Thai Festival in Nagoya’s Hisayaodori Park
May 01, 2018 By Ray Proper
The annual Thai Festival in is an extremely popular early summer event in Nagoya. Held at Hisayaodori Park, rain or shine, you can enjoy a wide selection of Thai Food and Drink from the many vendors. Most of the Thai Restaurants in Nagoya participate, and the food is excellent. You can also...[ Click to read more ]
Tokyo Java: Why Are Indie Coffee Shops Opening All Over The Metropolis?
Apr 26, 2018 By Jason Gatewood
We’ll forgive you for thinking Japan was all about the green tea if you’ve never been here before. Of course we pride ourselves on having over a hundred varieties of o-cha you can drink, and the image of a kimono-clad stern performer of tea ceremony is forever burned into our...[ Click to read more ]
English Language Kagura Performances in Hiroshima
Apr 25, 2018 By Matt Mangham
There are a number of styles of dance and performance around Japan that go by the name of "kagura," but in western Japan the word almost invariably refers to the lively, narrative performances centered on Shimane prefecture’s famous Izumo Shrine. Long popular throughout the Chugoku region (Hiroshima, Shimane, Yamaguchi, Okayama...[ Click to read more ]
Hiroshima Flower Festival 2018
By Matt Mangham
If you’re looking for something to do in Hiroshima over Golden Week, why not consider dropping by the 42nd annual Hiroshima Flower Festival? Each year Hiroshima’s Peace Boulevard is closed to traffic and, for the three days of the festival, is used for parades, dancing, music and food stalls to...[ Click to read more ]
Experience a Firelit Noh Performance at Nara’s Kofukuji Temple
Apr 24, 2018 By Justin Hanus
Traditional Noh performances might occur at temples across Japan, but Nara’s Kofukuji Temple is the original home of the sacred event, and seeing a performance there is a truly unforgettable experience. Noh, which is derived from a Japanese word meaning “talent,” is a coveted musical drama performance that began in...[ Click to read more ]
Mie’s Iga-Uena Ninja Festival, and a History of Shinobi
By Bert Wishart
If you were told that there was an annual, family-oriented festival celebrating some of the most feared mercenary assassins and terrorists that the world has ever seen, you'd probably think it was an idea in quite poor taste. However, the Iga-Uena Ninja Fest is endearingly popular, and quite a lot...[ Click to read more ]
Sanja Matsuri, Tokyo’s Wildest Festival
Apr 20, 2018 By Bert Wishart
Tokyo has many festivals, and particularly as we head towards the summer months they will be coming thick and fast. But none are quite so wild as Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa. The History of Sanja Matsuri On the morning of March 18, 628 CE, so the story goes, two fisherman brothers, Hinokuma...[ Click to read more ]
Thai Festival in Tokyo
Apr 10, 2018 By
The annual Thai Festival in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park is a great place to find excellent Thai food, as well as enjoy a diverse stage schedule including martial arts demonstrations, musicians, dancers, and artists. The festival's main selling point is Thai food and drink, in copious quantities, prepared by virtually every...[ Click to read more ]
Hiroshima’s Onomichi Minato Festival
Mar 26, 2018 By Matt Mangham
Onomichi has long been one of my own family’s favorite day-trip destinations in Hiroshima prefecture. Time after time, this little port city continues to charm, from the slightly down-at-heel shopping arcade stretching along much of the waterfront to the wonderful maze of narrow passages that wind up and down the...[ Click to read more ]
Miyako Odori – Geisha Dancing in Kyoto
By Bert Wishart
The geisha is perhaps one of the most recognizable symbols of Japan, an icon that conjures up images of beauty, grace and a time of pre-industrial Japanese tradition. Perhaps the most famous geisha are the geiko of Kyoto (geisha translates as “person of the arts”, yet the geisha of Kyoto prefer the...[ Click to read more ]
