Japan - Maiko

Maiko is an apprentice geiko. Their jobs are performing song, dance, and shamisen (three-stringed Japanese instrument) to visitors at a feast. Maiko are from 15 years old to 20 years old, and they can be geiko after learning how to dance (a kind of Japanese traditional dance), play the shamisen, and they also learn Kyō-kotoba (dialect of Kyoto), regardless of where they are from.

Japan - Tokyo - Ginza

The Ginza is Tokyo's most famous upmarket shopping, dining and entertainment district, featuring numerous department stores, boutiques, art galleries, restaurants, night clubs and cafes.

One square meter of land in the district's center is worth more than ten million yen (more than 100,000 US dollars), making it one of the most expensive real estate in Japan. It is where you can find the infamous $10 cups of coffee and where virtually every leading brand name in fashion and cosmetics has a presence.

From 1612 to 1800, today's Ginza district was the site of a silver coin mint (Japanese: ginza), after which the district was eventually named. The Ginza evolved as an upmarket shopping district following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.

Japan - Himeji Castle

The castle at Himeji is an iconic image of Japan and one of the finest examples of fortress architecture in the world. It stands at the center of Himeji city, a strategic point along the route to the western provinces of Honshu (the main island of Japan). The castle was built atop a natural 45-meter hill called Himeyama, and its main donjon (tower) rises an additional 31 meters. From afar, the graceful roof lines of its white towers resemble a flock of herons in flight, suggesting the castle's proper name--"Egret Castle" (Shirasagi).

The buildings of Himeji Castle maintain the historical composition of an early 17th century castle complex, and their design is of outstanding artistic value. Most of the more than 80 buildings including the donjon (the Dai-Tenshu) complex were constructed between 1601 and 1609. Because of its elegant appearance unified by the white plastered earthen walls, the castle is admiringly called "Shirasagi-jo" (White Heron Castle). The entire castle structure was repaired over a period of 30 years between 1934 and 1964. In 1993, the Castle was registered on UNESCO's World Heritage list.

The castle grounds are divided into an inner walled zone and a outer walled zone surrounded by a double moat. The donjon complex which forms the nucleus of the castle is situated at the highest location in the center of the inner walled zone. Surrounding the donjon and the three smaller keeps are structures used as watchtowers, gate buildings and plastered earthen walls all positioned according to strategic defensive planning considerations. The majestic donjon has five projecting roofs on the exterior, but actually has six interior stories plus one basement.

For nearly 400 years, Himeji Castle has survived occasional disasters, such as typhoons and earthquakes. During the Great Hanshin Earthquake in January 1995 which substantially affected the city of Himeji, some plaster peeled off the corridor wall and some of the roof tiles of the fortified earthen walls fell down, but the donjon survived almost unscathed. Even the bottle of sake placed on the altar of the shrine at the top of the donjon remained in place. This quake-resistance of the seventeenth-century wooden buildings is remarkable.

Japan - Asakusa - Kaminarimon

The Kaminarimon ("Thunder Gate") is the outer of two large entrance gates that ultimately leads to the Sensō-ji (an ancient Buddhist temple) in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan.

The Kaminarimon was first built in 942 by Taira no Kinmasa. It was originally located near Komagata, but it was reconstructed in its current location in 1635. This is believed to be when the statues of Raijin and Fūjin were first placed on the gate. The gate has been destroyed many times throughout the ages. Four years after its relocation, the Kaminarimon burned down, and in 1649 Tokugawa Iemitsu rebuilt the gate along with several other of the major structures in the temple complex. The Kaminarimon's current structure dates from 1960.

Japan - Kyoto - Gion Festival

It is said that the summer of Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, begins with the Gion Matsuri. It's an annual festival of Yasaka Shrine which begins July 1 and continues through July 31 every year. During this period, a series of Shinto rituals and various events take place at Yasaka Shrine and others locations in Kyoto-city.

The Gion Matsuri was started in 869 A.D when a bad plague spread in Kyoto. In the first festival, young men carried numbers of wooden floats as a divine intervention to stop the plague. The plague soon ended, and this event became a popular festival. The current form of the decorated floats appeared in the festival during the Edo period.

The highlights of the Gion Matsuri are Yoi-yama (the night before Yamahoko-junko) on the 16th and Yamahoko-junko on the 17th. Thirty two gorgeous yama-hoko floats are displayed from July 14-16, and main streets become pedestrian zones in the evening. During Yoi-yama, some houses on the Muromachi-dori and Shinmachi-dori streets open their doors to show treasured old folding screens. Festival vendors line the streets and traditional Japanese festival music (matsuri-bayashi) is played all over.

Yamahoko-junko is the procession of colorful floats through downtown Kyoto. The floats are pulled through the streets by teams of men dressed in traditional costumes. Each of the large floats carries musicians. The floats are decorated with tapestries or fabrics from Nishijin, Kyoto. Many of them were imported from India, Belgium, Persia, Turkey and other countries in the 15th century. The procession usually starts around 9 a.m. from the Shijo-Karasuma.

Kyoto is taken back in time during the Gion Matsuri festival. At this time, you see many street vendors and people wear traditional Japanese outfits.

Japan - wonderful landscape

The story of Urashimatarou

Along time ago, there was a man named Urashimatarou. He was a fisherman.
One day,he went to the sea to work. There were some children on the beach,
so he looked at them to see what they were doing. He was really surprised
because they were bullying turtle, so he saved the turtle from them.
The turtle said,"Thank you very much. I would like to repay you,
so would you like to ride on my back?"
Urashimatarou accepted but he wondered where they would go.
The turtle went into the sea where there was a beautiful palace and a lot of fish.
He asked the turtle,"What is that palace?"
Then the turtle said,
"That is Ryugu-Palace. The god of the sea lives there."
When they entered the palace,
the god was there and he said,
"Thank you. really thank you for your kindness. Will you have dinner with us?"
The god of the sea provided Urashimatarou with entertainment and good food.
So he had a great time there in the Ryugu Palace.

After three days, he told the god,
"Thank you. I enjoyed my self very much but I must go back to home so good-bye."
The god said,
"Oh, I will be sad, Urashimatarou. But alright, I will give you a magic box here.
It is a present. If you want something, ask this box and you will get it.
but you must never open this box, never promise."
Urashimatarou said good-bye to the sea god and he came back to the beach.

When he arrived the beach, he wondered because he had never seen that beach.
"Where am I?" he said to himself.
He kept wondering what was going on there. He was interested the magic box.
"I want money.", he said to the box. And he got a lot of money,
so he was happy and he asked the box for more money.
Then he thought about what was in the box.
He opened the box and it gave up smoke as he became an old man.
He wondered again.And then he understood.
While he enjoyed him self in the sea about a hundred years had passed in the world.
Then the box disappeared.

Japan – Hirosaki Castle

The Hirosaki was built between the two rivers of Iwaki and Tsuchibuchi with the first on its west and the latter on its east. This hirayamajiro is on the edge of a plateau of Mount Kudoji.
The planning of the building of the castle was done by Tamenobu, but the actual building started two generations later with Nobuhira. After two years, the castle was complete. This castle was owned by the Tsugarus daimyo family from 1610 to the end of the Edo Period. In 1611, its five level tenshu was finished, but was destroyed by lightning in 1627.
In 1810, a three-story tenshu was built in the southeast area of the castle grounds and has remained until today. This tenshu is on top of the inner moat with its stone wall acting as an defensive enclosure.
The Hirosaki is now famous for its thousands of cherry trees spread throughout its castle grounds. During its blooming season, a great number of tourists and people of the city come to see the beautiful trees. At that time of year, the castle displays it greatest treasure for all to see.

Japan – Yamadera – Mountain Temple

Yamadera (Mountain Temple) is one of the most popular tourist locations in Yamagata Prefecture.

In ancient Japan it was believed that huge rock faces such as those at Yamadera, represented the boundary between this world and the next. It is said that the Buddhist Priest Jikaku Daishi Ennin began cutting away at the rocks in 860ad to build the Konponchudo – the main temple building of Yamadera. This building – reconstructed in 1356, houses an 800 year old wooden Buddhist image and the ‘Flame of belief’ which has been burning constantly at Yamadera for over 1000 years.

The Konponchudo is the first building one passes on the 1100 step climb to the Oku-no-in, the uppermost of the 40 temple buildings. The stone steps wind their way through the trees and rocks and pass through the large wooden ‘ni-o-mon’ gate around halfway. Shortly after the gate, the path divides in two, the left route leading to a lookout platform commanding spectacular views of the valley below. The path straight ahead leads to the Oku-no-in.

Japan - Tokyo

Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. It is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (Tokyo-fu) and the city of Tokyo. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family.

Tokyo was described by Saskia Sassen as one of the three "command centers" for the world economy, along with New York City and London. This city is considered an alpha+ world city, listed by the GaWC's 2008 inventory and ranked third among global cities by Foreign Policy's 2010 Global Cities Index. In 2009 Tokyo was named the world's most expensive city for expatriate employees, according to the Mercer and Economist Intelligence Unit cost-of-living surveys and named the third Most Liveable City and the World’s Most Livable Megalopolis by the magazine Monocle.

Japan – Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
The tower was built in 1958 by the Takenaka Corporation at a total cost of ¥2.8 billion. Its structure is a freestanding framework inspired by the Eiffel Tower. It has 332.5 meters (13m taller than its model). It is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations.
The tower functions as a radio and television broadcasting antenna support structure and is a tourist destination that houses several different attractions. Visitors can ascend to the main observatory at 150 meters and the special observatory at 250 meters to get a bird’s eye view of Tokyo. Under good weather conditions, Mount Fuji can be seen in the distance. Also, the first floor houses an aquarium (50,000 fish) the third floor a wax museum and an attraction called the Mysterious Walking Zone, and the fourth floor a Trick Art Gallery.
It looks like in the future the tower will only keep its tourist attraction destination. In 2011 Japan is going to ditch analog TV for terrestrial digital broadcasting. The current height of Tokyo Tower is not adequate to cover the region with digital broadcasting which is why the “Tokyo Sky Tree” is being constructed (a tower 634 meters tall that is due to open to the public in 2012).

Japan - Hanami

Hanami literally means “flower viewing”, however, it commonly refers only to cherry blossom viewing. Cherry blossom viewing is easy: Simply enjoy the intensity of the many blossoms by looking at a single tree or a group of trees. From a distance, the trees appear as beautiful clouds, while the beauty of single blossoms can be enjoyed from a close distance.

Japan – Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 m (12,388 ft). Along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku, it is one of Japan’s “Three Holy Mountains” (Sanreizan). An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji is just west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji’s exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.

Mount Fuji is believed to possess a female spirit. There is a myth recounting a story of the measurement of Mount Fuji and Mount Haku by the Buddha Amida. It is said that Haku, a male mountain, was taller than Fuji, however Mount Fuji was so enraged by this measurement that she destroyed the top of Haku. This created the eight peaks of Mount Haku and thus Mount Fuji became the tallest of the Japanese mountains.
Mt. Fuji has been the home to many things. It has been known as the home of a fire god, the Shinto goddess of flowing trees, and since Buddhist times the dwelling of Dainichi Nyorai, who was the Buddha of All-Illuminating Wisdom. One of the deities of Mt. Fuji is known as Sengen, the goddess of Fuji. She is also known as Ko-no-hana-saku-ya-hime (“Radiant-blooming-as-the-flowers-of-the-trees”) On the summit of Mt. Fuji is her temple. She was said to in ancient times sit on a cloud while her invisible servants threw in any pilgrims who were not pure of heart. Another deity of Fuji was the Luminous Maiden. She was said to have led a certain emperor to his doom. He is still worshipped at the small shrine marking where he vanished. A third and final deity that is known is O-ana-mochi or “possessor of the great hole” (crater).