The last Winter Olympic Games were held in Turin, Italy. Shizuka Arakawa won the country’s only medal, a gold, in women’s figure skating. Athletes representing Japan participated in all but one of the 2006 Olympics’ 15 sports, with Ice hockey the only exception. The 2010 Olympic Games will begin in 5 days time in Vancouver, BC, […]
Tag: Japan
Shinjuku Halloween Protest 2009
Let me first point out that I am not the original source for this picture. If you would like to see more of the original sources pictures or read the story please go here. Well, others may have experienced this but it’s a first for me. I have never participated in the annual Yamanote line Halloween […]
What the Fu%$ was That
Happy Science I was riding my bike down the hill to Don Quixote the other day to buy a few odds and ends and to check out if they had any funny new Engrish advertising going on in the store and I spotted a business that I had not seen in town before. Now I’m not […]
Dumb & Dumber
Some of you will recall my earlier blog post about the DPJ defeating the LDP in the recent election. In that post I said something to the effect of “we will have to wait and see if the DPJ ends up being any better than the LDP.” Well if the past few days are any […]
Samba Samba in Yoyogi
Yesterday I went with my friend Hiroshi to the annual Brazilian Festival in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Koen (Park). I am embarassed to say that this was actually the first time I had been to Yoyogi and also the first international festival that I have been to since I first came to Japan. Well, as the old […]
My Neighbor Totoro Has Swine Influenza
Once again the entire country of Japan has decided to freak-out about the Swine Influenza and all of the Japanese housewives and mothers have frantically busted open their piggybanks and purchased hundreds of thousands of flu masks in a matter of just a few days. One day everyone will be walking around like normal and […]
Ryokan Styles
Just as there are many different ryokan room prices, there are also many different types or styles of ryokans. No two ryokans are the same, and the quality of ryokan varies dramatically. On the low end of the scale is what we call a “standard ryokan” and at the upper end of the scale is […]
Japanese Ryokan
I found this useful information about Japanese Ryokan so I thought I would pass it on. What is a Ryokan? A typical ryokan is an Japanese-style inn. Like a Western-style inn, maintaining the special, atmosphere and appearance is more important than providing the latest modern conveniences. A ryokan is for […]