JAPAN TRAVEL
A summer matsuri for all the family
True wonder. That’s what the Niigata Festival undoubtedly is. Let’s enter into one of the Japan’s biggest festivals.
Summer in Niigata Prefecture rhymes with Hanabi Festivals. Nearly every week, a firework festival is held in one the numerous citie...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Where tradition and innovation coincide
The roads that wind through the lush landscape of the Tsugaru Plain in Aomori Prefecture are lined with rice paddies and orderly groves of fruit trees. Once a sparsely inhabited marshland, the region was transformed into an agricultural center ...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Tasty local specialties and traditional music
When I arrived in Hirosaki, one of the things I found at the tourist office was a little leaflet called 'Eight local culinary specialties', with information about a range of dishes and their histories. For example, much of the local food ...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Four days of fun shows all around the city
Venue: Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan When: Nov 2nd - Nov 5th 2017,  10:00am - 5:00pm
From Thursday 2nd November 2017 to Sunday 5th, the annual Daidogei World Cup will be held in Shizuoka City. At dozens of stages all around the city, ...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
The maker and his craft in the backstreets of Kyoto
On my second business trip this week, it suddenly dawned on me that I spent more time away than at home, something that led me to think about what home really means. I was having lunch with someone in Cairns when she said that Japan...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Gozan temples between Takeda Shrine and Kai-Zenkoji
The meaning of 'Gozan'  
During the Southern Song Dynasty in China (1127–1279), there was a system of state sponsored temples commonly called the 'Five Mountain' system. 'Five Mountains' really meant five temples (temples were very ...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Famed luxury steakhouse comes to Roppongi
Kawamura is a multi-award winning steakhouse widely considered to offer the best beef in the world – highest grade Kobe beef. Known for its incredible taste and the marbled, fatty, melt-in-the-mouth texture, diners can get a slice of the acti...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Demons, heroes & eight headed serpents
Venue: Taikodani Inari Shrine When: Aug 1st - Sep 30th 2017,  8:00pm - 9:30pm
Kagura is a dance theater with a long history in the old country of Iwami (currently west Shimane prefecture). This entertainment form is a living part of the region's...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Where aquatic animals meet Art
When: Jul 7th - Sep 24th 2017,  11:00am - 11:30pm
Traditional Edo gets a modern and artsy twist in the annual Eco Edo Art Aquarium Nihonbashi event.
 
Since 2011, Nihonbashi has opened its doors every summer to a fantastical world of goldfish that has e...

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JAPAN TRAVEL
Models and more in Shimbashi
Planes, trains and automobiles.
And boats, helicopters, tanks, and pretty much anything else you could possibly imagine out of little plastic bits, paint and motors.
The Tamiya Plamodel Factory store in Shimbashi sells more than 6000 of these things and p...

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