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Biographies
Fukuzawa Yukichi
Fukuzawa Yukichi (福澤諭吉, 1835-1901) was a prominent educator, writer, and propagator of Western knowledge during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), founder of Keio Gijuku (慶應義塾, a private college, later Keio University), of Japan's first daily newspaper Jiji Shinpō (時事新報), and introduced the art of...
Travel
Chubu Travel Guide
The Chūbu Region (中部地方 Chūbu-chihō) is the central part of Japan’s main island Honshū and consists of three subregions, Hokuriku on the Sea of Japan, Kōshin’etsu, the Central Highlands, and Tōkai on the Pacific Seaboard, encompassing the following prefectures:
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Kunō-zan...
Language
Time in Japanese
Useful phrases related to expressing time (時間 jikan) in Japanese.
Phrases
What's the time now?
今、何時ですか？
Ima nan-ji desuka?
How long does it take?
どのくらいかかりますか？
Donokurai kakarimasuka?
At 2 o'clock sharp.
２時ちょうどに
2-ji chōdo ni
Temporal prepositions
About: about 2 hours (約２時間 yaku 2-jikan)...
Travel
Meiji Jingu Inner Garden
The Meiji Shrine Inner Garden (明治神宮内苑 Meiji Jingū Naien) lies adjacent to Meiji Jingū shrine and is an 8.3-hectare Japanese garden in the middle of the buzzing city. In the Edo Period (1603-1867), it served as the residence of the Katō clan, the daimyō of Kumamoto, and later the Ii family from...
Maruoka Castle (丸岡城 Maruoka-jō) is a hilltop castle located in Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture. It is famous for its wooden main keep, one of the oldest original castle towers in Japan.
When Oda Nobunaga captured the nearby temple of Hakusan Hougenji in 1575 to thwart further uprisings of the...
Bori-kuma (熊彫り, also known as 北海道 木彫り熊 Hokkaidō kubori kuma) are wooden carvings of bears that usually eat or bite into chum salmons. They were popular souvenirs of Hokkaidō, the second-largest and northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago. The winters there are particularly severe with...
Tenjinyama Castle was a stronghold of the Inaba Yamana clan. It was also known as Fuse-Tenjinyama Castle (布勢天神山城 Fuse-tenjinyamajō). The notion that Yamana Katsutoyo (山名勝豊), the fifth shugo (military governor) of Inaba, constructed the castle in 1466 seems unlikely, given that Katsutoyo died in...
History
Yamana Clan
In the Muromachi Period (1336-1467), the Yamana clan (山名氏 Yamana-shi) was one of the most powerful samurai families of Japan. The Yamana held the position of shugo (military governors on behalf of the shōgun) over eleven provinces. At the peak of their power in the early Muromachi Period, they...
Travel
Izushi Castle Town
Located in northern Hyōgo Prefecture, Izushi (出石) is also known as the "Little Kyōto of Tajima". The small castle town - merged into Toyooka in 2005 - is famous for its nostalgic atmosphere, its traditional Japanese architecture, and its very own kind of buckwheat noodles: Izushi-soba...
Travel
Kanazawa Bunko
Kanazawa Bunko (金沢文庫), also known as the Kanesawa (or Kanezawa) Bunko, is a library located in Kanazawa-chō, Kanazawa-ku, in the city of Yokohama. Along with the Ashikaga Gakkō library, it was one of the two most important centres of learning in medieval Japan. Nowadays, it is a private museum...
Society
Koban: Japanese police boxes
Kōban (交番), translated as “police box”, are the ubiquitous urban police stations in Japan usually located next to train stations, shopping centres, busy intersections, but also throughout residential districts. Originally called hashutsusho (派出所, “despatch station” or “local police station”) in...
Tōjinbō (東尋坊) is a scenic spot in Fukui Prefecture along the Sea of Japan coast known for its pillarlike joints of pyroxene andesite thrust up twenty-five metres high from the sea. It is part of the Echizen-Kaga Kaigan Quasi-National Park (越前加賀海岸国定公園 Echizen-Kaga Kaigan Kokutei Kōen).
The...
Latest Blog Entries
It was a summer (and perhaps will be an autumn) of superlatives: the shortest rainy season, the hottest months of July and August, the deadliest floods and landslides (in Western Japan and Hokkaido), and the most powerful typhoons on record. Trami, or Typhoon No.24 according to the Japanese...
Typhoon No. 20 ('Cimaron') left flooded rivers, disrupted train services and several thousands of households without electricity in its wake, but caused no further havoc to Himeji. The post-typhoon high-pressure guaranteed perfect photo conditions (the photos below were taken with a smartphone...
After a hearty breakfast, we set out for Izumo-taisha (出雲大社), the Izumo Grand Shrine. It is located on the northwestern outskirts of the city and is one of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan. Though the exact date of its establishment is unknown, it is believed to be the oldest shrine in...
On Day 5, we left early for Matsue in Shimane Prefecture, about 120 km west of Tottori. There are no highways along the coast of San’in, only one-lane expressways, some of which are toll roads. We arrived in Matsue at noon, and the sun burned down relentlessly.
Matsue Castle is one of the...
Busy day in Tottori. We visited:
The dunes
the Sand Museum
the Tottori Castle Ruins
the Ikeda clan graves
Iwami to join a boat tour
the Hakuto Shrine
The famous dunes of Tottori, Japan’s very own desert.
You can dress up in a localised Bedouin costume and ride on camels and dromedaries. Or...
We planned a brief stopover in Amanohashidate, one of the three Scenic Views of Japan, but ended up spending the whole day. Here’s why:
Wonderful sights, wonderful food, and a roundtrip by boat. We reached Tottori City around 8 pm.
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