Stop giggling. Countries around the world are known for their unique fertility rituals — just look at Victor Noir?s Grave in France or The Mira ...
Ingredients for the chocolate cake: 330 g flour 60 g cocoa 15 g baking powder 5 medium eggs 4 egg yolks a pinch of salt 16 g vanilla sugar 270 g sugar ...
Introduction: The Perfect Fusion of Sweetness and Flavor Tarta de Galleta y Chocolate Blanco is a delicate delicacy that delights lovers of sweet tr ...
??? ?????Nihonmachi Dining Mall, Sukhumvit 26, BangkokBangkok\'s Sukhumvit 26 district has one of the Thai capital\'s most well-known oases of Japanes ...
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo TsujiMy rating: 5 of 5 starsShizuo Tsuji (1933-93) was the founder of the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka, ...
While travelers to Japan typically dream of green tea and sake, coffee lovers from around the world are also starting to take note of Japan’s bo ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 9hana no iro wautsurinikeri naitazura niwaga mi yo ni furunagame seshi ma ni??????????????????????????????As the color of the che ...
Besides the Yukishibori Honjozo Namagenshu, Daishichi has one more seasonal sake for the winter season: Yukishibori Honjozo Nigorizake. Yukishibo ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 8waga iho wamiyako no tatsumishika zo sumuyo wo Ujiyama tohito wa iunari??????????????????????????Although I live contentedly&nbs ...
Hi BUMBLEBEEMUM, Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it! We have worked out a revised itinerary, kindly check it out! Day 1: Remain as per, Sappo ...
Seasonal sakes are popular in Japan and one of the seasonal drinks from the Daishichi Sake Brewery for the first months of the year is Yukishibori Hon ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 7ama no harafurisakemirebaKasuga naruMikasa no yama niideshi tsuki ka mo?????????????????????????When I gaze into the distanceacr ...
To celebrate my 5 years of blogging with my readers, I picked 5 things that I absolutely love in my kitchen and give them to 5 readers (1 item per pe ...
It’s art in the park, Japanese style…one of Japan’s oldest traditional performing arts will be enacted in the shadows of historic Os ...
The Great Buddha of Kamakura, better know as the Daibutsu, is a sight to behold and was one of the highlights of my trip to the area. Sitting peacefu ...
Take a gamble on the strength of your faith the next time you visit Kamakura and you may leave richer in both spiritual and monetary terms. The Zeniar ...
Get your hands dirty! Well, maybe not dirty but get some paint on them and learn about Japanese traditional crafts by making some yourself in th ...
It’s cold year round, not hot, in the Hanibe Cave where the “Fushi Jigoku” (Satirical expression of Hell) sit alongside eerily lit s ...
The full scale replica of Gundam is quite a sight and one that can only be seen in person until the end of this month in Tokyo’s modern Odaiba a ...
Kimono sleeves, or tamoto, meaning “by the side of”, were the pockets in traditional Japan that allowed wearers to stash all manner of sm ...
When one thinks of items representative of Japan the list inevitably includes kimono, sushi and bullet trains but one shouldn’t overlook the be ...
Located in the tallest building in the city, The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo offers guests an understated and luxurious environment high above the hustle and ...
All that glitters is not gold, in this case it’s silver and the name of the newest grouping of holidays on the Japanese calendar. Golden Week ...
(This is the first of 11 posts on my awesome Japan trip. I’m gonna blog about it from the very beginning all the way to the end!) Our flight to ...
I have never been to Disneyland in my entire life! Now that I’m in Tokyo, I know that I just HAVE to go there! To me this is one of those must-v ...
It’s day 3 in Tokyo and we’re ready to do some serious… Shopping! There’s no better place to do this than trendy Shibuya. Besi ...
It was only day 4 in Japan. And already, I was craving for pasta! At noon, we were in an area someplace near Shibuya when an unusual rocket-shaped gla ...
This was the first (of 2 days) in Japan that I got to do some solo travelling! The excitement and exhilaration that stem from facing an utterly foreig ...
(Note: There are 50 photographs in this post. Loading may take a while.) Caution to guys: Cute overload ahead! If you wish to skip the ensuing kawaii- ...
This was the last full day I had in Tokyo. The following morning I would be leaving for Kyoto! So, armed with Beni’s pro semi-SLR camera, we spe ...
Early in the morning I had to leave Tokyo for Kyoto, where I would be spending the next two days with xanthe! To reach Kyoto I would take the super hi ...
(Note: bumper crop of images – 5 megabytes’ worth! The largest yet! Please be patient with the loading.) Xanthe and I spent the entire day ...
Barely two days into our Kyoto stay, we were on the road again, heading back to Tokyo. Over there, we would spend the night and catch the flight back ...
And this was the day we left Japan. I had successfully gone the entire night with no sleep at all! Early in the morning, we allocated ample time to ge ...
So I check in to the Hotel Granvia in Osaka, right inside Osaka Station, for my last night in Japan. I know to expect small rooms in these places, but ...
A couple months ago when I was booking my hotels for Osaka, I initially couldn’t find anything at all that was available. What on earth is goi ...
(October 2013) My 10-day Japan trip – the third trip this year – ended in Osaka. Missed an earthquake by a couple hundred miles, and a co ...
Just outside and to the east of Osaka Station, high above the high-rises, stands this bright red Ferris wheel on top of a shopping mall. At its highe ...
Looks and anticipation can be deceiving. The raw chicken I ate in Japan actually wasn’t half bad. But this was much harder to stomach just by t ...
Most travelers to far away foreign lands can tell you stories of songs they never expected to see or hear, in places where few might possibly know wha ...
I’m staring at the large rump of a water buffalo and questioning why I’d wanted the front seat in the big cart. I’m on the little i ...
Eating ??? (Basashi) It seems every time I go to Japan, I try something else a little off the beaten culinary path. There was that raw chicken meal l ...
If there is one thing I hate ? and believe me, there is way more than one ? it’s the airport restroom. Especially when traveling alone and you ...
On my first trip to Japan, the thing that impressed me most was the architecture. These weren’t just buildings with a nice touch; some of them ...
The Tokyo Skytree certainly became a new symbol of Tokyo and is very popular among tourists. But is it really worth visiting Tokyo Skytree considering ...
Do you love noodle soup" Do you enjoy eating ramen" Then you have to check out the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum! Visited: October 26th 2014 ...
It’s not a secret that I love cats – and Japan does, too. I’m sure you know about the cat cafes in Japan" I’ve been to a ...
If you’ve ever taken a train from Tokyo to Kamakura you might have passed by a large white Kannon statue, wondering what exactly it might be. At ...
I recently got to spend some time in Tokyo again and wanted to visit animal and theme cafes that I haven’t been to yet. Cat cafes are great, but ...
Harajuku (especially Takeshita Dori) is known for unique and freaky fashion styles, so it’s not a surprise that you’ll also find some frea ...
After visiting the adorable Owl Cafe in Harajuku, Ali (Haikugirl) and me were hungry. It was a huge coincidence that we stumbled upon two themed cafe ...
Ever since I started the “Dating in Japan” series people kept asking me about how and where to find a Japanese partner, especially when li ...
Hello Kitty and Sanrio fans out there, this is definitely interesting for you, so keep reading! I’m sure that some of you have heard of Himeji i ...
Here are some characteristic trends of the years 2005-2009: - An overproduction of films, a sort of cinematic bubble (of course also thanks to di ...
Two posts in the Sake by Region series which is under revision, have been updated and expanded and are available at: Ibaraki and Tokyo. ...
Although the annual production of Japanese films scales new heights (408 in 2010, rising to 615 in 2014), unfortunately the quality of Japanese cinema ...
Two new updates in the sake by region series have appeared on my site: Tochigi and Gunma, both in the Kanto area. ...
Here are three more updates in the series of sake by region: Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa. ...
Although there exist several interesting, individual breweries here, the Kanto area generally speaking is not a major sake producing area. This despit ...
In 1868, at the beginning of the Meiji period, a complete transformation of Japanese society started, but that was not immediately true for liter ...
Although Yamanashi Prefecture has the image of being Japan's wine country, with its fresh water and cold winter climate, conditions for sake brewing a ...
Nagano Prefecture is landlocked and mountainous - nine of the twelve highest mountains of Japan can be found here. On the south side of the prefecture ...
In 1949, the Dutch Sinologue and diplomat Robert van Gulik translated an 18th century, anonymous Chinese crime novel under the title Celebrated Cases ...
Niigata Prefecture is one of the most well-known sake prefectures in Japan, front runner of the jizake boom of the 1980s and famous for its "tanr ...
January (Ichigatsu) is the month that the new year starts in the solar or Gregorian calendar, although technically it is still winter. In fact, D ...
The Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each) is Japan's most popular and widely known poetry collection, containing one h ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 1aki no ta nokariho no iho notoma wo aramiwaga koromode watsuyu ni nuretsutsu??????????????????????????Because of the rough thatc ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 2haru sugitenatsu kinikerashishirotae nokoromo hosutefuama no kaguyama???????????????????????Spring has gone away, andsummer come ...
Toyama Prefecture boasts magnificent nature in the heart of Japan. It is in the first place well-known for the Tateyama mountain range and the Kurobe& ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 3ashibiki noyamadori no wo noshidari-wo nonaga-nagashi yo wohitori kamo nemu?????????????????????????????Must I sleep alonethroug ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 4Tago no ura niuchi-idete mirebashirotae noFuji no takane niyuki wa furitsutsu????????????????????????????As I come outon the sea ...
2016 is the Year of the Monkey (sarudoshi) in Japan, the ninth year in the cycle of 12 signs from the Japanese (and originally Chinese) zodiac.[" ...
On of the best places to enjoy the sight of wild monkeys in Japan in this Year of the Monkey is Jigokudani Onsen in Nagano Prefecture.How to get here: ...
Matsuo Taisha (also called Matsuonoo Taisha) is one of the oldest shrines of Kyoto. It now is in the first place the tutelary shrine of sake brewers, ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 5okuyama nimomiji fumiwakenaku shika nokoe kiku toki zoaki wa kanashiki???????????????????????When I hear the voiceof the crying ...
Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 6kasasagi nowataseru hashi nioku shimo noshiroki wo mirebayo zo fukenikeru???????????????????????????When I see the whitenessof t ...
The ancient name for February (Nigatsu) is Kisaragi, meaning "to wear more clothes due to the cold." As it also is the month of plum blossom ...