Traditions

In summer in Japan, you will sometimes find bento boxes of grilled eel rice in convenience stores, with a poster stating the “doyo no ushi no hi”. Apparently, this habit of eating eel on the...

The inside-out mochi It is not exactly known when Akafuku - one of the oldest mochi (Japanese rice cake) brands still going strong today - was founded, but the oldest document referring to its existence...

Itsukushima Shrine: The Japanese Benchmark of Beauty Of all Japan's cultural heritage sites, Itsukushima Shrine is perhaps not just the most beautiful, but the most important for understanding the traditional Japanese concept of beauty. Known by its 16-meter brilliant vermillion otorii gate...

Japan is a land of castles, some like Himeji Castle, which is also registered as World Heritage. But to see the country's most visited castle, you'll have to travel all the way down to Okinawa, for a...

A visit to ghost town, Sakaiminato

In Japan, one is considered an adult at the age of 20 and a national holiday - called Coming of Age Day (成年の日, seinen no hi) - is designated on the second Monday of...

For a feel of what it was like to live during the Edo era, one can head to an Edo themepark, but why pay an entrance fee when you can still walk along streets...

A Shrine For The Bucket List  Since days of old, there has been a saying about the Ise Jingu, or Ise Grand Shrine: isshoni ichido wa omairi o, meaning one should worship there at least once...

Watching sumo from the best seats Just like in any other sport, getting front seats to watch the matches is an almost impossible task. In sumo, these seats are called Sunakaburi (literally translated as "sand...

The home of pearls and Ama-zing female divers Most of our readers have probably never heard of Toba, a small fishing village in Mie Prefecture, not too far from Ise Town. The name Mikimoto however, might...