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Date: 2025-12-30 (JST) During Japan’s New Year celebrations, you will often see rankings of the most popular shrines for Hatsumōde (the year’s first shrine visit). These lists, topped by famous names like Meiji Jingu with over three million visitors, can…
Current date: 2025-12-29 (JST) What is Hatsumode? Hatsumode is the first visit to a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple in the new year. It is one of Japan’s most important and widely practiced traditions. From New Year’s Eve through the…
Current date: 2025-12-29 (JST)What Is Physically Here Kabukicho is a dense, compact district northeast of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. It consists of two main sections, 1-chome and 2-chome. The area is a grid of streets filled with multi-story buildings. These…
Current date: 2025-12-29 (JST) What This Is About While the first shrine visit of the year (hatsumode) is a central part of Japan’s New Year, the holiday period is also filled with traditional games and activities. These offer a hands-on…
Current date: 2025-12-29 (JST) Nabegataki Falls is not one of Japan’s largest or tallest waterfalls. Instead, its appeal is more subtle. Located in Oguni Town, Kumamoto Prefecture, this wide, curtain-like cascade offers a rare opportunity: the chance to walk behind…
Current date: 2025-12-28 (JST) Stepping into Narai-juku is like walking through a portal to the Edo Period. The air feels different here—cooler, cleaner, and filled with the faint scent of cedar and woodsmoke. Located in the heart of the Kiso…
Current date: 2025-12-28 (JST) URL Slug Suggestion: specialty-coffee-light-meals-saza-coffee-ibaraki Saza Coffee is a specialty coffee roaster based in Ibaraki, with locations across Japan. The flagship store sits in a quiet residential area near Katsuta Station, in a converted house that also…
Current date: 2025-12-28 (JST) Enoshima is often seen as a quick day trip from Tokyo, a place of shrines and sea views. But to truly experience its layered history and rugged natural beauty, you need to walk it. This guide…
Current date: 2025-12-19 (JST) Fukuoka has many ramen shops, but few offer what Nishimura Ramen does: a menu that changes with the season, and a finishing technique that transforms the meal from Japanese to Italian. The restaurant sits in a…
Current date: 2025-12-27 (JST) What Is Happening The traditional winter phenomenon known as “Omiwatari” (御神渡り), or “The God’s Crossing,” on Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture has not occurred since the winter of 2018. If the lake does not freeze completely…
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