Japanese Fireworks Festivals Hanabi (花火) (fireworks), not to be confused with Hanami (cherry blossom viewing), are truly exceptional and a staple of Japan’s summer festival season. In Japan [...]
In an earlier blog post “Introduction to Sake: 3 Steps to Drinking“, we offered some practical advice on choosing a great sake to drink. Today we talk more generally about a great [...]
In another post, we talked about traditional religions of Japan, and gave a basic overview of Shintoism and Buddhism. Now we delve a bit more deeply into Shintoism: specifically, into Shinto [...]
Last week was a glorious full bloom of Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) and almost everyone was out enjoying nature’s show at Hanami parties. “Hanami” literally means flower viewing and that, when done [...]
The Takayama Autumn Festival is a spectacular float festival that has been held for over 350 years, in both the spring and autumn. It features eleven tall floats that weigh several tons and [...]
