If you are traveling in Japan now, you must hear the sound of cicadas. Is that noisy for you? The sound is just one of back ground music in summer for Japanese, though. There are about thirty species of cicadas in Japan, among which fourteen are found in the main land except Southwestern islands. The commonest is Large… Read more →
Sasadango is a sweet of specialty in Niigata Prefecture. https://enjoyniigata.com/en/detail/page/detail/5222 Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 2:15) Niigata @ If you are from Southern Asian countries, you must be very familiar with these kinds of leaf-wrapped foods. Sasadango is made of mugwort-flavored mochi (glutinous rice cake) with anko (sweet red beans paste) inside wrapped in the leaves of sasa… Read more →
Of course you must know ramen, one of the famous Japanese food, mustn’t you? But, how does it taste if the soup is chilled? You can confirm it at Tochio of Nagaoka City, Niigata Prefecture. Chilled ramen is a new specialty of Tochio. There are twelve restaurants in the area which serve chilled ramen. http://tochiokankou.jp/syokuji/index.html (Japanese) Access:… Read more →
Webmaster had a short visit to the terraced paddy field of Kamo (Kamo-tanada) in Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture in the free time during his business trip. In fact, there are many terraced paddy field (tanada) in Uonuma area including Tokamachi City. Kamo-tanada is one of them. Access: Tokyo (shinkansen 1:25) Echigo-yuzawa (local train 0:45) Matsudai (taxi 0:10) @ A… Read more →
Chestnuts are now maturing. Have you ever seen the burrs of chestnut? If you come from Europe, North America, Korea, and China, probably “yes”. If you come from Southern countries, probably “no”. In fact, chestnuts are widely distributed in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. Our chestnut (Castanea crenata) is an indigenous tree in Japan and also… Read more →
Country-Japan has presented information on various tourist attractions of the country side of Japan since 5th December 2016 when it was officially released, and obtained many fans and supporters. However, it was recognized that the display was not very “smart” for smartphone users as Country-Japan was firstly designed for PC users. Now, the display of the Top Page… Read more →
Webmaster visited Ibaraki Prefecture, north to Tokyo, last week. And he found Japanese Helwingia (hanaikada, Helwingia japonica) shrubs are bearing fruits. As shown in the previous blog (2017-05-18) , hanaikada is an indigenous shrub in Japan which has flowers on its leaves. Consequently, they have fruits on their leaves. Doesn’t it look curious? When… Read more →
Webmaster overnighted at Narita on his business trip last week, and had a short visit to Shinsho-ji Temple early in the morning before starting his duty. Access: Tokyo (local train 1:10) Narita (walk 0:15) @ Somon Gate at the entrance. The second Niomon Gate can be seen from Somon Gate. Niomon Gate. After… Read more →
Now, Japanese iris (Hanashobu, Iris ensata var. ensata) is now flowering in many gardens. Webmaster visited Sagamihara Park (Sagamihara-koen) this week which has an iris garden. Access: Tokyo (local train 0:14) Shinjuku (local train 0:32) Sagami-ono (bus 0:20) Sagamiharakoen-mae @ When Webmaster visited the garden in April, iris was still small. But,… Read more →
Webmaster visited Yokohama Shizenkansatsuno-mori this week, which is one of eight bird/nature sanctuaries run/managed by Wild Bird Society of Japan, to enjoy hiking and bird watching. Access: Tokyo (local train 0:50) Ofuna (bus 0:25) Yokohama-reienmae (walk 0:07) @ or Tokyo (local train 0:25) Yokohama (local train 0:18) Kanazawa-hakkei (bus 0:12) Yokohama-reienmae (walk 0:07) The entrance of the sanctuary.… Read more →