The Tokyo Traveler

Are you brining kids with you when you visit Tokyo?  I am a big advocate about reading and learning about a destination before I visit and Kids Web Japan offers a lot of great information that is accessible, understandable and fun for children of all ages.
Read folk tales from Japan or learn about native foods and dress.  Learn more about what’s cool, the language or even play some virtual games.  There is a lot of information available on this great website and it is one that I recommend exploring with or without your kids.
The time spent learning about Japan …read more

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Have you even wondered what Japan was like during the time of the post WWII occupation? Many of us are very familiar with the Japan boom of the 80’s and the bust that followed in the 90’s but most of us have only read about post WWII Japan in text books that don’t really touch on what life was like for the Japanese and the occupying forces during this time.
“Everything along the coast must have been built close together, because now it is endless rubble. There is no open country when you leave town.
You are smack-jam in another community …read more

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Held in beautiful and spacious Hamarikyu Gardens, the Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony offers a unique opportunity to experience a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony.  Demonstrations and lectures will be held in an effort to familiarize both citizens and international visitors with the ancient history and rituals associated with tea in Japan.
In October 1587, the feudal warlord, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, hosted a tea ceremony occasion at Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto, serving tea to his guests whether or not they were interested in tea. It is said that he created over 800 place settings and brought a golden tea room into the shrine …read more

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Upon approaching the main building of a shrine in Tokyo you may notice a number of wooden plaques tied to a simple structure or tree.  These are ema and visitors purchase them from a stall on the shrine premises, write a prayer on the back, and then leave them behind in the hope that their prayer might be answered.  People employ ema to pray for good health, bountiful harvests, prosperity in business, success on exams, overall happiness and just about anything else you can imagine.
The literal translation of ema is “horse picture” and it is a tradition that dates back …read more

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Did you know that the world’s oldest man, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is Tomoji Tanabe, from Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan?  He will be 113 on his birthday next week.
Today was  Respect for the Aged Day, Keiro no Hi, in Japan and it is a national holiday.  The holiday is relatively new, designated in 1966, and there aren’t many customs surrounding the day that originated back in 1951 when it was know as Toshiyori no Hi, or old people’s day. But Keiro no Hi is sure to gain significance as Japan struggles with an ageing population that …read more

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Toto Norenkai is an association of shops and businesses that have been in operation in Tokyo, formerly know as Edo, for over 100 years and three generations. In Japanese the single word “Toto” captures the essence of both old Edo and modern-day Tokyo, and “noren” refers to the traditional curtain-like sign that is hung over the doorway to announce the name of the shop and that it is open for business, while “kai” means “club” or “association”.
Established in 1951, as a way to preserve the traditions of old Edo while promoting their business to an evolving clientele that was …read more

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Recently I shared 10 Tips for a Greener Trip to Tokyo and told you that the use of eco-bags by residents of the city was increasing. The furoshiki is the original eco-bag and is a simple square piece of cloth that the Japanese have been using to wrap and carry items for centuries. It is a beautiful, not to mention ‘green’, item that you can take home with you and that will serve as a lovely reminder of your time in Japan.
The Ministry of the Environment in Japan promotes the use of furoshiki and dates it’s first …read more

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If you ever make plans to meet someone in Shibuya there is a good chance that they will suggest meeting at the Hachiko statue. Located in a plaza just outside the station you will find an unassuming statue of an Akita dog named Hachiko whose story and memory is beloved by the people of Tokyo and throughout Japan.
Hachiko arrived in Tokyo with his owner, Hidesamurō Ueno, an agricultural professor at the University of Tokyo, in 1924 and each day he saw Ueno off to work and met him at Shibuya Station upon his return. For ten years …read more

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The Toden Arakawa Line operates a fleet of streetcars that are the last of their kind in Tokyo. The line started operations back in 1911 and faced closure in the 1960’s due to the influx of automobiles on the roads after WWII that saw the number of streetcar riders drop off dramatically. Thanks to some of the local residents, who resisted the closure of the lines in their neighborhood, you too can enjoy a nostalgic trip on the Toden Arakawa Line, affectionately know by the locals as the chin-chin densha, or “ding-ding train”, a name derived from the …read more

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“The first charm of Japan is intangible and volatile as a perfume.”
Those words were written by Lafcadio Hearn, one of the first westerners to be considered a true Japanophile. Hearn was born in Greece, to an Irish father and a Greek mother, moved to Ireland at the age of two and to the United States at the age of nineteen where he lived in Cinicinati and New Orleans and established himself as a writer. He spent some time in the West Indies before being sent to Japan in 1890 as a newspaper correspondent. He never returned …read more

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