Shikoku
Toki no Yoake Monogatari lets you enjoy the ride as you travel off the Shinkansen-beaten path.
The twitter account of an aquarium is willing to stoop to some serious lows to get more patrons. Literally!
Designed by the studio behind the Fate anime franchise, the bottle is exclusive to one region of the country.
Chichibugahama Beach looks like a Makoto Shinkai anime come to life, and is well worth a detour off the beaten travel path.
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The slide in a children’s playground in Ehime, not suitable for children, will be no more after injuries and safety worries.
Body of water even has a connection to the creatures’ traditional role in Japanese mythology.
From graceful Awa Odori dance movements to routines in kimono at a New York subway, these girls are turning heads everywhere they go.
These crying babies are immediately calmed by the sound of slurping, which is said to sound similar to noises heard in the womb.
Japan Rail has just released a list of the most rare and frequently lost items found on their trains, and when they’re most likely to find them.
The capital’s gigantic public transportation system can be a shock to the system for new arrivals.
Japanese history can be a lot of fun to explore, from the Sengoku era to the modernization of Japan in the Meiji Period. We’re sure everyone has their own favorite time period, but one that doesn’t always get the respect it deserves is the Heian Period. Lasting roughly from 794 to 1185, the period was a relatively peaceful time in Japan that saw a blossoming of culture in everything from literature to music.
Unfortunately, we can’t just hop on a plane and go back in time to see everything for ourselves. But there is a hotel in Shikoku where you can experience a bit of the Heian life for yourself complete with period costumes, games, and architecture! So whether you’re a history buff or just need a major change of scenery, you’ll want to check out Gosho Yashiro no Mori!
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Giraffes are some of the most awesome animals on the planet, if you ask us. With their long necks, not-quite-horse-not-quite-cow-like faces and beautiful long eyelashes, they’re the sort of creature you’d expect to find in the pages of a Walt Disney sketchbook after the artist “accidentally” ingested a few magic mushrooms. And yet there they are, as real as any of us, and have existed for thousands upon thousands of years.
But one thing that some might not believe is real is the cry of a giraffe. Think about it: have you ever heard the sounds a giraffe makes? Well, we suppose you may have, but many have not, in Japan or otherwise. And that’s why this video of a baby giraffe calling out has attracted so much attention online.
If you’ve never heard a giraffe’s voice, you’ll want to check this out!
On a recent trip to Shikoku, we heard about a small town tucked away in the Iya Valley called Nagoro. Like many small rural towns in Japan, the human population has dwindled to almost nothing in recent years. Unlike other towns, though, Nagoro doesn’t look empty. That’s because it’s populated by hundreds of scarecrows.
Of course we had to go check it out.
Daruma are a kind of roly-poly wishing doll in Japanese Buddhism. You draw one eye in while making a wish, and then fill in the other when your wish comes true. Given their sweet purpose and blob-like shape, traditional daruma are already pretty charming, but a woodcarving shop in Kagawa Prefecture has found a pop makeover makes them even more attractive, so much so that there is a 3-year waiting list to get one!
Japan is an island nation. That means that wherever you go, you’re never all that far from good seafood, but also that you can’t get to any other countries without hopping on a plane or ocean liner.
So you might find yourself doing a double take when, while driving down the road in Kochi Prefecture, you come across a hotel that looks more like it belongs on the coast of Greece than Japan.
As soon as my husband started building an iwaburo rock bath in our house, curious neighbors poked their heads in and asked, “When are we going to eat udon?” This is local parlance for: “When will the bath be finished?”
Japanese is said to be a vague language and thus difficult for foreigners to understand, but this was rather extraordinary. Why such a strange way to ask when a bath will be completed?!
This unusual pairing, I soon learned, can be traced all the way back to Shikoku, one of Japan’s four main islands, and an island famous for its udon noodles. Kagawa Prefecture, known as udonken (the udon prefecture) is particularly well-known for its delicious thick, starchy noodles. And we can thank Kagawa for a very strange custom: that of eating udon while sitting in a new bathtub!
Now, you probably want to know why they would do such a thing. And why udon? Wouldn’t beer and peanuts be more logical? Or, if you’re going to celebrate a new bathtub, why not go all out and have a pig roast in there? Our intrepid bathing reporter tells you why and oh, so much more about Japanese baths.
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