Photo of the Day: Kyoto Zen Garden
The Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto is famous for its mysterious Zen rock garden. Enclosed by an earthen wall, fifteen carefully placed rocks seem to drift in a sea of raked white gravel.
A viewing platform right above the garden gives visitors an unimpeded view, although from whatever angle you view the garden, you can never see all fifteen stones.
Photo of the Day: Mori Building Helipad
Along with spectacular views of Tokyo, you will also find a helipad on top of the Mori Building in Roppongi Hills.
Where do you want to go, your helicopter is ready!
Travel Volunteer: Around Japan in 100(+1) Days
What is Travel Volunteer? According to its website:
The idea for this inspiring project came from an employee of a Travel Agency, called Magellan Resorts – The Real Japan in Kanazawa (Japan), while brainstorming how to bring Tourism back to Japan. After seeing the coverage about Japan from international media, we felt a big part of information was missing: although the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear issue are terrible disasters, Japan as a country was NOT entirely destroyed or irradiated. All other places outside the evacuation zone are totally safe. But the media never mentioned it or that life goes on normally in many parts of Japan. This had severe consequences for many businesses in the travel & tourism industry, so we decided to create this project to promote Japan amongst the world’s travelers and show that it still is a safe & wonderful country to visit.
A British couple, Jamie Lafferty & Katy Morrison (pictured below), were selected from a worldwide contest. They started their Japanese journey on September 15, 2011 (to December 24), to visit all of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
They have been sharing their experience through a dedicated blog and other social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Check it out.
Japanese Mascots
Japanese mascots are typically cute as you can see from this small collection of pictures of live mascots taken around the Tokyo area.
Also, check out Super Happy Awesome Fun Time with Sean and Alice latest blog post about their local mascot called Gunma-chan (and vote).
Noppon is the Tokyo Tower twin mascots.
The Blue Samurai (Japanese men’s soccer team) mascot is a lion with green hair, does he look fierce?
Honey Tokyo: Welcome to Tokyo
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has created an 11 minute anime (with English and other language subtitles) titled Honey Tokyo to promote its most famous attractions. It covers the city’s history, art, food, traditions, sports, fashion, attractions and famous areas such as Shibuya, Roppongi Hills, Akihabara, etc. Some live action footage is mixed with the anime.
The story is about a 16 year old girl named Honey from the future whose mission is to collect lost pieces of happiness and bring them back to the future. She meets a boy named Takeru and together they explore the arts, culture and traditions of Tokyo and he convinces her to change her mission.
The Honey Tokyo website features an interactive map with descriptions of the most Tokyo attractions and has the above video in 9 languages (including French, Korean, Italian, Spanish, German, Chinese). Check it out.
At the end of the anime, you hear “If you’re looking for happiness, come to Tokyo.” I couldn’t agree more!
Photo of the Day: National Art Center Tokyo
Opened in January 2007, the National Art Center Tokyo (NACT) in Roppongi features a uniquely designed curved glass building.
Shall We Dansu?
The 1996 Japanese film titled “Shall We Dansu?” starring Koji Yakusho (who starred in the Hollywood movies Memoirs of a Geisha and Babel) and Tamiyo Kusakari was remade by Hollywood in 2004 in a movie titled “Shall We Dance” starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.
At the Japanese Academy Awards, it won 14 awards including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film, Best Music Score, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress.
Photo of the Day: Teahouse
A teahouse styled Ryotei, a traditional Japanese restaurant, sits in the middle of a large artificial pond in the Kiyosumi Teien Garden in Tokyo.
Kaiji
Kaiji is a Japanese manga series about the art of gambling, written by Nobuyuki Fukumoto. It is published by Kodansha in Young Magazine. The first part of the manga (13 volumes), was adapted as a 26-episode anime television series called Gyakkyō Burai Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, which began airing October 2007.
A live-action movie titled Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler was released in Japan on October 10, 2009 with Tatsuya Fujiwara (who starred in Death Note) playing the role of Kaiji.
Photo of the Day: Kawasaki Halloween Crowd
A picture of the crowd taken during the popular Kawasaki Halloween Parade in 2009. Halloween is becoming a more popular event in Japan recently.
