Exploring the First Bay Area Book Festival

I’ve been having some awesome bookish adventures lately. One of the reasons I love my annual reading challenge is that it keeps me much more plugged in to what people are writing and… Continue reading →

Warasse: The Aomori Nebuta Museum

The Aomori Nebuta Matsuri is one of the most famous festivals in the Tōhoku region, if not all of Japan. What exactly is “nebuta,” you ask? Well, it’s a kind of lighted parade… Continue reading →

Yabusame: The Japanese Art of Horseback Archery

Horses and archery probably aren’t the first things that come to mind when you think of Japan, but in fact, bows date back to Japan’s prehistoric Jomon era (14,000-300 BC) and historical records of… Continue reading →

Mitama Matsuri: Festival of Lanterns

Every July, Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine celebrates the souls of the departed at the Mitama Matsuri. As you may already know, Yasukuni Shrine is rather infamous–the souls of Japan’s war dead are enshrined there, including 14 Class-A… Continue reading →

Places in Japan: One Fantastic Day in Historic Takayama

Reesan from loneleeplanet has started up a new blogging festival called J-Festa to showcase the best of Japan, and this month’s theme is “Places in Japan.” I thought I would use the opportunity… Continue reading →

Dreaming of Spring: Children’s Day and Koinobori

I’m getting a little tired of the winter weather here in Tokyo, so since this month’s Japan Blog Matsuri (graciously hosted by loneleeplanet) is themed “famous Japanese events”, I thought I would choose… Continue reading →

Wordless Wednesday #2: Temple of Snow, Sapporo

Gigantic Replica of Nara’s Horyu-ji Temple, Odori Park, 2006 Sapporo Snow Festival In honor of the 62nd annual Sapporo Snow Festival, which kicked off on Monday. More pictures My original post about the… Continue reading →

Yokohama Port Opening Festival and Ocean Day

Yesterday, I attended the annual festival commemorating the port opening of Yokohama. 6,000 fireworks were released over the course of an hour and 10 minutes, which made for a pretty good show. My… Continue reading →

Omi Shrine Festival

So, I promised that I’d post pics from the snippet of the Omi Shrine Festival that I caught this weekend, after my triumphant return from Okinawa. There were apparently a lot of costumes… Continue reading →

Sapporo Snow Festival

So, despite a long workweek, Rosalind and I flew off to Sapporo on Friday for the 57th Annual Sapporo Snow Festival. The flight from Niigata to Hokkaido took a mere hour and after… Continue reading →