A unique Tanabata festival to commemorate the poignant meeting of the star lovers, and perhaps, one of the biggest festivals of its kind takes place every year in Asagaya, Suginami ward.
Come to Iwate to experience a colorful dreamscape of crystals and light. At the Kenji Miyazawa Fairy Tale Village, you can jump into a world befitting of fairies.
Children, teens, and adults can be seen crowding the Hata Sensuda Sports Park. Tents with the aroma of delicious festival foods wafting from them can also be seen from a distance as people order treats from them, forming long lines that snake towards the parking lot. Everyone here is excitedly awaiting the event of the night – the Hata Fireworks Festival.
When daily news and the outside world get to be too crazy, try Shodō 書道, Japanese calligraphy, to regain inner equilibrium and calm the mind and heart. Experience Shodō’s meditative and relaxing qualities in a workshop or field trip with Kobe Native Noriko Ukita who has been teaching Shodō to Japanese and foreigners alike for 27 years.
One of the unique festivals of the area is the Demon Fireworks Festival, known as the Oni-Hanabi in Japanese. Every summer from early June to the end of July, Noboribetsu holds a special festival to celebrate the demons living in the area.
Some of these varieties include: ceramic, glass, metal, bamboo, bronze, clay, crystal and so on. Kawasaki Daishi Temple, while not quite known to many tourists, has always beendedicated to the warding of evil through its ceremonies of purification, such as the Yakudoshi (unlucky or critical age in a person’s life), blessings of talismans and charms, burning rites during New Year, year-end cleaning ritual using long brooms, and others.
In keeping with the ancient custom, Yasukuni Shrine holds the yearly Mitama Festival around July 13-16 as part of the Obon festivities. Mitama refers to the spirit or soul of the dead. During this season, Japanese hang lanterns and place offerings at the altars as prayers for their ancestors’ spirits to be freed of their sufferings. Since 1947, the Mitama Festival has lightened up the Yasukuni Shrine grounds with more than 30,000 glittering lanterns or chochin.
Approximately 11km east from Nara Park, lies an ancient trail called Yagyu Kaido. This track once served as pilgrimage for mountain Buddhists, a form of mountain asceticism during the Nara and Heian period, therefore many historical sites, monuments, and ruins of the time remain here barely touched.
Softbank’s intelligent robot, Pepper and Honda’s humanoid robot, ASIMO are just two examples of Japan’s robot revolution that are known the world over. At first glance, Japan’s passion for robots may seem like a recent revolution, but did you know that Japan has been producing robots for hundreds of years?
Decora began as a unique fashion statement before rising to become one of Japan’s most popular subcultures. While present day, not as many people dress in Decora style as they did two decades ago, Decora fashion is now recognized as synonymous with Harajuku Street. So now let’s learn more about Decora shall we?
But rather than terrifying people as he did on screen, it is hoped Godzilla will help attract them. The actual 12 meter high replicated head, based on its appearance in Godzilla vs Mothra, stares down red eyed and roaring at the busy streets from a terrace on the 8th floor of Shinjuku Toho Building.
A lot of the big video game companies such as Nintendo and Sega originate from Japan and some of the finest gamers of all time come from Japan. Kansai sees a lot of visitors from all over, and some of those want a place to relax and game for a bit. This is a guide for those traveling to or living in Kansai and want to experience Japanese gaming culture at its finest.
