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Matsumoto Castle
2008-03-03 05:08:00
???Matsumoto Castle , in Nagano Prefecture, is one of Japan's oldest castles and along with Hikone Castle, Himeji Castle and Inuyama Castle, is designated as a National Treasure.Matsumoto's black painted, wooden keep (donjon) is the oldest surviving such structure in Japan, dating from 1595. The black color gave the castle its nickname "Karasujo" (Crow Castle) and the brooding color was designed to sow fear in the hearts of any approaching attacker. Matsumoto Castle is built on flat ground and has a large moat as a means of defence.Construction of the fortress began under the Ogasawara clan in 1504 and was remodeled by Lord Kazumasa Ishikawa, a retainer of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, in the mid-1590s.The castle has six floors, including the obligatory hidden floor where the samurai rested and kept their powder and food. Visitors to the castle must take off their shoes as they clamber up the steep stairs. There is a commentary in both Japanese and English and exhibits of firearms, armor and...

Japan This Week 2/03/08
2008-03-02 11:44:00
?????Japan ese police drop rape charges against US marine in Okinawa.NY TimesEmperor's son rebuked over frequency of visits to his parents.GuardianSumo stable master charged over death of 17-year-old apprentice.BBCDefying immigration, Japan looks increasingly to a robot-led future.Washington PostSouth Korea's new President Lee Myung Bak called for better relations with former colonial ruler Japan.Japan TimesJapanese F1 team Super Aguri insists they will make the grid when the Grand Prix season starts on March 16 in Australia.BBCEx-Chunichi Dragons' stay Kosuke Fukudome is fitting in just fine with the Chicago Cubs.Yahoo! SportsNew Asian drivers, Japan, Korea and the lessons of history.Japan FocusTokyo Metropolitan government to crack down on steamy sex photos.MainichiLast week's Japan newsJapan StatisticsTokyo land prices jumped a record 12.4% in the twelve months between July 2006 and July 2007.Over 3 tons of kangaroo meat is consumed in Tokyo per year, increasingly popular for ...
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Links for 2008-03-01 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-02 07:00:00
Beijing International Airport Terminal 3 :: Beijing Visitor
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Central Post Offices In Japan
2008-03-01 04:52:00
?????Japan ese central post offices are a real life-saver if you need to post something out of normal office hours. Central post offices are open longer than local post offices and at weekends.Central post offices in big cities such as Tokyo , Nagoya and Kyoto are usually located near the main railway station.For example Nagoya central post office at Nagoya Station is open Monday-Friday 9am-7pm, Saturday 9am-5pm and Sunday 9am-12.30pm. Outside those hours an emergency 24 window is available until the post office reopens fully the next day.Tokyo central post office located at Tokyo Station's Marunouchi Exit is open even longer, Monday-Friday 9am-9pm, Saturday 9am-7pm and Sunday 9am-7pm. Kyoto central post office to your left as you leave the main exit at Kyoto Station has the same hours as Tokyo.District post offices, one per ward (ku), also maintain an after hours window for emergency posting. For example, my district post office in Tenpaku ward in Nagoya is open Monday-Friday 9am-7p...
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Classifying When You Count in Japanese
2008-02-29 04:45:00
???????Count ing in Japanese is tricky enough as it is.Making things even worse (or more fun?) is that you will need to alter the classifier depending upon what you count.In English, there are "pods" and "prides" that indicate that you are counting or talking about whales and lions. In daily life, though, one is generally spared having to know this. Not so in Japanese.This blog will go over just several of the more common ways of classifying what is being counted.Counting people, for example, you use "nin" ???. Naturally, though, there are exceptions to this rule:One person = "hitori" (???Two people= "futari" ????Three people="san nin" ????When counting non-human creatures, "hiki" ???is used. One cat/dog/insect/fish becomes: "ippiki" ????. Two are "ni hiki" ????.Books and magazines use "satsu" ???. One book or magazine is: "issatsu" ????. Two are "nisatsu" ????.For shoes and socks, one needs "soku" ???. One pair of socks = "kutsushita issoku" ??????.For flat shapes, "mai" ???is what...
More About: Kyoto

Chubu International Airport Shopping
2008-02-28 03:45:00
??????Chubu International Airport or Centrair is Japan's third largest airport after Tokyo's Narita Airport and Kansai International Airport near Osaka.Located on a man-made island off the west coast of the Chita Peninsula to the south of Nagoya , Centrair is only 25 minutes away from Kanayama Station and 30 minutes from Nagoya Station by express train.Centrair is yet to take off as a real Asian hub but if you do find yourself waiting for a flight or an onward connection be sure to visit the Sky Town shopping and dining center on the 4th floor of the airport.Unlike shopping at Narita, Centrair has not really gone down the international brand name route and its shops and restaurants are meant to represent the best of the Chubu area of central Japan.As you ascend the escalator to Sky Town, on your left is a recreation of a number of Meiji-era buildings - Renga Dori (Brick Road) - housing up-market shops, restaurants and cafes. To your right is the faux Edo-Period Chochin Yokocho (Lan...
More About: Shopping , Kyushu

Links for 2008-02-26 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-27 07:00:00
Shanghai Travel & Hotel Guide :: Beijing Visitor Shanghai guide
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Ichibata Yakushi Temple
2008-02-27 06:48:00
????, ???Last weekend we took a trip up into the mountains to visit Ichibata Yakushi Temple in Shimane Prefecture. Heavy snowfall deterred all the other tourists, so we had the place to ourselves.Many temples and shrines in Japan become associated with particular benefits, Tenmangu shrines for success with exams, shrines and temples for blessings for cars, Izumo Taisha shrines for finding marriage partners, etc.Ichibata Yakushi Temple, perched on a mountaintop in Shimane Prefecture is the equivalent of a Japanese "Lourdes" for those with any kind of eye complaint, with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims making their way there everyyear.The temple was founded in 894, and was built around a statue of Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of medicine and healing.A local fisherman found the sculpture of Yakushi washed up on a local beach. The current along the Shimane coast comes from Korea, so this is the probable source of the statue.He took it home and prayed fervently in front of it, and many m...
More About: Buddhism

Kyoto Tower
2008-02-26 07:47:00
?????Tower ing above nearby buildings, Kyoto Tower is a striking landmark that over the years has become something of a tourist attraction in the ancient capital. It is just north of Kyoto Station, and because of restrictions on building height in Kyoto, it dominates the skyline in a way that towers in other cities could only dream of.Built in 1964 in tandem with the Olympic Games held in Tokyo that year, it was opposed by the majority of Kyotoites. The city government however forced through its construction in the name of appearing "modern."For younger residents of Kyoto, it is just one part of the modern cityscape; for older people, and many foreigners, it remains a symbol of a construction industry gone wild--and terrible taste. Noted critic Alex Kerr famously called it a "stake through the heart of the city."The Tower is built on the roof of a building--the Kyoto Tower Hotel--in front of the Station building. The first floor of that building has a gift shop which swarms with juni...

Inokashira Park & Zoo
2008-02-25 15:12:00
?????????-less than 20 minutes from Shinjuku or Shibuya-a venerable old Tokyo park founded in 1918-the first Imperial gift of its kind to the nation-has a zoo and aquarium-popular cherry-blossom park in spring-famous for its temple to Benzaiten, goddess of loveInokashira Park is a venerable old park straddling Musashino and Mitaka cities in western Tokyo. A little rough around the edges, it is nevertheless elegant in atmosphere, in full working order, and freer and more laid back than many other more kempt Tokyo parks.More than just a place to enjoy nature, Inokashira Park, especially on the weekend, is a gathering place for casual musicians, artists, and street performers, sharing their creativity with other visitors - an alternative vibe not found so readily inside Tokyo's 23 wards.Inokashira Park was bestowed as gift from the Imperial family in 1918 - the first such park in Japan. It is dominated by an elongated, tree-lined lake, fed by the Kanda River, on which you can paddle a...

Japan This Week 2/24/08
2008-02-24 00:47:00
?????Japan ese whaling town divided by reports of mercury taint.NY TimesMan dons girl's school uniform, enters a school, and gets arrested for trespassing.GuardianAnother US serviceman accused of rape in Okinawa.BBCTokyo-based New National Theatre Ballet debuts at the Kennedy Center.Washington PostMaritime Self Defense Forces head to get the axe over Aegis collision with fishing vessel.Japan TimesJapan launches communications satellite into space.BBCThe life and times of Bob Sapp, Japan idol.Yahoo! SportsSpecial service in a Nagoya sex shop.MainichiLast week's Japan newsJapan StatisticsPhotochemical oxidant pollutants broke a record in 2007. Warning days, on which the pollutants exceeded safety standards, were issued in 28 prefectures last year, and on 220 days in Tokyo. The prime suspect is Chinese industry.Source: The Daily YomiuriBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan Japan News Japan Statistics sex politics
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Kinosaki Onsen (hot spring)
2008-02-23 03:33:00
????Located near the Sea of Japan in Hyogo Prefecture, Kinosaki is a quaint town with many public baths and onsen, or hot springs. The economy of the town is devoted almost entirely to hot spring tourism and crab, which is a local delicacy.Bathing in hot springs in the area dates back 1400 years.The resort town of Kinosaki has many ryokan (Japanese inns) and seven public baths. These draw in crowds primarily from Osaka and Kyoto , from which express trains arrive frequently.Exiting the train station, the main street is a jumble of restaurants, antique shops, and fish stalls that sell freshly caught crab and squid and various types of fish. Crab can range in price from 1500 yen (about $15) per all the way up to 15,000 yen depending upon the size and type.At the end of this street is the Otani River. Willows lean over this small, tree-lined canal that feeds into the Sea of Japan. In front of you is Ichi no Yu (pictured above right), a massive public bath that features a "Cave Bath." Tu...
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Links for 2008-02-21 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-22 07:00:00
Guizhou Travel Guide :: Beijing Visitor
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Narita Airport Shopping
2008-02-21 19:25:00
????????Narita Airport , in Chiba Prefecture, is Japan's largest airport and the main international airport serving the Tokyo and Kanto area.Narita, or to give the airport its full name, New Tokyo International Airport, also serves as an important Asian hub, especially for flights coming to and from the west coast of the USA.Also many international flights that originate at other Japanese airports, such as Chubu International Airport, just south of Nagoya, fly to their destinations in Europe and the US via Narita.Chances are then that visitors to Japan or Japan residents will spend some time waiting for a flight at Narita Airport.There's a reasonable, though by no means outstanding, collection of shops, cafes and restaurants to help you pass the time between international flights. Besides the usual range of international brands to choose from, including Prada, Tiffany and Ferragamo, Narita has an interesting Oxygen Bar, where transit passengers can revive themselves, after a long t...
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Hiragana
2008-02-21 03:22:00
????A few weeks ago we looked at katakana (????). Today we are going to focus on the other syllabary (an alphabet of syllables) in the Japan ese written language - hiragana (????).As katakana are square and angular in design, hiragana are more rounded and flowing. Whereas katakana are used mainly to write foreign loan words, hiragana are used for representing the body of Japanese grammar.There are 48 hiragana "kana" which include the vowels (a, i, u, e, o; ?,?,?,?,?), consonants followed by a vowel (?ka, ?ki, ?ku, ?ke, ?ko) and n ?.Hiragana are used for Japanese words for which there are no equivalent Chinese characters (?? kanji), for example particles such as wa ?, some suffixes such as ~san ?? (Mr, Mrs) and verb and adjective inflections. In the present tense of the verb "to go" iku ?? (ku ?) is the inflection, in the past tense of the verb - ikimashita ????? (kimashita ????) is the inflection. Similarly with adjectives: using "beautiful" - utsukushii ??? - as an example (shi ??) ...

Bjork in Tokyo
2008-02-20 05:00:00
????????Bjork was in town last night, playing at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo . I took a taxi there after work and got together with a couple of friends to watch her.The Budokan, with a maximum capacity of 15,000 people, was sold out. Security was not particularly strict going it (I was politely asked if I had a camera), but very high strung once inside (We had the misfortune of sitting right where a security guard was posted, and had to put up with his half-panicked skittering and jitterbugging around for the whole concert as if he'd been put in charge of a busload of football fans.)Bjork was a powerhouse of vocal passion, and her band was an impressive mix of the old and the new, ranging from what looked like a clavichord played by a man who could have been your banker uncle to electronic gadgets that appeared more like Star Trek weaponry (and sounded like it too!) than musical instruments - and manipulated by a guy that looked like a Miami surfer.Bjork was, of course, a massive hi...
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Hyakumanben Flea Market, Kyoto
2008-02-19 06:55:00
百万遍Every month, there are three major flea markets held at Kyoto temples: Hyakumanben on the 15th at Chion-ji, Kobo-san on the 20th at Toji Temple, and Tenjin-san on the 25th at Kita no Tenmangu.Hyakumanben is the smallest of the three but offers a wide variety of handmade jewelry, bags, clothing, and wonderful homemade breads and other food. Chion Temple is located just across the street from Kyoto University on Imadegawa Dori.The temple grounds teems with visitors and bargaining on the non-food items is half of the fun.Pictured above are handmade pouches that can be used for cell phones, a wallet, or more traditional items. Below are beads that can be strung together to create a necklace or bracelet.Most of the prices ranged from 300 - 2,000 yen. The sellers/artists tended to be young creative women, though the woman who sold me a bag of kimchi has clearly seen many years of flea markets.AccessBuses #17 and 206 from Kyoto Station, buses 201, 31, 17, 17 from Shijo Kawaramachi...
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Nagoya Friends 4 year anniversary party 2/23 THIS SATURDAY!!
2008-02-17 23:07:00
Nagoya Friends is holding it's 49th party in Nagoya! 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY AT Date: February 23rd, 2008 (4th Saturday) THIS SATURDAY!!! Time: 18:30 - 21:00 Drinks will be served between 6:30pm-8:45pm. Place: Shooter's Bar (Pola Bldg, 2-9-26 Sakae, Naka-ku (very close to Fushimi Station) Fee: 3000 Yen Dress code: Anything (Casual, etc) Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party! Over 25,000 Yen worth of exciting prize giveaways each month! Discount Travel Vouchers from JST Travel in Sakae!! A brand new iPod Shuffle! more prizes to be announced! There will be free food along with free drinks (beers, wine, cocktail drinks and juices). Our party is not a dinner party, but we will have light food & snacks. Quantities are limited, so please come early! Please free to come alone or bring your frie...
More About: Japan , Party , Anniversary , Tokyo

Japan This Week 2/17/08
2008-02-17 15:28:00
?????Baseball star Kosuke Fukudome prepares for Major League ball and the Chicago Cubs.NY TimesCherries from heaven.GuardianJapan ese politicians propose an 80-mile "peace tunnel" to Korea.GuardianObama in Fukui Prefecture is milking its connection with the US Presidential candidate of the same name.GuardianMarine under investigation for rape in Okinawa. The victim was a 14-year-old girl.Daily YomiuriBedroom advice for Hiroshi.Mainichi ShinbunSarin killer to get death penalty.Japan TimesBanned pesticide "still used" in China.Asahi.comLast week's Japan newsJapan Statistics Percentage of population over 65 in the year 2000:Japan: 17.2EU: 14.7USA: 12.3Russia: 12.3China: 6.8India: 4.6Source: The Daily YomiuriPercentage of population over 65 in the year 2050:Japan: 37.7EU: 27.6Russia: 23.8China: 23.7USA: 21.0India: 14.5Source: The Daily YomiuriBreakdown of Yakuza (organized crime) members in Japan:Full time: 40,900Part-time: 43,300The Yamaguchi-gumi (Kobe), Sumiyoshi-kai (Tokyo), and Inag...
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Fukutoku Inari Jinja
2008-02-16 02:06:00
??????Sitting on the hillside on the western edge of Honshu, Fukutoku Inari, also known as Inunaki no Oinari, commands fine views over the ocean in the direction of China (where Inari most probably originated).We were fortunate to be there not long after dawn as the sun rose above the mountain behind the shrine and treated us to a fiery display.Built in 1971, the buildings are in virtually pristine condition, with the obligatory vermillion dominating. Like most Inari shrines there is a "tunnel" of?vermillion Torii, though unusually this tunnel does not lead to the shrine, rather from the shrine to a bluff overlooking the sea.The shrine is located just off Route 191 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, a little north of Shimonoseki , in the village of Toyoura.Yahoo Japan Auction ServiceBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsTokyo Serviced ApartmentsBudget accommodation in JapanHappi CoatsJapanese For Busy PeopleTagsJapan Shimonoseki Yamaguchi Shrine torii

Japanese language: using "wa"
2008-02-15 05:29:00
???????In Japan ese grammar, the article wa (along with ga, which we?ll look at another time) is the most basic element of a Japanese sentence. At first glance it resembles the ?be? or ?do? verb in English, but treating it as such will lead to mistakes.Wa indicates the main topic of a sentence and is closest in meaning to the English ?as for,? or the colon. Thus ?Okaasan wa nete imasu? (Mom is asleep) can be broken down as follows: Okaasan (mom) + wa = ?as for mom,? and ?nete imasu? = ?asleep?. In other words, ?As for mom: asleep?. It just so happens that in this example ?wa? correlates perfectly with ?is,? but, as I just mentioned, this is by no means always the case.Take the following example:Tokyo wa wakarimasen. (wakarimasen = ?not know? or ?not understand?). If you think of ?wa? as ?is? or ?do,? this sentence seems nonsensical, or at least whimsical. ?Tokyo doesn?t know/understand? doesn?t make sense (unless we are using Tokyo as an abbreviation for, say, ?the Tokyo branch? ? bu...
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JR Kisuki Line
2008-02-13 16:06:00
???Japanese Rural rail lines. Part 1 JR Kisuki Line For getting from A to B quickly and conveniently, Japan's Shinkansen and Express rail networks are second to none, albeit at a hefty price, but for those who actually enjoy traveling, for those who feel that the journey is at least as important as the destination, Japan's rural rail lines have much to offer.The trains travel at slow speed, allowing you the pleasure of taking in some wonderful scenery, and your fellow passengers are more likely to engage in conversation with you than on the commuter trains. The intimacy extends even further, as the trains literally pass through people's back yards, again affording glimpses of life quite different to that of the cities.Most of the rural lines are single track, and usually single carriage trains, and the downside is that they don't run very often, but with some judicious planning it's possible to spend days, or weeks, leisurely criss-crossing a less visited Japan in comfort.One su...
More About: Train , Shimane , Hiroshima

Breed!
2008-02-13 04:18:00
????????The rate of increase in Japan's population has been in steady decline since the 1980s. The birthrate per mother is the lowest in the world at 1.29 children, and the numbers of young people are falling every year. Over-65s now account for almost 21% of the population, compared to just under 14% for under-15 year olds.In January 2007, then Health Minister, Hakuo Yanagisawa, created a furore when, in addressing the problem of the falling birthrate, he referred to the nation's women of childbearing age as "baby-making machines" and "baby making devices."But it seems that not only politicians are concerned about the future of the population. Here in a neighborhood of Tokyo 's Nakano ward is no less than a hairdressing salon that urges passersby to "BREED"!But is it politically motivated? There is, to be sure, quite an intimate element in the act of giving and getting a haircut, but Tokyo has plenty of other places that cater to overtly carnal needs, for breeders or non-breeders...
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Kyoto's Nijo Station
2008-02-11 14:52:00
Japan Railway (JR)'s Nijo Station is two stops from Kyoto Station on the Saiin Line, which heads west out of the city towards rural Kyoto Prefecture. It is a short walk from here to Nijo Castle.The Station was rebuilt in 1996 when the tracks were elevated. It now is best known for its distinctive hat-like roof.The former station building is still intact and can be seen just down line at the the Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum, which was opened in 1972 to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of railway operation in Japan. The former station house was built in 1904 and is a Meiji Period wooden structure that is warm and cozy--everything in other words the new building is not.What the new building may lack in coziness, however, it makes up in scale. The sloping roof moreover evokes an ancient straw Japanese hat.Both the JR line and the Tozai subway line stop here. The JR line is convenient for Kyoto Station and points west, including Arashiyama. The subway runs under the northern e...
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Japan This Week 2/10/08
2008-02-10 01:58:00
?????China and Japan agree to work on poisoned dumplings issue.People's Daily OnlinePackaging the cause of poisoning?Mainichi ShinbunSumo stable boss arrested over murder.GuardianAfter medical mishap resulting in death, female physician and nurse get it on--and eventually begin servicing male patients.Mainichi ShinbunJapan's "research whaling" facing domestic problems: slow sales.Asahi.comAustralia releases Japanese whaling photos.BBCJapanese paper aeroplanes to fly in space.BBC"Japan passing" - Japan set for long, slow economic declne.Washington Post66-year-old to make come back at Beijing Olympics.BBCLast week's Japan newsJapan StatisticsLegal professionals per 1,000 people:US: 327Britain: 223Germany: 204France: 86Japan: 21Source: The Daily YomiuriWind powered electricity (rank, as measured by 10,000 kilowatts):Germany: 2,062 (1)Spain: 1,162 (2)US: 1,160 (3)India: 627 (4)Japan: 139 (13)Source: Asahi ShinbunSolar powered electricity (rank, as measured by 10,000 kilowatts):German...
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Japan in Small Town America
2008-02-09 07:37:00
?????, ?????Even in the smallest of small-town America , Corvallis, Oregon (population 53,900), Japan has a presence, it seems.I was surprised to discover not one but two Japanese-themed restaurants and an aikido center.Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar250 SW Third St. (3rd & Jefferson)Corvallis, OR 97333Tel: 541 754 7508Ki Aikido 115 NW 2nd StCorvallis, OR 97330Tel: 541 757 2746oregonki.orgAomatsu Japanese Restaurant122 NW 3rd St, CorvallisTel: 541 752 1410Yahoo Japan Auction ServiceBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsTokyo Serviced ApartmentsBudget accommodation in JapanHappi CoatsJapanese For Busy PeopleTagsJapan Corvallis Oregon aikido USA
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Nagahama Castle
2008-02-08 00:42:00
長浜城、滋賀県Nagahama, a small town on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, is a popular swimming and sailing resort in summer.In winter, Nagahama and its marinas are virtually deserted, but the reconstructed Nagahama Castle is worth a visit if you happen to be in town or are passing through.The original Nagahama Castle was constructed on the orders of the local warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) in the 16th century. Nagahama was Hideyoshi's first fief and he also resided in the castle for certain periods of time. The castle was demolished by the Tokugawa regime in 1615 due to the "one province, one castle" regulation enforced to reduce the power of local feudal magnates (daimyo). Nearby Hikone Castle survived and some of Nagahama Castle's building materials were transported from Nagahama to reinforce Hikone Castle.The current structure was reconstructed in 1983 following the advice of a professor of historical architecture from Tokyo Kogyo University (T...

Kansai Dialect
2008-02-07 15:57:00
???Spoken by roughly 20 million people, Kansai dialect is the standard form of speech in western Japan . This area includes Osaka, Kyoto , Hyogo, Shiga, Wakayama, and Mie Prefectures. It is the main linguistic and cultural counter balance to "hyojungo," or standard Japanese, which is spoken in the Tokyo area of eastern Japan.Kansai dialect is highly influential because of its association with Osaka comedians, Kobe mobsters, and Kyoto geisha--and can be heard frequently on television.The rivalry and tension, linguistic and otherwise, between Tokyo and Osaka is one of the great dramas in Japanese life.The basic difference between the language of Tokyo and, say, Osaka has to do in part with word endings.In Tokyo, "ikanai" ??????equals "I/you/he don't/doesn't go." In the West of Japan, you would say "ikahen" or "ikimahen." In the past tense, too, things are different in Kansai. In Tokyo: "tabenakatta" ????????means "I/you/he didn't eat." Kansai: "tabehenkatta" or "tabenkatta."Another d...
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Matsuo Shrine
2008-02-05 23:00:00
????Matsuo Taisha, sometimes known as Matsunoo, is an interesting ancient shrine on the outskirts of Kyoto that offers a little more to see and do than most of the often visited shrines in the area. It is also less crowded.Located near Arashiyama, it was founded in 701, almost 100 years before the founding of Kyoto. It was founded by the head of the Hata clan, an immigrant clan that ruled the area before the moving of the capital from Nara. The Hata also founded the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine .The Hata were instrumental in bringing Sake brewing techniques from Korea, and the shrine has a deep and long association with sake brewers, who still take water from the sacred well Kame no I, located in the shrine.The shrine grounds are home to 3,000 rose bushes which are in bloom during April and May.About 30 years ago, the famous landscape designer and painter, Mirei Shigemori, built (at great expense) three gardens at the shrine, the Iwakura Garden, in ancient style, the Horai Garden, in ...

Change in Cigarette Vending Machine Law
2008-02-05 01:19:00
????????From March to July this year smart cards will be introduced for use of cigarette vending machines across the country.Smokers will have to apply for an age-verification card to purchase cigarettes from Japan's estimated 520,000 cigarette vending machines.To apply for the new IC smart card, smokers will need to send in a passport size photograph and a copy of a document showing the applicants age, such as a driving license.The application card, which is free of charge, can be obtained from shops selling tobacco, convenience stores or downloaded from the taspo website.The new regulations are a move to cut under-age smoking. People in Japan are legally able to smoke from 20 years of age.Yahoo Japan Auction ServiceBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsTokyo Serviced ApartmentsBudget accommodation in JapanHappi CoatsJapanese For Busy PeopleTagsJapan Smoking Convenience Stores tobacco vending machines
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