend didn’t particularly like this sempai. And also that one other friend took home 15 buttons but couldn’t remember from whom she had taken the buttons. Puzzled, [...]

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Sakura Shots - Heian Shrine

My Kyoto Guidebook says:
Flowers bloom throughout the year at Heian Shrine’s beautiful gardens, home of the Jidai Matsuri Festival.
Heian Jingu was built in 1895 to mark the 1,100th anniversary of the founding on Kyoto. It is dedicated to the first, Kammu, and last, Komei, emperors to reign in Kyoto. Heian Jingu is most noted for [...]

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Hanami Bento and the Sakura Forecast

One thing I love about Cherry Blossom Viewing is Hanami Bento. Sure it’s just regular bento stuff decorated with sakura-shaped carrots and pink and green dumplings called dango, but it’s really nice to look at. While I have been to a couple of the big parties where karaoke and nama beer are involved, I sometimes [...]

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勝った! I won!

Some time last month, I joined a contest that Evan Pike from Japan Photo Guide was sponsoring. The contest rules stipulated that for adding Japan Photo Guide, Japan Daily Photo, Blogs on Japan, or Photography of Evan Pike to your blogroll, you get raffle tickets. I’d already had Japan Photo Guide in my blogroll but [...]

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