Another new year in Japan, means another stab at fukubukuro, or lucky bag shopping! The gist of fukubukuro is heading to the mall on New Year’s Day, and buying a bag with unknown contents for a set price. The contents…
A mikoshi parade is a very familiar sight at any Japanese festival. A mikoshi is believed to be a vehicle for the gods, to move them from the main shrine to a temporary shrine during a festival. Some of the larger…
My dear friend Kayoko, invited us to Ukai-Toriyama for lunch a few weeks ago. The restaurant is located in a beautiful, mountainous area of Japan, not too far from our home. The grounds were exceptionally beautiful, of course. One of…
In Japanese culture, it is considered rude to “eat on the go”. You always eat at the restaurant or eat at your destination, never while walking around (yes, this includes your coffee). For this reason, Japanese street food is pretty…
Cherry blossom, or sakura, season in Japan is greatly celebrated, and unrivaled anywhere in the world. The importance of the cherry blossom, in Japanese culture goes back hundreds of years, and signifies the beauty and impermanence of life. It is also…
A visit to a shrine, within the first few days of the new year, is a very important aspect of Japanese culture, known as hatsumode. There are various celebrations held at these shrines, but we chose to attend the Daruma…
My sister, brother and niece recently visited Japan for the first time, and we thoroughly loved showing them around this amazing country we call home. Since I have already blogged about most of these places, I thought I would just include…
When I asked my visiting family members what they wanted to do while in Tokyo, my brother mentioned attending a sumo tournament. Unfortunately, tournaments are only held a few times per year and they missed it by just weeks! However,…
We spent our last day of vacation in the sleepy town of Inuyama, to visit Japan’s oldest surviving castle. Inuyama castle was built in 1537 by Shogun Nobuyasu, and actually served as a military headquarters, rather than a home. The…