Getting Hot Under the Collar at Tejikara Fire Festival
Mar 22, 2018 By Bert Wishart
I sometimes worry about the Japanese and their propensity for dangerous festivals. With logs hurtling down hills, submergence in icy water and the violence inherent in the naked festival, it seems quite often that a festival isn't complete without someone getting hurt. I’d like to tell you that the Tejikara Fire Festival...[ Click to read more ]
Sake’ing it to ya, at the Nayabashi Sake Festival in Ngaoya
Feb 26, 2018 By Bert Wishart
Forget Asahi, Kirin or Strong Zero, there can be no doubt that the national drink of Japan is sake. ‘Nihonshu’, to give it its proper title (with ‘sake’ being a term to cover all alcoholic drinks), has been the main tipple of choice in these parts since the Nara period (710 to 794),...[ Click to read more ]
Oagata Shrine Fertility Festival, Celebrating the Power of Femininity
By Bert Wishart
If you have spent any time in Nagoya or its surrounds, then it is a good chance that you have heard of the Hōnen Matsuri harvest festival at Komaki. You, know that one. The one with the huge phallus that gets paraded around the city streets and everyone goes a...[ Click to read more ]
Sample Food From All 47 Prefectures Of Japan in Tokyo!
Feb 21, 2018 By Jason Gatewood
It’s impossible. Even in my almost 2 decades of traveling all over Japan, I have yet to hit the magic number 47, the number of prefectures that make up Japan. This means there’s forty-seven different regions that proclaim to be home to the best beauty, culture, and nature representing Japan....[ Click to read more ]
Komaki Air Base Open Base
Feb 20, 2018 By
Do you know how it feels to perform death defying stunts in the air, to have the power of some of the world's most sophisticated artillery at your finger tips, to have the wind rushing through your hair? Well the brave men and women of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force...[ Click to read more ]
Tondo Festivals in Hiroshima 2017
Dec 22, 2017 By Matt Mangham
Across Hiroshima Prefecture, early to mid-January involves one final, festive bit of housekeeping with regard to the year just passed. Part of ‘Koshagatsu,’ which marks the traditional lunar new year, it’s called the Tondo festival. In public parks, school grounds and shrine courtyards, people gather around towering bonfires of bamboo,...[ Click to read more ]
Chinese New year Festival Nagoya 2018
Dec 20, 2017 By Bert Wishart
Although Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1873, celebration of the Chinese year is still an important cultural event in the country. This year (2018) the Chinese New Year falls on February 16, however Nagoya wants to get in on the fun a little bit early. Chinese New Year Festival...[ Click to read more ]
Whisky Lovers Nagoya
Nov 22, 2017 By Admin
Recently, whisky is much more popular here in Japan than it was a decade ago. The TV drama “Massan” (story of Nikka whisky) is perhaps the key to this whisky boom, and the reason why there are now so many whisky events in Japan... but not Nagoya. (Mostly Tokyo, Osaka and...[ Click to read more ]
Nagoya’s German Market
Nov 21, 2017 By Bert Wishart
With its strawberries on cakes, love hotels and KFC, Japan gives Christmas a good try, but it doesn't quite come out right. What we need at this time of year is some real, good old fashioned tradition, and nothing quite screams 'IIIIIIIIIT'S CHRRIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAS' like handmade wooden toys, excited children and...[ Click to read more ]
Koyo, or Fall Colors in Japan
Oct 15, 2017 By Ray Proper
[caption id="attachment_851" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Korankei Gorge near Toyota City, Aichi[/caption] Viewing the changing colors of fall leaves or foliage, called koyo in Japanese, is autumn's answer to spring's more famous cherry blossom viewing; a traditional opportunity to get outdoors to live in the moment of the season and reflect on the impermanence of it all....[ Click to read more ]
