Chunichi Shimbun Gifu Fireworks

Held on the last Saturday of July, the Chunichi Shimbun Gifu Fireworks is one of the largest and best fireworks displays in all of Japan. Fireworks are a great summer tradition here In Japan with many firework festivals taking place around Japan in July and August. Fireworks are called Hanabi (花火) in Japanese, which literally means fire flower. The fireworks are just that as they beautifully light up the summer night sky.

The Chunichi Shimbun Gifu Fireworks takes place in Gifu City (岐阜) over the famous Nagara River with Mt Kinka and Gifu Castle as a backdrop. The fireworks last around 90 minutes with approx. 30,000 fireworks set off. The best seat in the house is along the river bank where the fireworks are launched.

This is the must see summer event in Gifu along with the Ukai (Cormorant Fishing). Gifu City is packed on the day with people visiting from all over Japan. The atmosphere is electric with huge lines of street vendors selling all kinds of Japanese festival food and people out and about in their beautiful yukata (summer kimono).

Make sure you arrive early to reserve a good spot and bring along your seating mat. I recommend Nagaragawa Park which is at the northern end of the Nagara Bridge.

Here are a few photos from the festival last year

The Nagara River with Mt Kinka and Gifu Castle in the background

The crowds at the Chunichi Shimbun Gifu Fireworks

Festival Food and Beautiful Yukata

Fireworks ~ The star of the night

Fireworks over the Nagara River

INFORMATION:

WHAT: Chunichi Shimbun Gifu Fireworks
WHEN: Saturday July 26
TIME: 7:15 pm to 8:45 pm
WHERE: Nagara River bank (between the Nagara Bridge and Kinka Bridge)
ACCESS: Special buses run from JR Gifu Station and Meitestu Station

Chunichi Fireworks Festival

How-to: Business Etiquette in Japan

Whether you’ve moved to Tokyo for a new job or your company is expanding overseas, there are a few cultural differences in the workplace you should familiarize yourself with. The Japanese pride themselves on being gracious and building strong relationships, and exchanging gifts is just one of the many ways these ties are built.

The biggest difference in Japanese business etiquette is that it’s a lot more formal than Western cultures. Unless you are working with the imperial family, most Japanese business persons understand the cultural difference and won’t judge you too harshly. That being said, here are a few things you may want to avoid:

10 Tips to Survive Summer in Japan

Summer in Japan is very hot and sticky with the mercury rising to the mid and high 30C levels with very little relief at night. Popular destinations like Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka can get extremely hot during this season. You can escape the heat by heading to places like Nikko, north of Tokyo or the cooler Japan Alps in the heart of Japan. Alternatively you can follow these handy tips below to survive a Japanese Summer.


10 Tips to Survive Summer in Japan

Tanabata Star Festival 2014

Tanabata (七夕), also known as the “Star Festival” takes place every year on the 7th day of the 7th month here in Japan. In Japanese, Tanabata (七夕) means evening of the seventh; (七) = seventh and (夕) = evening. The Japanese festival originates from Chinese legend, and celebrates the meeting of the two stars, Altair and Vega. According to the legend, the Milky Way, a river of stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only one night a year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunisolar calendar. It is a fabulous story that was popularized in Japan over 1,300 years ago!

Mister Donut Matcha Doughnuts

Popular Japanese doughnut chain, Mister Donut has released a limited edition range of Matcha Green Tea doughnuts. The Matcha doughnuts will be available from May 15 until the end of July, with Mister Donut offering six different styles of Matcha doughnuts to choose from.

The doughnuts include the Pon de Matcha Choco, Krantz Ring Matcha Choco, Nama Choco Matcha Pie, Waff Matcha Choco, and Misdo Bits Matcha Mix.

Here is a little more about each Doughnut:

Mos Burger French Cruller with Chorizo Sausage

Popular Japanese burger chain Mos Burger has just released a new doughnut burger that is an interesting creation. Called the French Cruller with Chorizo Sausage, the burger or doughnut is a kind of cross collaboration between Mos Burger and Mister Donut. Mos Burger has used the famous Mister Donut French Cruller Doughnut as inspiration for its doughnut pastry like bun for its latest burger.

Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa Tokyo

Asakusa is probably the most popular place in Tokyo for foreign and Japanese tourists alike. Located between the other tourist hotspots of Akihabara and Tokyo Skytree, Asakusa is a great place to visit for its temples, shrines and traditional shopping streets.

Every year in late May the Sanja Matsuri (Three Shrine Festival) is held, and is regarded as one of the top 3 Shinto festivals in Japan. The festival celebrates the 3 founders of Senso-ji , the well-known temple in Asakusa. Participants carry mikoshi (little portable shrines) around Asakusa, while they chant, sing and play instruments.

McDonald’s Japan World Cup Menu

The soccer World Cup in Brazil will start this week and McDonald’s Japan has celebrated this great event by releasing some World Cup menu items. McDonald’s Japan is offering several burgers based on nations expected to do well at the World Cup. The nations represented are Brazil, Germany, Spain, France and Japan.

In total, McDonald’s Japan will release 14 new World Cup themed menu items starting from May 27.

Tonkatsu McBurger McDonald’s Japan

McDonald’s Japan earlier this month introduced its latest creation called the Tonkatsu McBurger. It went on sale from May 7 and features Tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet) which is a popular meal here in Japan. They have used a blend of both fine and coarse breadcrumbs to coat the pork cutlet giving it a crispier coating. The pork used is rosu (ロース) or pork loin, which is soft and juicy. It comes with shredded cabbage, which is the traditional accompaniment to a Tonkatsu meal in Japan. The burger is also topped with mustard and McDonald’s own special sweet Tonkatsu sauce, which contains grated onion, carrot, tomato and apple. All of this goodness is contained within bran buns.

Mister Donut Croissant Doughnuts

Mister Donut Japan has released a new range of croissant doughnuts. The doughnuts went on sale on April 1 and are called “Mr. Croissant Donut”. The doughnuts are made from croissant dough that is fried and then oven baked. We like that sound of that! This gives the doughnuts a very light and flaky texture.

The Mr. Croissant Donuts come in three different flavours:

McDonald’s Japan Avocado Burger

McDonald’s Japan is offering a new limited edition avocado burger that is surprisingly good. The burgers come in three varieties: Beef, Chicken and Ebi (Shrimp). All the burgers feature large chunks of avocado and Italian style ciabatta bread. The beef version contains a spicy wasabi soy mayonnaise sauce, while the chicken and shrimp contain a Cobb salad style sauce.

The burgers went on sale April 17th and cost around 399 yen (USD$3.90) each. They will be available through late May.

10 Things You Need to Know Before Moving to Japan

Japan is an amazing country to live and work with polite, friendly people, fast modern & convenient transportation, fantastic service, and a high standard of living. It is also a mysterious ancient land that can bewilder many first-time visitors to the country. There is a lot you should know before moving to Japan and after contributing to an expat tip campaign, run by HiFX, I thought I would pass on some handy tips from my 10 years’ worth of experience of living in this land of the rising sun.

Here are some insider tips to help you quickly settle into Japan.

Japan and China Friendship Garden Gifu

The Japan and China Friendship Garden (日中友好庭園) is located right across the road from Gifu Park (岐阜公園) in Gifu City. The garden was created to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the friendship and affiliation between Gifu City in Japan and Hangzhou in China. It was also created to further improve the sometimes fragile relationship between these two nations.

Inside the garden is a small version of the West Lake of Hangzhou and some interesting Chinese style architecture including a Hangzhou gate and a pair of guardian lions. The pond and garden has been created to reflect the scenery of the four seasons.

Sausage vs The World

Today, I’d like to tell you a little about a new design company called Sausage vs. The World. The company based in Kobe, Japan consists of two Aussies and one Japanese. They focus on delivering quirky designs that you just simply fall in love with. After living in Japan for quite a few years they like to incorporate Japan’s charming and cute culture into their unique designs. Sausage isn't as cute as the standard Japanese character but is aware of this and exudes his own unique charm. The two Aussies haven’t forgotten their roots and also like to work a little Aussie charm of their own into the design as well with a big celebration of the absurd that us Aussies really like.

Here is a little more about the company.

The Flavors of Spring in Japan

Spring is finally here in Japan and if you can’t tell, I’m very excited about it! It has been a long cold winter here in Japan and spring brings with it the promise of warmer weather and the beautiful cherry blossoms. The cherry blossoms usually make their appearance here in Gifu in late March and early April. You can read my post about the must see Cherry Blossom Spots in Gifu.

This time of year also sees a lot of interesting and delicious spring or cherry blossom inspired food and drinks in Japan. A few of my favourites so far have been:

Best Cherry Blossom Spots in Gifu

We are lucky here in Gifu to have so many great spots for viewing the beautiful cherry blossoms. This year they are expected to start blooming close to their average schedule with the estimated start date of around March 25 in Gifu. The peak is estimated for around April 3-10.

A popular past-time during the sakura or cherry blossom season in Japan is “hanami”. Hanami (花見) literally means “flower viewing” and cherry blossom viewing is a traditional Japanese custom of enjoying the beautiful cherry blossoms.

Below are some of my favourite spots for cherry blossom viewing in Gifu.

Sakura Teritama Burger

The Sakura Teritama Burger also affectionately known as the “Cherry Blossom Burger” is just about to hit McDonald’s Japan stores across the country. Spring in Japan is the time for the beautiful Sakura or Cherry Blossoms, which usually start to bloom in late March in Central Japan. This time of the year also sees lots of spring or cherry blossom inspired food and drinks in Japan. One of my favorites so far has been the tasty Sakura Cherry Blossom Ice Cream from Haagen Dazs. To fit in with the season, McDonald’s Japan will release a spring inspired burger complete with sakura pink-colored buns and a sakura mayonnaise sauce.

White Day 2014

White Day is a special day held in Japan on March 14, exactly a month after Valentine’s Day. White Day is a time in Japan for the boys to return the favour of gifts received earlier from the girls on Valentine’s Day. Why is it called “White Day”? It is simple really, white is the colour of sugar, which is the main ingredient of candy traditionally given as a gift on White Day.

Popular traditional gifts on White Day include white chocolate, cookies, jewelry, white lingerie, and marshmallows. These days anything goes, so the gifts can be pretty much anything.

Hina Matsuri Japanese Doll’s Festival

March 3rd in Japan is a special day called Hina Matsuri (雛祭), a traditional Japanese festival also commonly known as Doll’s Festival or Girl’s Day. On this day, families with girls will display ornamental dolls in the hope of bringing their daughters a successful and happy life.

Platforms covered with a red carpet called hina-dan (雛壇) are used to display the set of ornamental dolls called hina-ningyō (雛人形). The dolls represent the Emperor, Empress and other court attendants in traditional court dress of the Heian period (794-1185) in Japan. The dolls are usually displayed on a five or seven tired stand with the Emperor and Empress at the top. The next step contains three court ladies (sannin-kanjo), followed by five musicians (gonin-bayashi), two ministers (udaijin and sadaijin), and three servants ending the bottom row in a five-tiered display.

McDonald’s Japan American Vintage 1980s Funky BBQ

McDonald’s Japan earlier this year released their new menu series called ‘American Vintage’. The first in the series was the 1950s American Diner, followed by 1970s Soul Food. The last in the American Vintage series is the 1980s themed Funky BBQ. McDonald’s Japan has chosen a BBQ variety from the US with a special smoked flavour from birch and cloves, and made with a blend of 10 different spices and herbs. The 1980s Funky BBQ went on sale at McDonald’s restaurants across Japan on February 18th and will remain on the menu until early March.