Nature & Culture of Japan

To make your trip to Japan more interesting

Month: September 2021

Let’s eat raw fish deliciously

As to Japanese custom , what surprises people from overseas is that Japanese people like to eat anything raw. They think they may fed old things and get stomachache. However, although I was born and raised in Japan for about…

Local character Hikonyan (地元キャラクター ひこにゃん)

In Japan, it used to be very popular for municipalities to create cute characters and to introduce their hometowns. There was also a competition to find out which municipality was most cute. Hikonyan in Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture was highly…

Nature and tourist destinations on Tanegashima Island(種子島の自然と観光地)

There are two islands just south of the mainland of Kyushu. Yakushima Island in the west has high mountains and is well known as an attractive place for naturalists. In the east there is Tanegashima Island. It is well known…

A hot spring (onsen) where naked men and women bathe together(混浴の温泉)

It is very surprised by foreigners that there is the custom of taking a public bath without wearing a bathing suit. Furthermore, they say there used to be a custom of both men and women to spend the same bath…

Vermont Curry

The curry rice with a Japanese style arrangement is different from the original Indian one. Adults and children in Japan both like it. Easy to make and delicious. Vermont Curry has once become a hot topic with visitors from North…

A Black-headed gull with a leg ring

A bird species Larus ridibundus, is a familiar bird in Japan and probably all over the world.  I was a little surprised to hear that its English name was Black-headed Gull, because it is a white bird that is usually…

The tallest building in Japan, Abeno Harukas

I go to the highest point of the city I visited, anyway. The tallest building in Osaka is Abeno Harukas in front of Tennoji Station. With a height of 300m, it seems to be the tallest building in Japan. Tokyo’s…

What are there under the willow in Japan

Willow is a tree that grows naturally along the river. Even in riverbeds that are flooded by heavy rain, their suppleness allows them to continue to take root. I think it’s a fairly strong plant, but what we Japanese people…

Dragonflies from the other world

In Japan, it has long been customary to visit graves in mid-August, because people believe, on those days, deceased ancestors return from the other world to this world. We have to greet them properly. The reason for greeting is to…

Two capitals in the east and the west have appeared in Japan since 16th Century

In Japan, the capital refers to the place where the emperor lives. Now it is Tokyo both in name and in practice, but this was not the case in the early modern period. The emperor was in Kyoto, but the…