Kuramae has quite a few artisans’ workshops. Sometimes the town is called as Brooklyn in Tokyo. If you visit those workshops, you may find something special is waiting for you. Those crafts are what you cannot find in the ordinary chain stores or branches of large-scale retail shops. ...
Window-Shopping in the Wholesalers’ Town of KuramaeWindow-Shopping in the Wholesalers’ Town of Kuramae
Kuramae is a town of wholesalers. As I wrote in the previous posting, there are shops old and new. Kuramae in Japanese means “in front of the rice warehouses”. It was called so because there used to be rice warehouses where Edo Government during 17th – 19th Century kept rice ...
Finding Craft Shops in KuramaeFinding Craft Shops in Kuramae
Kuramae is not far from Asakusa and a kind of “emerging artisanal area” as lots of craft shops lined up along the street. Some of them are century-old shops and some are new comers including trendy cafes. There is a good mixture of old and new. ...
Top 5 Japanese Flowers in SummerTop 5 Japanese Flowers in Summer
Summer in Japan is quite hot and humid. It becomes even hotter this year. Some cities hit the record-breaking temperature as high as over 40 degrees. So obviously it is not comfortable to travel under such climate. But at the same time, this is the season you can enjoy many ...
Strolling along the Plants Market in AsakusaStrolling along the Plants Market in Asakusa
One of the largest plants markets is held in Asakusa every year at the last weekend of May and June. Japanese people love growing plants since the old times. People go to plants markets and buy a flower pot or two. Sometimes they are bonsai pots. If you visit Asakusa at ...
Walking in the Remains of Maizuru Castle in KofuWalking in the Remains of Maizuru Castle in Kofu
Oversea visitors may want to visit castles in Japan. There are many throughout Japan, sometimes the original shapes still remain, sometimes only the ruins remain. Whatever the situation is, visiting castle can take you back to old days. And if you want to visit castles, Yamanashi may be quite good ...
Seeing Summer Flowers in YamanashiSeeing Summer Flowers in Yamanashi
Yamanashi is very hot during summer because it is a basin surrounded by mountains. So it would be hard to walk around at this time of the year. But still, there are good things travelling in this season. You can see many flowers. ...
Visiting Japanese Garden with GravelsVisiting Japanese Garden with Gravels
There are many temples and shrines in Yamanashi perhaps partly because it was governed by a powerful feudal lord Shingen Takeda. The architecture of those old monuments is worth visiting but apart from the architecture, there are beautiful Japanese gardens. ...
Finding Modern Architecture in YamanashiFinding Modern Architecture in Yamanashi
Yamanashi Prefecture is famous for the feudal lord Shingen Takeda and there are many temples and shrines from the medieval era. But in late 19th and early 20th century, the Governor of that time, Shiro Fujimura introduced modern architecture. ...
Sunflower Field in YamanashiSunflower Field in Yamanashi
I tried to change my site from wordpress.com to a rental server but could not succeed at that time. I hope this time I can manage. The first posting in this new site is the Sunflower Field in Yamanashi Prefecture. ...