NEWS OF TRAVEL JAPAN

What was reported to western society regarding Japan for the first time is, as far as I know, “The travels of Marco Polo”. He told his friend what he had experienced and heard from others on his journey to China in the 13th century, and his friend left them out. This book says that Japan was the country of gold. It is said that this book involved much fictions, but in Japan at that time there was place which he talked about. It was Hiraizumi. Hiraizumi is located in Iwate prefecture in the north-east of the Honshu approximately 450Km from Tokyo. Hiraizumi in the 12th century had produced gold and sustained prosperity independently very far from Kyoto which was the capital of Japan at that time. The lords of Hiraizumi for four generations had contributed their assets to Buddhism on the hills of Chuson-ji and one lord built the Golden Hall. It gathered great popularity and its reputation seemed to be transferred to China. You can see it as it was built in 1124 thanks to the big projec...

Gold has fascinated human beings as a beautiful precious metal that never loses its luster. Meanwhile gold is produced in comparatively small quantities. These antithetic characteristics may have given birth to gold leaves. A gold leaf corresponds to gold metal in quality, on the contrary, the gold leaf doesn’t correspond to gold metal in texture. A gold leaf is an indispensable item in Japanese culture. Golden Buddhist statues, golden fusuma ( Japanese sliding screens), golden houses and golden armors( it’s funny). These golden surfaces are made by gold leaves. Kanazawa and Gold leaves Nowadays 99% of gold leaves are produced in Kanazawa which is my home-town. By the way, the name of Kanazawa in Japanese is “a golden marsh”. In that kind of meaning, Kanazawa deserves to be the supreme producing city of gold leaves. Moreover, citizens in Kanazawa are the most numerous ice cream eaters in Japan. In such Kanazawa you can gain amazing experience of eating a soft ice cream covered ...

The capital city of Japan is Tokyo, but until 150years ago it had been Kyoto, and Emperors in those times had lived in the present Kyoto Imperial palace. Sento Imperial Palace is located at the nearly south-east place from the Kyoto Imperial Palace. It was the place where the abdicated Emperors once lived. My wife and I visited there when it was already very hot in the mid-summer morning. As might be expected upon visiting a recent historical heritage site in Japan, there were some foreigners in our visiting touring group. The semi-artistic stillness with nature of Sento Imperial Palace surprised us by the dynamic change from the real world in the mid-town of Kyoto, and it made us feel cool regardless of the high temperature in this mid-summer as well. Sento Imperial Palace has a special atmosphere brewed by a big pond surrounded with a lot of woods coupled with a few houses and bridges. Sento Imperial Palace has a lot of traits of Japanese cultures which have been transforming thr...

Goshuin stamp-books are becoming gradually popular. The above picture is a goshuin stamp-book with which someone used to go around temples and shrines. The word goshuin stamp-books in Japanese comprises of “go”, “shu” and “in” by kanji characters, it means “respectful”, “vermilion” and “stamp”. It is said that the original style of goshuin stamp-books was generated in the twelve century, but the present goshuin stamp-books aren’t the stale repetition of an outworn style. Goshuin stamp-books include so many Japanese styles that it matches your memorial goods of traveling in Japan. It will surrender yourself to a world enclosed by something energetic of Japan when you look at it. A lot of Japanese styles Goshuin stamp-books themselves are a Japanese style and include many elements of Japanese style as well. First of all the paper of goshuin stamp-book is Japanese paper “washi”. Washi presents specific texture to written words.  Second, there are goshuin stamp-books with one ...