Yamanashi Prefecture
Local tip-off takes us to a hanami cherry blossom viewing site that’s yet to be discovered by overseas tourists.
Japan’s Big Four fireworks craftsmen bring a one-of-a-kind performance from vision to reality against the breathtaking backdrop of Mt. Fuji.
A railway up the mountain aims to eliminate vehicles on the road to the fifth station but the round-trip fare for passengers won’t be cheap.
To your left, excellent local amenities, and to your right, a Japanese man in his underwear battling bears and the undead with a pink trowel.
What campaign promises might Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi make, if she throws her hat into the political ring?
The two things in life that are always guaranteed are death and taxes. Death can come out of nowhere, and it’s the most surprising ones that hurt us the most. Taxes, on the other hand, should never be a surprise. You have to file and pay your taxes every year at the exact same time, so you can’t really say that you didn’t see them coming. In Japan, if the government finds out that you are withholding money from them, trust that they will be coming to collect that cash. As one citizen found out, if you can’t pay them what you owe, they will just take away your precious collection of anime figures.
One of the simple pleasures of summer is all the amazing sweet fruit in season, like watermelon, cherries, apricots, berries and peaches. Now Freshness Burger have come up with a way to combine one of your favourite summer fruits with the humble hamburger. The latest item on their special menu is a peach burger, which went on sale August 14. If you can’t decide whether you want something sweet or savoury to snack on, this burger should do the trick!
Readers of our site may be well aware that we’re very much fond of tasty sweets, and luckily for us, desserts come in all shapes and sizes. But we honestly have to say the beautiful cake in the picture above is like nothing we’ve ever seen before! This unique piece of cake is actually so fleeting that it will literally cease to exist in its intended form within 30 minutes of being presented, so this is clearly a case where you won’t want to leave the best for last. But what exactly is this cake that looks like a transparent version of Dragon Quest’s slime?
How much do you know about daruma? Historically, there was the man called Daruma-daishi (aka Bhodhidharma), a Buddhist monk who is credited with spreading the practice of Zen Buddhism into China. Then, there are the daruma dolls, paper mache prayer tokens made and distributed throughout Japan for the sake of health, longevity, and success. These limbless dolls have an approximate 400-year history of bringing encouragement and good fortune to the people of Japan. However, in recent years the production and subsequent purchase of daruma has fallen. People are losing track of their daruma dolls, forgetting the purpose for which they serve, or at a loss of where to buy them in the first place.
Now, in an effort to bring back appreciation for the humble daruma, the Kagoyaka company in Yamanashi Prefecture is modernizing the traditional doll into something they call the Koshu～Color Daruma.
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