NEWS OF TRAVEL JAPAN

In Kanazawa there is an architecture which bridges the Buddhist spirit of Japan to the world. It is Daisetsu Suzuki Museum. The designer of this museum is Yoshio Taniguchi, who is a famous Japanese designer, and one of his works is the new museum of MoMA in New York. He was born in Kanazawa and learned architectural design in Harvard Graduate University. He has sensitivity which was brewed in Kanazawa, which includes the air of samurai, artistic craft work, good food, Buddhism and eastern philosophy, and western rationality learned in New York. Then Daisetsu Suzuki Museum, which was inspired by Zen Philosophy of Daisetsu Suzuki, was built by the geometric architectural method. The design is simple with only straight lines and planes by concrete, iron and stones, but implies the essences of historical Japanese architecture. It may be that Daisuke Suzuki Museum is the indicator of the relativity and the continuity between the two senses of beauty of western people and Japanese...

It may be that Kobe city in Hyogo prefecture is a food base which has been supplying a lot of new foods which come from foreign countries to Japanese people. Pizza, which was born in Italy, landed of The Kobe Port by foreign sailors. The first Lemon Soda was sold in Kobe. These were distributed from foreign countries to Japan, and these were remade so as that Japanese people would love them. On the other hand, canned coffee for the first time in the world was born in Kobe. Moreover, Kobe-beef-steak grilled on a heated iron plate in front of guests was invented in Kobe in order to enjoy freshly grilled beef. The reason that Kobe became such a base of new foods was that Kobe was the gateway of foreign culinary delights and there have been Japanese people with gastronomic desires behind Kobe. Aside from being the birth place of the first bread in Japan, Kobe is traditionally one of the cities which has various bakeries. Especially, typically German bread is the core of the Kobe b...

Happy new year to you! “Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu”. Well, this phrase is a convenient common greeting at the beginning of a new year in Japan, but it’s difficult to translate it into English including the nuance. It implies a kind of hope that the person saying it wants to keep an “adequate” relationship with somebody.  At the beginning of a new year for celebration, a lot of Japanese people visit shrines (or temples rarely), which are adorned with new-year iconic decorations of celebrating. This time, let’s go to visit Nishinomiya Shrine in Nishinomiya city, Hyogo Prefecture, which is between Osaka and Kobe. It enshrines Okuni-no-mikoto, who is worshipped as the god of prosperity. Nishinomiya Shrine It’s three o’clock in the afternoon of January 1. Many people are already gathering outside of the shrine. As the first shrine visit of a new year, “hatsu-mode”, begins at the stroke of midnight and a lot of people celebrate new year at shrines, so that’s a matter of ...

Hanami-koji alley in Gion, Kyoto is an attractive place for those who like to take photos of the atmosphere of this old entertainment town for adult-men. And they eagerly want to take photos of a “maiko-han” or a “geiko-han”, who is a professional hospitable woman wearing a beautiful kimono. Once they find a maiko-han or a geiko-han, they will rush to walk to her to take photos. The house in which a maiko-han or a geiko-han welcomes a guest is called an “ochaya”. What kind of entertainment is in an ochaya? This time, I will write about the hospitable entertainment in the ochaya. Please follow me imagining that you are a guest. Ochaya A unique colored Japanese lantern is the symbol of an ochaya. Once you set foot on the ochaya after opening the gate door, immediately there is an unusual world. It’s so clean and elegant.  A welcoming doll welcomes you. The host lady of this ochaya invites you to a room where you will be given a lot of hospitality. The room, which is already...

This time, I’m going to write about Mt. Maya in Kobe where I live. Kobe is the most fashionable and beautiful city, which has many pastry shops, in the Kansai region, so that it is loved by many young women. And once a young woman has a boyfriend, she may want to spend her happy time with him on her days-off in Kobe. Mt.Maya The best place for their dates is the top of Mt.Maya at night. The night-scape from the top of Mt.Maya is so beautiful. The townscape in Kobe is filled with a lot of lights beneath their feet. The town-scape in Osaka which is across from Kobe over The Osaka Bay is like a kimono sash belt of light. And star dust over their heads is close to them. Mt.Maya is good place for marriage proposal. “I love you, ○○, and will you marry me?”; he might say to her. A young woman falling in love shall become a mother at some time in the future. When she has a lovely baby in her body she will hope for the good birth of her baby. She may visit the top of Mt.Maya again, to p...

What do you think the person in this picture is staring at? And what does he ask you? There are no words to explain it. This Zen-Buddhist picture is in the first big room nearby the entrance gate. All visitors surely enter this room. And maybe they will be emotionally moved by looking up at the 230 beautiful ceiling-picture pieces. However on the distant wall of the big room exists this picture, and it quietly looks at each visitor. If travelers who have substantially frivolous feelings noticed this picture and their eyes and the eyes of the picture met, they would have to go and stay in front of the picture. If the bald monk asked you;” what are you?”, what would you answer? The Zen practicing temple Here is the famous Zen practicing temple for elementary Zen monks. It is Eihei-ji Temple. It is located in the northern mountainous area in Fukui prefecture, which is on the west side of the north shore of the Japan Island along the Japan Sea. This area has large amplitude of fou...