Children’s Day (Kodoma no Hi) is a public holiday on 5th May and it celebrates happy and healthy children and expresses gratitude to their mothers. Up until 1948, Girls’ Day was two months earlier (but not a public holiday) than Boys’ Day, when Boys’ Day was changed to become Children’s Day. However, all the decorations – carp streamers with Samurai motifs relate to boys not girls! The display at Tokyo Tower is particularly impressive … 333 carp kites, to denote…
I was fascinated when I saw the above product in a convenience store … a quick check appeared to mention sheep! Back home I used google translate and came up with some very funny translations – ‘This is sheep playing Protect’, ‘Main sheep building preservation’, and ‘This hated sheep yellow existence’. The ingredients were much less interesting; red bean starch syrup & agar. So no sheep connection; not even mint sauce! I thought you needed a KitKat update. Digestive biscuit…
Retirement I was surprised to learn that for many companies in Japan, the retirement age is 60 years. This is a country with over 33% of its population 60 years and over. State pension is low so many people continue working for much longer …. however after the age of 60 years companies can dramatically reduce the pay & benefits levels for employees, even if they are continuing in the same job! There are plans to amend laws to help…
This is probably one of the favourite times of the year for many Japanese … a series of Bank Holidays that with only one day off combine to make a week of holiday. Unfortunately, as Tokyo and two other prefectures are back in a State of Emergency, people were asked to stay within their prefectures. We used the opportunity to explore new parts of the city. April 29th : Showa Day, is the birthday of Emperor Showa who died in…
One of my favourite landmarks …. and such a great help whenever I get lost! We spent an hour or so on the viewing platform; we had left it a while so that we would be able to recognise buildings. A bit about it …. Tokyo Tower, at 332.9 metres, is the second tallest tower in Japan, and was inspired by the Eiffel Tower. It is painted white & orange to comply with air safety regulations. A few aerial photos…
I came across the above at a shrine. This is a “Hundred Time Stone” (Hyakudo-Ishi) and has a rotating top section and a counter of discs like an abacus. You go from the stone to the shrine, pray and then go back to the stone for 100 times for 100 days. Can you imagine living somewhere where you place your handbag on a seat and then go into the cafe to place your order? Or, in the case of the…
Dazaifu This small city, established in the 7th century, is best known for the Tenmangu Shine. But of course there are many more temples and shrines! And in 2005, the very impressive building housing the Kyushu National Museum was opened. All photos above are taken in and around Tenmangu Shrine The five photos above are of Tenkai Inari Shrine, and below is the Kyushu National Museum Nokonoshima Just 10 mins via ferry … and wonderfully peaceful if you avoid the…
Fukuoka Tower, 234 m high, with an observation deck 123 m above ground was always a definite sight seeing spot for us …. Geoff always has to visit the highest point wherever we go! Fascinatingly it has been built to withstand winds as strong as 63m/second and an earthquake with a seismic intensity of 7. We went up Tokyo Skytree on a previous visit to Tokyo, so a trip up Tokyo Tower is long overdue. I’m not too convinced we…
Shofukuji Zen Temple This was the first Zen temple built in Japan, in 1195. The Zen master, Yosai, who was responsible for the building of this temple, is also famous for introducing tea cultivation to Japan. Tochoji Temple According to legend, this temple was founded in 806 by Kukai upon his return from modern day China. In 1992 the ‘Great Buddha of Fukuoka’ the largest wooden statue of a seated Buddha in Japan, was installed in an extension to the…
My first trip out of Tokyo … some 670 miles to the west (for comparison London to Edinburgh is 402 miles). Fukuoka is closer to Seoul than it is to Tokyo! The city, a mere 1.5 million in population, sits on the northern shore of Japan’s Kyushu Island, one of four main islands. However Japan has 6,852 islands in total, of which just over 400 are inhabited. I thought I had finished writing about KitKat but I think it will…