Japanese Song of the Week Roly Poly by T-ara

This week's Japanese Song of the Week is Roly Poly by T-ara, which has debuted at number 3 on the Japanese J-Pop Oricon charts.

T-ara is a popular Korean girl group formed in 2009.

Read more about T-ara

White Day in Japan

Image from andrene_morris

March 14th is White Day in Japan. What is White Day you ask? White Day is exactly one month after Valentines’s Day, and is where boys have to return the favour of gifts received from girls on Valentine’s Day.

On Valentine’s Day in Japan girls present the boys with gifts usually chocolate. White Day is where the boys have to return the favour. Why call it White Day? It is pretty simple really. White is the colour of sugar the main ingredient in candy which is traditionally given on White Day.

Japan Remembers March 11th Tohoku Earthquake

Image from 7News

Today, March 11th marks the first anniversary of the horrific earthquake and tsunami that devastated the coastline of north-eastern Japan. The Japanese government will hold a memorial service at the National Theatre, which faces the Imperial Palace grounds in Tokyo to mourn the disaster. At 2.46pm trains will stop, shoppers will stand still and people throughout Japan will fall silent to mark the exact moment when the 9.0 magnitude quake set off a catastrophic chain of events.

McDonald's Japan Beverly Hills Burger

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

The latest and final release in the current series is the Beverly Hills Burger, which features a beef patty, cooked egg, lettuce, onions, avocado sauce and Caesar salad sauce.

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.