“The whole countryside was full of snakes sunning themselves along the roads and swimming in the ditches and newly flooded rice-fields… Out in Sesshu’s old garden behind the temple, the pond was starred with tiny twinkling water-lilies.”     Japanese Scrapbook, Glenn Shaw As notorious for their eulogies of places as they are for dampening the…

“Banksy Exhibition ~GENIUS OR VANDAL?” is an exhibition that has already been staged all over the world in places such as Moscow, Madrid, Lisbon and Hong Kong since 2018, gathering over 1 million people to see it. “Banksy Exhibition, Genius or Vandal?” will be held from March 15th (Sunday) to September 27th (Sunday) at Asobuild,…

At the Luxury Resident’s Lounge in Oakwood Premier Tokyo  WINING & DINING in TOKYO and Bellwood International will hold a special dinner and Japanese music event at the Resident’s Lounge of Oakwood Premier Tokyo. The event features live Japanese traditional Nagauta and Shamisen performance, five kinds of Japanese finger food, Soy Sauce Linguiça, Japanese Wagashi…

It may very well be scorching hot outside but there’s no excuse for staying indoors this summer, writes Suzanne Kamata. Summertime, and the humidity is rising. The lure of air-conditioning may be strong, but there’s lots of seasonal fun to be had beyond the walls of your 3LDK.  Check out the suggestions below, fill up…

Spending a New Year’s Eve in Japan can be a frustrating experience for those who are used to celebrating the occasion with a string of raucous parties and free-flowing alcohol. Many stores, cafes and restaurants in Japan are closed between December 29 and January 4, which puts a decided dampener on one’s entertainment activities and…

On November 15 every year, doting parents of three- and seven-year-old girls and three- and five-year-old boys dress their children in their finest clothes and visit a local shrine to celebrate the traditional rite of passage known as Shichi-Go-San, which literally means “seven-five-three.” As the date is not strictly a national holiday in Japan, it…

Kusatsu Onsen, nestled in the mountains of northwestern Gunma prefecture, is one of the most famous hot spring resorts in Japan. Go there on a typical weekend and the quaint city center is transformed into a swarming marketplace, teeming with smiling Japanese tourists Ð some clad in yukata Ð ready to go onsen-hopping in one…

Truckloads of tourists are expected to head to Tohoku during the first weekend of September to witness the annual kokeshi festival. Kokeshi are traditional Japanese dolls that are handmade from wood. The doll’s head is enlarged in comparison to its torso and a few thin lines are included to define its facial features. The body…

Thousands of people from across the nation are expected to gather in Tokushima on Shikoku Island from August 12-15 to participate in the super-hyper Awa Odori festivities. The four-day festival is part of Bon festivities, which are held to welcome oneﾕs ancestors back to this world for a few days. The dance dates back to…

According to the Shitamachi Museum, the area of Tokyo known as “Shitamach”, less a physical entity to many than a state of mind, comprises the actual districts of Fukagawa, Honjo, Asakusa, Shitaya, Nihonbashi, Kyobashi and Kanda. That said, the exact boundaries of this area are still contested. Geographically, for example, the Ginza lies within the…