2k540: There’s more to Akihabara than nerds and maids
January 15, 2012 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Today
by Tim Hornyak
After about an hour in Akihabara, it always hits me. My senses get saturated with the saucer-eyed anime girls, maid café touts and plastic figurines, and it’s time to split. Tokyo’s electronics shopping district is always fascinating but the AKB48 overload can pull you down like a Vegas hangover.
It was a welcome surprise, then, to find a retail experience that’s worlds away from Akiba, yet just off its northern fringe.
After dropping in at my favorite robot shop Technologia, past the UDX Building, I stumbled upon a gem of a mall tucked under the JR train tracks.
Urban renewal
Akihabara, but not as we know it, at the entrance to 2k540.
Opened about a year ago, 2k540 Aki-Oka Artisan is positively futuristic compared to the dowdy surrounds of Ueno 5-chome. I entered a long tunnel of thick white columns sprouting from fresh asphalt, with small white shops stretching into the distance.
Journeys to the edge: Tourism in Fukushima makes more sense now
October 26, 2011 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Today
Iwaki
City is a cluster of exurban hamlets about 200 kilometers north and east of
Tokyo, on the coastal Hamadori region of Fukushima Prefecture.
A
few years ago I rang for a taxi from my apartment in Iwaki to the train station
in the middle of town. I forget where I was going, but I do recall with great
clarity the conversation I had with the cab driver.
It
was a windy day. From my veranda I could see the metal marquees of the
neighborhood shops flailing in the wind. Power lines and traffic signals, too,
swung wildly in the breeze. From above, I saw the taxi park in front of the red
brick walk-up, a placed called Maison Kuramae, that I called home.
Gianni Simone: Never mind tourism, does Japan need more immigration?
September 11, 2011 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Today
Open a Tokyo newspaper most any day and you’ll find a story about a very
real crisis facing Japan that threatens a disaster of Biblical proportions in the
next few decades.
The country’s population is shrinking and getting old at alarming speed –
the so-called “graying” of a nation.
The National Institute of Population and Social Security
Research estimates that if this trend continues, the total population will dip below
100 million in 2046, causing grave problems for the labor and
consumer
markets, while increasing the burden on social security, medical services
and pensions.
Tequila: More than the drink of mere champs
July 28, 2011 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Today
Japan has 120 tequila sommeliers. Don’t snicker — it’s a
proper thing. If you can be qualified in fermented grape, why not distilled
agave?
The Japan Tequila Association began offering the titles in
January. To procure one, you’ll have to down 12 shots in three minutes using
only your lips, then play the song “Tequila” by The Champs on a five-string
vihuela.
No, you won’t. You’ll be quizzed on the drink’s history and
production, cocktail recipes, food matching, regional characteristics and the
stories and traits of various distilleries.
You’ll then blind taste a tequila and guess its provenance,
style and brand.
David McNeill: Why I love Japan even more since the earthquake
April 6, 2011 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Today
A week into Japan’s crisis, when many of my spooked friends had
already decamped west, south or abroad, I urged my pregnant partner Nanako to leave
Tokyo for the apparent safety of Kansai. She wasn’t happy and
for good reason: I was staying behind, her parents were in Tokyo and she knew
nobody in Osaka.
Two days before, my sister and boyfriend had cut short a holiday
in Japan and decamped to Hong Kong after a painful haranguing from my mother in
Ireland.
Before Nanako and I left for Shinagawa Station there was another
strong earthquake, a report on the radio about potentially catastrophic
radiation from the Fukushima plant and a warning by the Irish Embassy in Tokyo that pregnant women should avoid the capital.
Tasty new Mercedes Benz chocolate car is more than just a Valentine’s Day treat
February 4, 2011 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Today
Q-Pot(ty) designer Tadaaki Wakamatsu has come up with his zaniest and tastiest chocolate treat yet — a chocolate car.
Q-Pot already offers chocolate-themed jewelry, handbags, phone cases and even eyeglasses (not to mention the store itself), but parked outside their Mitsukoshi store in Ginza is their latest collaboration with Mercedes-Benz.
The Valentine’s Day-themed Smart Car is actually on sale for ¥2,360,000 ($ 28,780), with orders being taken until March 13, the day before White Day.
Valentine’s Day in Japan puts the expectation on the women to give chocolates and gifts to the men, with the men expected to return favor on White Day, March 14.
Worry no more — the Japanese toilet experience has gone portable
January 3, 2011 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Today
Lending new meaning to the term “bum rush,” Japanese toliet maker Toto has developed a gadget for travelers who can’t live without their water-spray toilet while away from home.
Costing ¥7,980 and weighing 249 grams — the typical Japanese phone weighs about 245 grams — the new Travel Washlet is designed for easy-carrying.
The handheld Travel Washlet was recently tested out on Fuji TV by locals and travelers in Asakusa.
Most were preplexed — only one in three Japanese correctly guessed how to use it.
One tourist on Fuji TV reported that the Washlet was “not something our society would use.” Several young men from Australia who gave it a test spray, however, seemed quite pleased with the results.
Learn Japanese – Master MORE Basic Greetings in Japanese
October 18, 2010 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Travel Videos
www.japanesepod101.com Do you know what to say when you see someone you know in Japan first thing in the morning? What about right before going to bed? After watching this video, you will. This video teaches you the proper way to greet people any time of the day in Japanese! If you plan on going to Japan, you can must watch this this lesson! To see the previous video, go to www.youtube.com If you learned a lot with this video, stop by our Japanese language learning website and get other language learning content including other great videos like this one, audio podcasts, review materials, blogs, iPhone applications, and more. www.japanesepod101.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5
برنامج عن القطارات في اليابان en.wikipedia.org www.japan-guide.com bit.ly
Video Rating: 0 / 5
More Adventures in Japan
October 10, 2010 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Travel Videos
Another segment in my adventures. In this, we travel to a jap-tex-mex resturant with terrible food, play with tiny deer in myajima, and frolic in waterfalls. Lovly times.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Shinkiba Studio Coast, Tokyo, Japan 11.11.2006
Hanazono in Niseko has so much more on offer for powder buffs
October 6, 2010 by JapanGuide
Filed under Japan Travel Videos
www.skihanazono.com Start your day at Hanazono and experience some of the best resort facilities Japan has to offer. The New 308 Day Center has proven to be an outstanding success and continues to attract the crowds everyday. Hanazonos North East aspect delivers an abundance of dry powder and provides access to the massive off piste back country areas.The Hanazono basin provides Niseko’s best equipped learning area, world class terrain park / half pipe and plenty of activities at its Adventure Park for the thrill seekers.
