Sample Japan’s Finest Beef Vendors at the 2019 Autumn Wagyu Show
Aug 23, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
Japan’s highest quality beef, wagyu, has a world-renown reputation for being some of the savoriest, delicious cuts of meat in the world. The reason for the robust flavor comes from the “marbling” of the meat, a term used to describe how the fat and fibrous parts of the meat intermingle...[ 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 ]
Stepping Back in Time at the Arimatsu Float Festival
By Bert Wishart
Sometimes when you visit festivals, with everyone dressed in their finest kimono or yukata, the street stalls lining the streets, and the local historical curiosities paraded around the town, if you squint just enough, you feel like you are able to capture a small glimpse of how the old Japan...[ Click to read more ]
Going Potty over the Setomono Matsuri
By Bert Wishart
Although Japan has one of the oldest ceramic traditions in the world, with earthenwares being created as early as the Jōmon period (10,000–300 BCE), as a heavily wooded country most domestic utensils in Japan were usually made of either natural or lacquered wood. This all changed when Katō Shirōzaemon, the...[ Click to read more ]
Light up the Beach at the Enoshima Toro Lantern Festival
Jul 26, 2019 By Jason Gatewood
The area to the southwest of Tokyo proper located in Kanagawa Prefecture called Shonan, is known for being a longtime beach playground for anyone into the summer beach scene in Japan, and a local getaway spot for those of us living in Greater Tokyo whenever the stifling heat of summer...[ Click to read more ]
Asakusa Samba Carnival in Tokyo
By Ray Proper
If you are looking for a lively and colorful way to draw your summer to a close there is no better option than the annual Asakusa Samba Carnival. This carnival is the largest Samba dance-related event in Japan, and it draws crowds of over 500,000 to view the spectacle of...[ Click to read more ]
Sansa Odori : THE Summer Festival of Morioka
Jul 16, 2019 By Jade Brischke
Mention the name, ‘Sansa,’ and many people will inevitably think of the character Sansa Stark from, ‘Game of Thrones.’ The word, ‘Sansa,’ in Morioka, however, is all about dancing and the annual festival. The Morioka Sansa Odori Festival is held every summer in August from 1-4 and is one of the...[ Click to read more ]
Gero’s Ryujin Fire Festival in Gifu
Jul 15, 2019 By Bert Wishart
While sitting in your air-conditioned room, sheltering from the humidity outside, perhaps the last thing that you would be thinking of doing is sinking into a nice hot bath. It seems somewhat counterproductive, doesn't it? However, here in Japan, there is a train of thought that says that it the...[ Click to read more ]
Understanding Japan: The Tanabata “Star Festival”
Jul 08, 2019 By Bert Wishart
Tanabata, also known as the 'Star Festival', is a popular summer event celebrated all over Japan. As the festival's name suggests (literally 'Evening of the Seventh'), it is held on the seventh day of the seventh month, and depending on where in the country you are, this can follow either...[ Click to read more ]
Great Japan Beer Festival Nagoya
Jul 03, 2019 By Admin
When I first arrived in Japan, I was somewhat disappointed by the perceived paucity of decent beer selections. It seemed that no matter where I went I could find nothing more on draft than the near-identical brews of the ‘big 3’: Sapporo, Kirin, and Asahi. While these can be refreshing...[ Click to read more ]
