Kyoto Japan

Kyoto (京都) is one of the must see places in Japan on any trip. With more than 2000 shrines and temples, Japan’s former capital is considered the home of culture and history in Japan. The absolute minimum amount of time you should spend in Kyoto is two days but more is highly recommended to fully experience what the place has to offer.

The must see places in Kyoto include:

Hina Matsuri Doll’s Festival

Hina Matsuri (雛祭), or Girl’s Day, is a Japanese Doll Festival, which is celebrated on March 3rd in Japan. 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 are used to display the set of ornamental dolls called (雛人形 hina-ningyō) which represent the Emperor, Empress and other court attendants in traditional court dress of the Heian period 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.

Inaugural World Tea Farms Festival

The Inaugural World Tea Farms Festival is a must see event you should schedule in to your calendar for March. It’s a 2 Day Festival celebrating tea from around the world. There will be tea from 30 tea farms including tea from India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. The tea from Japan will feature tea from Wazuka, Shizuoka, Yame, Kyoto, Nara and many more.

The event will be held on Saturday March 10th – Sunday March 11th from 10am to 4pm.

Japanese Song of the Week GIVE ME FIVE! by AKB48

This week’s Japanese Song of the week is GIVE ME FIVE! by AKB48, which has debuted at number 1 on the Japanese J-Pop Oricon charts.

Read more about AKB48

This is the group's 25th single and is very happy and upbeat. The 18 selected members for the single actually spent six months learning how to play their instruments, so they could perform it live.

McDonald's Japan Big America Burgers Broadway Burger

The McDonald’s Japan Big America Burgers have returned for 2012. You can read about the previous editions of the burger here.

The latest release is the Broadway Burger, which features a quarter-pound beef burger topped with fresh vegetables, pastrami bacon, mustard sauce and cream cheese sauce.

Japanese Song of the Week Junjou U-19 (純情U-19) by NMB48

This week’s Japanese Song of the Week is Junjou U-19 (純情U-19) by NMB48, which has debuted at number 1 on the Japanese J-Pop Oricon charts.

NMB48 is an all-girl Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. They were formed as a sister group of AKB48 based in Namba, Osaka. The group performs at NMB48 Theatre in Namba, Osaka with the name of the group “NMB” coming from “Namba” in the Minami district in Osaka.

Osaka Japan

Image by jiquem

Osaka is one of the must see places in Japan on any trip. Osaka is famous for its relaxed down to earth people, sense of humour and great food. Osaka is a really attractive city with traditional buildings mixed in with modern architecture. Osaka really comes alive at night with flashing neon lights and street vendors.

Osaka is divided into two main areas Kita (North) and Minami (South). Kita is the city’s main business and administrative center and contains the JR Osaka Train Station. Minami is the city’s entertainment and shopping area. It contains entertainment and nightlife areas such as Namba and Shinsaibashi.