Japan Navigator

Despite the expected boost it will give the economy, not everybody in Nagasaki is happy with the government decision to register 20 Christian sites with the Unesco World Heritage List. As Asahi.com reports, the priests are afraid noisy tourists will disturb the peace of the believers by snapping their picture, leave graffitti on the walls or “extinguish their cigarettes in holy water.” (thanks to Japan Probe)

Jimmy Wales, the founder of the Wikipedia, is visiting Japan and has given an interview to the Japan Times (registration required).

Lots of black humor and hard action again in Miike Takashi’s latest film Ryu ga Gotoku, which is now showing. See this article in Hoga Central or the Mark Schilling review in the Japan Times (registration required). As is usual with Miike, you either love it or you hate it (I am in the first group).

This is an interesting Mainichi Daily News article about the sad decline of the Japanese countryside due to falling subsidies and the aging population, here seen through the symbolic case of Yubari in Hokkaido.

[Hikone Castle - Photo © Ad Blankestijn]

One of my favorite places in Japan is the small town of Hikone, at Lake Biwa. This year from March 21 it celebrates the 400 year anniversary of its castle, as Mainichi Staff Writer Aaron Baldwin reports in this long and interesting article. The castle is one of the most elegant in the country, not for nothing a “national treasure.”

The Castle Museum is also a “must” as it displays the treasures of the Ii clan, who ruled the province from this castle. Their belongings form one of the best preserved daimyo collections in Japan.