Kawagoe Hikawa Festival
Sep 25, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
Taking place annually on the 3rd Saturday and Sunday of October, the Kawagoe Festival is the pride of the City of Kawagoe every year and has over 360 years of traditions behind it. The entire "Little Edo" area of town is blocked off to automobile traffic and the Karazukuri Old...[ Click to read more ]
Brick or Treat – Getting Spooky at Legoland this Halloween
By Bert Wishart
Halloween in Japan is an odd time, in that it is mostly aimed at an older demographic. Street parties and nightclubs are boozy affairs, while costume shops almost exclusively trade in sexy fancy dress for women. For those of us coming from the West, where Halloween is predominantly an affair...[ Click to read more ]
Tokyo Ramen Show 2019
Sep 23, 2019 By Admin
Ramen is classic Japanese food. If you ask a random person, foreign or Japanese, male or female, what their favorite food is you are highly likely to get "ramen" back as your answer. Ramen is a noodle soup of wheat noodles served in a meat-based broth. Standard flavors include: Shio or "salt" Tonkotsu or "pork bone"...[ Click to read more ]
Family Friendly Halloween Activities in Tokyo 2019
Sep 11, 2019 By Ray Proper
Once upon a time in Tokyo, celebrating Halloween meant dressing up in a costume and riding the Yamanote Line around the center of town drinking heavily and being unruly. Other than that weirdness, you really couldn't tell October 31st from November 3rd, or any other average day here in Japan. More...[ Click to read more ]
Rokko Island Halloween Harvest Festival in Kobe 2019
Sep 08, 2019 By Justin Hanus
If you’re in the area, you should check out the Rokko Island Halloween and Harvest Festival. This festival is one of the largest in the Hanshin region, and it occurs just across Kobe on Rokko Island at the River Mall. Grab your kids, friends, and family, put your best costumes...[ Click to read more ]
The Nagoya Festival
Sep 05, 2019 By Ray Proper
The Nagoya Festival is held annually on the third Saturday and Sunday of October. The main attraction is a parade, lead by Nagoya’s 3 most famous historical figures and feudal lords; Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, and Ieyasu Tokugawa, of 700 mounted soldiers, foot soldiers, entertainers, and dancers. Besides the parade,...[ Click to read more ]
Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri in Osaka
Aug 29, 2019 By Bert Wishart
With more than 300 years of history, the Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri is the oldest Danjiri Festival in Japan. Such festivals are held right throughout the country, but for most Japanese, if you say 'Danjiri Matsuri' this is the one, with its raucousness and inherent danger, that springs to mind. The...[ Click to read more ]
Tokyo Game Show 2019
Aug 27, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
The Tokyo Game Show is an annual trade show for video game developers held at Makuhari Messe Convention Center just outside Tokyo. First held in 1996, the Tokyo Game Show is among the world’s biggest video game related conferences. It is well attended by big-name game developers to launch new products and display their latest...[ Click to read more ]
Yokogawa: Where Old and New Meet in Hiroshima
Aug 26, 2019 By Hugh Cann
Historically, Yokogawa is the old Shitamachi and before the second world war was Hiroshima's commercial business district. The post-war reconstruction shifted most commercial and retail activity to Naka -ku (ward) area of central Hiroshima. Today, some of the businesses in Yokogawa remain much as they were after the immediate reconstruction....[ Click to read more ]
Meguro Sanma Festival: Thanks for all the (free) fish!
Aug 20, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
It’s no secret that Japan is a seafood lover’s paradise. Everything that swims, crawls or otherwise calls any body of water home can be found on a dinner table here. Of course, the national dish, sushi, is served raw but grilling fish over coals is also part of traditional Japanese...[ Click to read more ]
