Hanami Highlights
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Sometimes when you’re homesick and nothing is working to keep you motivated and happy, you need to do something out the ordinary. Similar to most of you, I decided to go traveling around Japan for spring break. Even though I love Awaji, every now and then I get island fever. I prepared for this trip…
I love this style of cooking in Japan. It is wonderful to all sit around the hot pot and enjoy cooking and eating together. This dish’s name comes from the sound of the meat or fish swishing in the water as it is cooked.
So, you wake up one day and you find yourself staring at a stranger in the mirror. And in addition to your eye-brows that need to be re-arched, a facial that is over-due and the nose job you have been contemplating, you also find yourself thinking a certain way, you are embedded with certain thoughts,…
Festivities in Kobe’s Chinatown during the first weekend of February celebrated Shunsetsu, and the start of the year of the Rabbit. Beginning February 3rd with the new moon (to end January 22nd, 2012), Rabbit years are said to be for catching one’s breath after the dynamism of the Tiger. This year’s Rabbit is associated with the element metal, so the fluffy bunny may have a bit of a sharp edge (perhaps dulled a little by the fact that it’s yin metal, not yang this year)! Nankin-machi was thronged with visitors all weekend long, and on display were performances of dance, acrobatics, tai chi, as well as the famous lion and dragon dances.
It’s April and that means the brief, but beautiful cherry blossom season. The sales of blue tarpaulins are set to sky rocket and public intoxication in the middle of the day will reach giddy new heights. Whether it’s your first, final or other, 花見 season in Japan, Hyogo has a positive cornucopia of great spots…
A photo gallery from Jon Burroughs