Theme Week Tokyo – Ginza

29 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  12 minutes

Wako store © Kakidai/cc-by-sa-4.0

Wako store © Kakidai/cc-by-sa-4.0

Ginza is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous internationally renowned department stores, boutiques, restaurants and coffeehouses located in its vicinity. It is considered to be one of the most expensive, elegant, and luxurious city districts in the world. Ginza was a part of the old Kyobashi ward of Tokyo City, which, together with Nihonbashi and Kanda, formed the core of Shitamachi,> the original downtown center of Edo (Tokyo). Each Saturday and Sunday, from 12:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., the main street through Ginza is closed off to road traffic, allowing people to walk freely. This is called Hokōsha Tengoku or Hokoten for short, literally meaning “pedestrian heaven”. There are some people who do street performance such as magic and playing instruments. As a famous photo spot, some cats sleep on signs, where people can put their own cats onto these signs. The location where cats are is different depending on the date.   read more…

Theme Week Tokyo – Sensō-ji temple

28 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

© jreysp/cc-by-sa-4.0

© jreysp/cc-by-sa-4.0

Sensō-ji (Kinryū-zan Sensō-ji) is an ancient Buddhist temple located in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan. It is Tokyo’s oldest temple, and one of its most significant. Formerly associated with the Tendai sect of Buddhism, it became independent after World War II. Adjacent to the temple is a five-story pagoda, the Asakusa Shinto shrine, as well as many shops with traditional goods in the Nakamise-dōri. The Sensoji Kannon temple is dedicated to Kannon Bosatsu, the Bodhisattva of compassion, and is the most widely visited spiritual site in the world with over 30 million visitors annually. The temple has a titanium tiled roof that maintains the historic image but is stronger and lighter.   read more…

Theme Week Tokyo – National Museum

27 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

The Hyokeikan © Kakidai/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Hyokeikan © Kakidai/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Tokyo National Museum or TNM is an art museum in Ueno Park in the Taitō ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the four museums operated by the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, is considered the oldest national museum in Japan, is the largest art museum in Japan, and is one of the largest art museums in the world. The museum collects, preserves, and displays a comprehensive collection of artwork and cultural objects from Asia, with a focus on ancient and medieval Japanese art and Asian art along the Silk Road.   read more…

Theme Week Tokyo – Imperial Palace

26 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  12 minutes

Suwa-no-chaya Tea House © flickr.com - Rob Young/cc-by-2.0

Suwa-no-chaya Tea House © flickr.com – Rob Young/cc-by-2.0

The Tokyo Imperial Palace (Kōkyo, literally “Imperial Residence”) is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda district of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains several buildings including the main palace (Kyūden), some residences of the Imperial Family, an archive, museums and administrative offices. It is built on the site of the old Edo Castle. The total area including the gardens is 1.15 square kilometres (0.44 sq mi). During the height of the 1980s Japanese property bubble, the palace grounds were valued by some to be more than the value of all of the real estate in the state of California.   read more…

Theme Week Tokyo – Tokyo Tower

25 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© flickr.com - Melv_L - MACASR/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Melv_L – MACASR/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Tokyo Tower (officially called “Japan Radio Tower”) is a communications and observation tower in the Shiba-koen district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, built in 1958. At 332.9 meters (1,092 ft), it is the second-tallest structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations. Since its completion in 1958, Tokyo Tower has become a prominent landmark in the city, and frequently appears in media set in Tokyo.   read more…

Theme Week Tokyo

24 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  11 minutes

Shibuya Crossing © Takuya Matsuyama/cc-by-3.0

Shibuya Crossing © Takuya Matsuyama/cc-by-3.0

Tokyo, historically known in the west as Tokio and officially the Tokyo Metropolis (Tōkyō-to), is the capital, the largest city, and the most populous metropolitan area in the Greater Tokyo Area, the Kantō region, and Japan, as well as the most populous metropolitan area in the world and most populous prefecture of Japan. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central Pacific coast of Japan‘s main island of Honshu. Tokyo is the political and economic center of the country, as well as the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the national government. As of 2021 the prefecture has an estimated population of 14.04 million. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with an estimated 38.5 million residents.   read more…

Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Tokyo

1 February 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Hanonimas/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Hanonimas/cc-by-sa-3.0

Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower (Mōdo gakuen kokūn tawā) is a 204 metres (669 feet), 50-story educational facility located in the Nishi-Shinjuku district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The building is home to three educational institutions: Tokyo Mode Gakuen (fashion vocational school), HAL Tokyo (special technology and design college), and Shuto Ikō (medical college). Completed in October 2008, the tower is the second-tallest educational building in the world and is the 17th-tallest building in Tokyo. It was awarded the 2008 Skyscraper of the Year by Emporis.   read more…

Theme Week Japan

18 February 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Tokyo - Ginza shopping area © Jordy Meow/cc-by-3.0

Tokyo – Ginza shopping area © Jordy Meow/cc-by-3.0

Japan (Nippon or Nihon, literally “State of Japan”) is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south. The kanji that make up Japan’s name mean “sun origin”, and it is often called the “Land of the Rising Sun”.   read more…

Tsukiji fish market, the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world

1 October 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Shopping Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Ovc/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Ovc/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Tsukiji Market is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind. The market is located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo, and was a major attraction for foreign visitors. Currently however, access is no longer permitted to the inner market, and the outer market is open to visitors only after 9:00 AM. While this regulating was in place for quite some time, recently it is enforced. There are two distinct sections of the market as a whole. The “inner market” (jōnai-shijō) is the licensed wholesale market, where the auctions and most of the processing of the fish take place, and where licensed wholesale dealers (approximately 900 of them) operate small stalls. The “outer market” (jōgai-shijō) is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, and seafood, and many restaurants, especially sushi restaurants. Most of the shops in the outer market close by the early afternoon, and in the inner market even earlier.   read more…

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