Kenroku-en Garden

Kenroku-en Garden, located in Kanazawa, is officially one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan and well worth a visit if you’re in the area. Many consider Kenroku-en to be the best of the three official top gardens in Japan.

Founded in the Edo period (1603 – 1868), it’s visited by thousands of visitors throughout the year. It’s a favorite attraction of visitors and tourists alike and many come more than once, because the Kenroku-en garden reveals a different experience each season. Read the story »

A touch of Phuket shopping

We’re taking a break from Japan travel today to look at Phuket shopping in Thailand.

Shopping has become a trend for the travelers visiting to any tourist place. Just as Patong is famous for its beautiful beach; in the same way, Phuket is famous for shopping. Phuket is an island having beautiful sunshine scenes, sea views and a bed of sand. Phuket shopping markets sell fake items with the branded name especially in the electrical goods to large stores. These goods being cheaper compared to the West have lower quality.

For high quality goods, the malls are the best place for Phuket shopping. Central Festival in Phuket town is considered, as the biggest shopping mall where there are stores of the clothes, sportswear, shoes and lot more.

Read the story »

What you need to know about Nara in Japan

Nara was the capital of Japan many centuries ago. It is one of those ignored cities of Japan that are still worth visiting. Due to its smaller size and its proximity to Kyoto, most tourist won’t visit it.

Nara was the cultural historical capital of Japan. Not only due to its creations of culture in the past, but also to the number of buildings considered National Treasures by the Japanese government. If you want to walk within a traditional Japanese borough, then you should visit Nara. And by traditional, here it is meant with historical building that are many centuries old.

All major touristic sites are within walking distance from downtown. The conventional tourist course (starting at Kintetsu Nara Station to K?fuku-ji, Nara National Museum, Todai ji, Kasuga Taisha or back to the Kintetsu Nara Station) is about only 5 miles long. It is usually a quite pleasant way for most tourists.

If you only have one day to spend, focus just on the Nara Park. It is not that interesting for Japanese tourists, but Western tourists will appreciate it. With some more time, though, there’s much more to see.

Most of Nara’s touristic sights, like its temples, shrines or mercenary deer are concentrated within the Nara Park.

Todai ji is the home to the Daibutsu, the biggest Buddha statue in Japan. It is even one of the biggest in the world. More exactly the Daibutsu-den, that houses it, is known to be the biggest wooden building in the world.

Nara National Museum has one of the world’s largest collections about Buddhist art and it has changing exhibitions.

Kasuga Taisha is worth a visit for the beautiful approach, through the Kasuga Primeval Forest.

And there is more, much more, since Nara is a mainly a touristic city, it has developed many cultural offers in this direction.

The Mount Wakakusa Fire Festival, for example, is a splendid time to visit the city. Amazing fireworks, surrounded by a festivity. Huge wooden temples are built and burnt just for this occasion.

Nara is also known for its writing brushed, the handmade Narafude. They are very rare and expensive, but unique for Japanese calligraphy.

Let’s go to Osaka

Osaka is the second city of Japan. Not only it is the second city in its size, 17 million inhabitants, but also regarding its importance to the Japanese economy.

Tokyo is the official capital, but Osaka has something special, that sets it apart from all the rest of the country. Osaka has developed itself as an alternative culture capital.

Osaka is an ancient city to Japan and it was once its capital more than 1,000 years ago. Its importance derives partly from that time and partly from its own achievements in culture, art and industry. Osaka is a hub for the country regarding all aspects.

The best way of visiting the real Osaka is buying a subway ticket with unlimited travels. The subways covers the whole city and with an unlimited pass, you can just let yourself go.

As in many Japanese cities, there is a castle. The best views over Osaka are from this castle. The Osaka Castle has been converted into a museum, you can see original samurai’s swords in it that have seen combat and detailed weaponry used across the centuries by Japanese warriors.

The Osaka Science Museum is also a unique place to visit. You can spend days and days within it and won’t have seen everything. From miniatures to whole planes, in this museum, you’ll find anything that has been invented or improved by Japanese engineers and technicians along the years. It has a planetarium and a 3d cinema. It is a appropriate visit for young and old. Both children with a grasp of science and grown-ups will find entertaining activities in it.

Due to its old age, Osaka also has one of the oldest Shinto shrines. It has a known history of more than 1,800 years. It is embedded in a park and even if you don’t practice the Shinto faith, you are welcome at this place and you will be able to appreciate the inner piece that this sites transmits.

Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum is not so big or famous as the both alternatives above, but it has its charm. It will show you how it was invented, how it can be developed and you will have the chance of even letting them manufacture your favorite noodle according to your specifications.

Take a trip to Sapporo

Sapporo is one of the newest cities in Japan. It is also one of the nicest. With its 2 million inhabitants, it is considered a middle tier city, according to Japanese standards of size. It has little traditional architecture, but it doesn’t lack in Japanese style, even it is a rather modern style.

It is one of the rare Japanese cities organized with a grid system. It has streets that run from East to West and from South to North. Every street address follows the coordinate system. Therefore it is very easy to find a street, if you know that it is on East X and South Y. The only drawback to this system is that blocks are very large. In all cases, it is much easier to find an address in Sapporo than in other Japanese cities. If you are walking around the city, don’t forget to take the address of your hotel, hostel or accommodations written down on a paper. Otherwise, you might have trouble finding your way back.

One of its more famous monuments is the Clock Tower. It is rather a small building, with Western influence. It is the oldest building town and therefore is the symbol of the city. Although all Japanese tourist will visit this clock, it is not a surprise that almost no one has ever heard of it outside Japan. For most people it is a disappointment to come to Japan to just see a clock with Western style.

Ishiya Chocolate Factory is well-known by any Japanese children. Although the visit to the factory is a must see, if you have children, adults more interested in culture could find it boring. If you visit it anyway, don’t forget to buy some white chocolate from it, since it is unique.

Sapporo TV tower is an example of the Western influence in Japan. It is a replica of the Eiffel Tower but much smaller. Japanese tourist would visit it. Most Western tourist see no attractiveness in it.

Sapporo Beer Museum is of some interest. Entrance is free, what is quite uncommon for Japan. It is not very big and no beer is given away for free. It is an interesting visit that should last no more than one hour.

Take a holiday in Kanazawa, Japan

Kanazawa is one often overlooked tourist destination in Japan. Although Japanese tourist know to appreciate it, foreign tourists often not even have heard the name. It is in a remote location, in an off-beat track, but most tourists believe that it is worth the long journey, after visiting it. It is remote, but this only contributes to being more exotic.

Remember that this city was not heavily destructed during the war, so it is perhaps one of the best conserved cities in Japan of the Edo period. Another similar alternative is Takayama, that it’s equally impressive. It has a broad offer of temples and shrines. However, it has something more. This was some centuries ago hot spot for samurais, geishas, land lords and merchants. This city has been a trading place since many centuries and its buildings reflect this history.

If you come by train, you’ll see the symbiosis of Japanese old and new styles. The train station is a futuristic building integrated within a wooden temple of glass and steel. But, of course, although the train station is impressive, there are other tourists sights that are much more magnetic.

The first must-see place is perhaps the Kenroku-en Garden. It is with no doubt the most well-known sight in Kanazawa. Its name means the Garden of Six Attributes. It is considered one of Japan’s Top gardens. It was once the pleasure gardens of the Maeda Lords, many centuries ago. It has been expanded to occupy the entire block.

It has not been built until the end of the Edo Shogunate, and due to the fact, that it has been a long building project, it reflect the architecture of many styles and periods of time. Water is piped from some kilometres to fill its ponds. After that the same water fills the castle moats. It is definitely a great engineering feat of an ancient period.

Another impressive sight is the Kanazawa Castle. Castles are impressive no matter where you go. Within this castle, you could find the national university some years ago, however, this was for many centuries the place of the Imperial Army. Currently, the castle is a public space, and might be visited for free by anyone. It has a long history of more than 400 years.

Starting with the Ishikawa Gate, that’s name like the district of Ishikawa downtown. It is quite uncommon to find an original, century old gate in Japan. In this case, it is still used as gate. Some parts of the palace are only open upon payment of an entry fee that mostly goes to the budget of the restoration. The amazing thing about this castle is that it is constantly being restored. Its huge size implies that there is always a place that needs to be renewed. That, however, doesn’t imply that the castle is closed to the public.

One of the most magnetic, due to its high symbolical nature, is perhaps the Nagamachi Samurai District. This area is the traditional spot, where samurais actually lived, trained and were instructed. Efforts have been made to recreate the historical feel of this district, however, many critical tourist may find it too commercial. Samurai fans will be definitely disappointed.