Dotonbori is one of Osaka’s most exciting leisure precincts being home to a huge number of restaurants, bars, clubs, theatres and entertainment complexes. The precinct hugs the Dotonbori-gawa Canal which is home to some of the city’s most spectacular neon signage and banks play host to many of the city’s celebrations. The area takes on an amazing atmosphere in the evenings when the neon and video screens come to life. The area is a food lovers paradise with some of the city’s best dining like Kani Doraku with its giant mechanical crab outside, Hariju a beef restaurant dating back to 924 and a Fugu restaurant serving the infamous poisonous fish Zubora-Ya. The streets are also filled with vendors selling delicious okonomiyaki and takoyaki octopus dumplings. Dotonbori is only a five minute walk from the Nambi Station and only moments away from the 600 metre long Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade which is a must for any serious shopper. Read the rest of this entry »
Some of the first thoughts that come to mind when you think of stereotypical Japanese’s favorite things would be sea creaters, robots and anime. Well this tourism video by the city of Hakodate sees a giant squid fighting a robot (while destroying the city in the process). How this gets tourist to the town we are not sure as all we can make out from the series of ads is that it’s from a campaign called “Go Hakodate”. Hit the read more for more from this odd series of ads. Read the rest of this entry »
At the end of a huge day at Tokyo’s Disney Sea the ocean’s come alive with the most spectacular show only Disney could attempt. BraviSEAmo! features fire, fireworks, giant dragons, fountains, boats and of course all your Disney characters- it is absolutely amazing. This You Tube video also features some of the DisneySea 5th year celebrations including Mickey and his team in a fantastic dance routine, overlooking the beautiful harbor. Later in the video are some of the magnificent shows including the Mystic Rhythms which feature the living spirits of the rain forest which tell their take of this land far from civilization and the Little Mermaid show which is a huge hit for both young and old. There is only one DisneySea in the world and it’s in Tokyo right next door to Tokyo Disney Land and is an amazing and unique theme park enjoyed by millions every year. Read the rest of this entry »
The Hiroshima Castle which is now sometimes fondly called the Carp Castle dates back to the 1590’s but was rebuilt after the atomic attack of 1945 in 1958 and today serves mainly as a museum of the city’s history prior to the war. The castle stands in beautiful gardens with moats full of carp and the odd turtle. In the late 1500’s and 1600’s the castle was an important seat of power in the Western Japan region and was built for Lord Mori Terumoto. Many Japanese castles were destroyed during the Tokugawa era in the late 1800’s but it took the events of 1945 to destroy this structure. The original castle was made primarily of pine and stone, where today the castle has reinforced concrete behind its lovely facade.
Ueno Park is one of the larger parks in Tokyo and home to many of Tokyo’s cultural attractions including the Ueno zoo, Tokyo National Museum, National Science Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The centre of the park is home to the Shinobazu Pond, which has a magnificent temple dedicated to the goddess of Benton on an island in the centre. It it truly beautiful when the lotus flowers are blooming late summer, but the park is probably more popular in the spring when the cherry blossom blooms thousands flock to see the flowers. The park is only a minutes walk from the JR Ueno Railway station making it easily accessible from all parts of Tokyo.
Like Tommorowland at Disneyland Port Discovery is Tokyo’s Disneysea’s look into the future. With a very flash Jules Verne inspired retro futuristic theme this place is a lot of fun with it’s two major attractions. The Stormrider is a simulator style ride which puts the rider in the eye of a huge storm experiencing wind and turbulence while the Aquatopia ride is a randomly steered hovercraft like vehicle which zooms around a shallow lake with lots of squirts and fun, you can choose to get soaked or stay fairly dry. Read the rest of this entry »
Every wanted to visit Japan but thought it was just too hard? well Happy Jappy is the website that can make your trip easy and most of all enjoyable. The website has a wealth of information, major cities, things to see even customs and some of the tasty food to try. Japan is one of the friendliest places you can visit and with Happy Jappy’s help it can be a great adventure and not cost you the earth. There’s some great tips on having a great time without spending heaps of money.
Toyota City is in the outskirts of Nagoya in central Japan and as the name suggest it is the home of the huge Toyota motor company. The company is trailing these cute little electric cars called the Crayon which can be hired thought the city. For a few hundred yen (a couple of dollars) you can hire them at many locations around the city. They have a cable on the front of the vehicle which has a paddle which plugs into a electric repowering station. The vehicles travel at reasonable speeds and have a range of about 30 kilometers they are quiet popular for getting shopping home and for buisness trips for many of the people who don’t have a car in this tightly packed city. Read the rest of this entry »
A lot of the world’s transport systems could learn a lot from the Japanese rail travel experience as it is amazing. Not only is it efficient, plentiful and on time they have what would have to be the world’s best ticketing system. They have several sensor card systems including the Suica and Pasmo systems and a multitude of special multi trip passes and not forgetting the JR pass which many tourists use, but the smartest system would have to be the fare adjustment system. A lot of people expecially the non Japanese speaking people have trouble working out how much the proper fare should be, well the stations have the answer, all you need to do is purchase the cheapest fare you can find, jump on the train and when you are done, as you exit the station go to the fare adjustment machine, it will tell you how short your ticket is, you just pay the extra few yen if required, it issues a new ticket and you take it to the exit turnstiles, it really takes the confusion out of rail travel.
Well we got the taste for Japanese stories with yesterday’s post so we thought we would do another. Today we feature the Shinkansen or Japan’s bullet train. This state of the art service is the safest, most punctual and one of the fastest rail services in the world. The service has been running for nearly 40 years and have carried over 6 billion passengers which is Earth’s entire population. The train system has never had a serious accident and travels at speeds in excess of 300 km per hour and there is testing of trains which will do 500 km per hour- it is quiet amazing. Catching the train is the easiest thing, no waiting and long queues like at the airport, just purchase a ticket from the vending machine or office counter, go to your station, wait at the allocated laneway, wait no more than a couple of minutes step inside the carriage walk a few paces to your allocated seat, sit down and away you go. It is that easy. A trip from Tokyo to Osaka takes a little more than 2 hours, and you usually have less than 10 minutes waiting time to board the train. During the day a train leaves Tokyo for Osaka every five minutes and each train holds about 1600 people. Food carts with lovely bento boxes and other treats are brought around the cabin, you can even purchase liquor. It’s one of the most comfortable and hassle free forms of travel.
