Posted in Art, Kobe, Society on May 30th, 2008 No Comments »
The Kobe City Government has been active in providing some pleasant diversion for its citizens when they walk the streets of this port city. In other words, it has done what so many other Japanese cities do: placed a number of statues along its streets. And as usual in Japan, when selecting these works of […]
Posted in Culture, Kyoto, Society on Apr 30th, 2008 1 Comment »
Good news for Kyoto’s Flower Towns: the profession of Maiko is again popular under young women! As Asahi.com reports:
The number of maiko has bounced back to 100, the highest in more than four decades, thanks to the growing interest in Kyoto’s traditional geisha culture.
I do not know if this surge in interest is attributable to […]
Posted in Business, Food, Japan, Society on Apr 3rd, 2008 1 Comment »
In Japan, food is judged on its health properties, real or imagined, and fads of such foods are fed by media frenzy. It is only a short time ago that all Japanese were eating blueberries for better eyesight and natto to slim down. Drinks, especially of the sort sold in 350 or 500 cc pet […]
Posted in Book, Film, Japan, Society, Travel, Web on Mar 10th, 2008 No Comments »
Janne in Osaka shines light on a matter to my heart: how to shelve your books…
Japan Probe has a round-up of videos that recently appeared on the web about the town of Obama (also see my post about this town chock-full with ancient temples and Buddhist statues - a great destination for a weekend trip).
Japan […]
Posted in Economy, Japan, Society on Feb 19th, 2008 No Comments »
A Reuters article makes a case for a link between the hairstyle of Japanese women and the state of the economy.
Women tend to wear their hair long when Japan’s economy is doing well and short when there is a slump, the Nikkei business daily reported, citing a survey conducted by Japanese cosmetics company Kao […]
Posted in Fun, Kobe, Society on Jan 15th, 2008 No Comments »
Is this The Thinker, anno 2008? Reborn in female form in Kobe’s Sannomiya?
Or is it not philosophy that keeps her mind occupied… could she be dreaming about this nearby sign advertising something special to Japanese culture: a “Host Club?”
Posted in Business, Culture, News, Society on Jan 11th, 2008 No Comments »
Japanese couples are spending themselves silly again on weddings. Couples that held a wedding reception in 2007 spent an average 3.4 million yen, an increase of about 200,000 yen compared to three years ago, as Asahi.com reports.
Japanese weddings have come a long way from the boring, standard affairs that were held in hotels in the […]
Posted in Architecture, Business, Economy, Food, News, Society, Tokyo, Travel on Jan 7th, 2008 No Comments »
The British newspaper The Independent has undertaken a survey into the relative status of national (and regional) capitals. Tokyo scores fourth overall, behind London (surprise, the home ground of the newspaper), New York and Paris. It is therefore the capital of Asia!
But contenders are giving chase at high speed: Peking, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong […]
Posted in Culture, Fun, Kyoto, Society on Nov 25th, 2007 No Comments »
It comes as no surprise that the heart of the average, innocent first-time visitor to Kyoto starts beating faster when spotting these beautiful ladies in kimono… Geisha! Many a proud tourist must have shown pictures like the above one to his friends and family at home. It is good that there is still some tradition […]
Posted in Fun, Kyoto, Society on Nov 25th, 2007 No Comments »
Kyoto is full of religious establishments and Buddhist images follow you wherever you go. They do not sit still either, but have been pressed into useful service in these days of rampant foreign crime where every true Japanese has to be on the outlook for anything suspicious. As this picture shows, the Ryozen Kannon […]
Posted in Kyoto, News, Society, Technology on Nov 14th, 2007 No Comments »
The Kyoto Prize is the Japanese competitor of the Swedish Nobel prize, but unfortunately still much less famous. It has been awarded annually since 1984 by the Inamori Foundation, which was established by Inamori Kazuo (”Profit is society’s award for serving its interests”) with his personal fortune, the founder and long-term president of high-tech company […]
Posted in Kyoto, Society on Nov 11th, 2007 No Comments »
The best shotengai in Kyoto is not Nishiki, which is too full of tourists, but rather a neighborhood shopping arcade as the Furukawacho Shotengai which runs from Sanjo (starting next to Higashiyama subway station) south to Kachodori, or rather to where it is stopped by the Shirakawa River. It runs parallel to the busy Higashi-oji […]
Posted in Society, Temples on Nov 4th, 2007 No Comments »
The greying of Japan is also hitting temples and shrines. Where aged priests (or their wives) used to sit and chat with neighborhood visitors, now an empty window radically demonstrates the dramatic fall in the birthrate and resulting gap in the population.
[Photo © Ad Blankestijn]
This shrine in Kyoto has found a solution to the lack […]
Posted in Society on Oct 13th, 2007 1 Comment »
When I visited Shingu recently, I was surprised to find most of the shops in town shuttered down, even on normal weekdays. The long shopping arcade that runs through the center of the town was like a ghost town. Only a few elderly citizens were moving about, dressed in cheap training suits and running shoes. […]
Posted in Architecture, Art, Business, News, Society on Apr 20th, 2007 No Comments »
With sadness we note the passing of Clifton Karhu on March 24 at age 79, the great American-born blockprint artist who made Kyoto his home. Karhu’s prints are known for their strong lines and vivid colors and his themes pay tribute to the beauty of Japan’s old capital. Norman Tolman, founder of the Tolman Collection […]
Posted in Film, Museums, News, Society, Web on Mar 14th, 2007 No Comments »
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 […]
Posted in Architecture, Kyoto, News, Society on Nov 29th, 2006 No Comments »
As a “Kyotophile” I am glad to read in the Asahi that the Kyoto city government has decided to tighten building rules. For parts of central Kyoto this is already too late, but prevention of further damage is welcome. The proposed new rules:
Building height for new buildings will go down from 45 to 31 meters.
Flashing […]
