NEWS OF TRAVEL JAPAN

You know cup-noodle, don’t you? Or do you now chikinramen? Cup-noodle and chikinramen were born in Japan, a passionate Japanese entrepreneur created them. The museum of cup-noodle is in Ikeda city in the northern area of Osaka prefecture. Many foreigners, kids, young children, teenagers and adults go there. It is a joyful museum and a beneficial place for an ambitious entrepreneur. Let’s go to The Museum Of Cup-noodle Nearly twenty kindergarten kids who formed two lines wearing red caps and white T-shirts led by their teachers walked slowly to The Museum Of Cup-noodle. They looked like ducks…no!.. pretty chicks. The Museum Of Cup-noodle welcomed a lot of people of all ages at my visiting. All bright rooms colored in white fitted all people with white, black and yellow skin. They enjoyed to see the exhibitions of the instant ramen, and to make their own cup-noodle in their own original styles. The creator of cup-noodle and chikinramen. Chikinramen was born in 1958. And cup-no...

The temperature of the season of the Gion Festival in Kyoto in July is very hot every year. A room with no air-conditioner severely exhausts the people in the room. The temperature of the day when my wife and I came to Kyoto was 38.5 degrees Celsius, it was over the limit of our endurance. Whereas many foreign travelers came to Nijo-jo Castle which has no air-conditioning, they saw many wall paintings and works of the structures eagerly along the long zigzagging corridors. Nijo-jo Castle is one of the world heritage sites in Kyoto, and many travel guide books explain the attractive points of Nijo-jo Castle. Therefore I will try to show the attraction of Nijo-jo Castle from another view point. Simply speaking, I will draw what idea the builder of Nijo-jo Castle, Ieyasu Tokugawa who was the founder of the Tokugawa Bakufu, included into this Castle for the sake of governing all regional lords in the aim of ending the civil war period. Ieyasu Tokugawa This is Ieyasu Tokugawa. It i...

This is Kasuga Shrine of Shinto nearby Todaiji Temple which has the large statue of Buddha, Kofukuji Temple and Nara Park in Nara City, these are world heritage sites. Many travelers visit Kasuga Shrine along with visiting Todaiji temple and Kofukuji Temple. Kasuga Shrine is a wondrous Shinto cathedral which has a lot of sight-seeing spots with exceptional atmosphere. The approaching road which has a lot of “toros”(Japanese stone light-stands) and woods with deer. The complicated sacred places and the beautiful corridors with a lot of Japanese brass lanterns which form lines along vermilion pillars. The contractive structures of Shinto and Buddhism are separated by a narrow waterway.   (Left: a structure of Shinto Light: a structure of Buddhism) Buddhist structures in Shinto shrine? Yes, the most attractive point of Kasuga Shrine is the coexistence of Shinto and Buddhism, and it is the oldest shrine of the coexistence of the two religions. (Asyura Statue in Kofukuji Temple...

If you come to Tokyo for sight-seeing for the first time, probably you will go to see Sensoji in Asakusa ward. Then a super-big red chochin (a Japanese lantern) under the gate of Sensoji precinct welcomes you. You will take photographs and enjoy your traveling time around it, moreover you will feel somehow happy. How big it is! Why is it so big? Why is it so red? Why is its form thick and round? What are the two kanji characters? (The answer is “thunder” and “gate”. It reads “Kaminarimon”.) You will be sure that it is a traditional one as old as Sensoji because of the strong presence, but in fact, it has a short history from 1960. It’s a fact that it was presented by Shonosuke Matsushita who was the founder of Panasonic Co.,Ltd (the global electronic company), but why it was made is not distinct. Setting aside the reason of its birth, it makes you happy, and that is the reason of its existence. The super-big chochin and the gate are in a state of balance and equilibrium.   The...