osaka Travel Guide
6/27/2008 at 1:45 PM
Tags: Japan Travel, Smoking (all tags)
In an effort to keep underage kids from buying, new cigarette vending machines in Osaka have facial recognition cameras. The scanners look for wrinkles and other signs of age before greenlighting the purchase of a pack.
But some crafty kids in Japan have come up with a work-around: They simply hold up a magazine photo of someone older and the machine gives them the OK.
The manufacturer of the machines says a new system that can't be fooled will be ready to go soon. Funny thing is, there's already something more effective: Japan's Taspo program--RFID cards used for age verification--will be installed on machines nationwide by next month.
Related Stories:
· Taspo [Official Site]
· Magazine Photos Fool Age-Verification Cameras [Pink Tenticle, via]
· Osaka Field Trip [Jaunted]
· Osaka coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: PT]
by pbb
3/14/2008 at 9:16 AM
Tags: Sports Travel, Japan Travel (all tags)
The cherry blossom viewing in Japan might have been delayed this year, but the Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka has gone ahead. The early rounds started up this week, but there are still nine days of intense, fat-man-wearing-nappy action to come.
If you're in Osaka or heading there, tickets are still available for every day except the grand final (March 23). For some tournament days you can still get same-day, general admission tickets--you can buy them from 8.00am--for the very reasonable price of 2000 yen (under US$20).
We were inspired to look up the sumo tournaments again after we read a new beginner's guide to sumo--in which you get to imagine David Beckham as a sumo wrestler. That's a weird thought that probably needs to be washed down with some good sake.
Related Stories:
· Beginner's Guide to Sumo Wrestling [GoNomad]
· Blossom Gazing and Sake Drinking Delayed [Jaunted]
· Fat Guys Keep Fighting in 2007 [Jaunted]
[Photo: Smeerch]
by amandak
1/07/2008 at 8:50 AM
Tags: Amazing-Race-12, Amazing Race 12, Chasing Racers, Television Travel, TV Travel (all tags)
Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 12 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray.
Remember to zoom in, out and around on the map--with so much happening in each episode, it's easy to miss a map point.
This week, the race is down to four remaining teams, and unfortunately for us, none of them are terribly interesting. However, we'll soldier on and see who makes it to the end of this thing, anyway. Will Grandpa Don become too much of a burden for Nick, or will he keep pace with the younger crowd? Will Jennifer and Nate manage to get through one leg without scratching each others eyes out? Can TK and Rachel hold onto their lead heading into the final three?
Find out, as we head to Osaka!
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Related Stories:
Amazing Race 12 Map
Amazing Race 12 coverage
Amazing Race 12: Honestly, They Have Witch Powers or Something!
by Todd
10/05/2007 at 12:15 PM
Tags: Embedded Travel Guides, Japan Travel, Osaka Travel Guide, Osaka-Embed-Map (all tags)
Jaunted's embed AJ McGuire just got back from Osaka, and he has some final thoughts on traveling Japan.
Back home now in a jet-lag haze, I'm trying to distill a place that takes up so much of my heart into a few quick hits of information. This video should give a brief taste of how it feels. And here are a few end notes on experiencing Osaka yourself.
· What separates a tourist from a traveler is contact with the locals. Learn a bit of the language and talk to people. Don't stay in your bubble snapping pictures. Osaka has more characters per capita than most cities and is a hell of a lot more welcoming than its straight-laced cousin Tokyo.
· Eat everything. Buck up and slurp down a tentacle. Sure, there's some kind of fish in everything, but one of those bites is going to be the best you've had in your life.
· Relax like the locals. Take a hike through the mountains. Lose a few hundred yen at an old school Smartball joint in Shin Sekei. Hit an onsen (natural hot spring) and soak yourself with a dozen naked strangers.
· Osaka is much more than a list of sights to hit. I still have never been to the Sky Tower or Ebisu Plaza or the six hour puppet show that is Bunraku. Just never got around to it. Pace yourself with the sightseeing and just relax in the izakayas. See the city, not the sights.
Go straight to our Osaka Embed Map.
Related Stories:
· Embedded Travel Guides coverage [Jaunted]
· Osaka Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Osaka Hotels [HotelChatter]
by Judson
10/04/2007 at 5:10 PM
Tags: Japan Travel (all tags)
Hey, did you know we sent one of our dashing, charming, scene-savvy embeds to Japan? Turns out there's tons of stuff happening in Osaka that we never would've dug up if AJ McGuire hadn't gotten his hands dirty for us.
Along with an exhaustive list of nightlife spots--we got tipsy just reading it--our man in Osaka came up with some killer shopping and scenery. (Who knew life-sized statues of sci-fi characters were so popular?) More of the highlights:
· The Running of the Danjiri [Jaunted]
· Osaka's Top Shops [Jaunted]
· Dumplings, Dumplings, Dumplings [Jaunted]
· Taking in the Temples [Jaunted]
· Where To Spend the Night [HotelChatter]
by pbb
10/04/2007 at 1:00 PM
Tags: Embedded Travel Guides, Japan Travel, Osaka Travel Guide, Bars, Nightlife, Osaka-Embed-Map (all tags)
Embedded Travel Guides: We are searching the world for folks who can take you on a field trip of their "backyard." When we find these folks, we then stealthy embed them into their local travel scene and ask them to be our eyes and ears out in the field.
We are expecting the same sort of grainy video, choppy sentences and snapshot photos that you are use to seeing from other sorts of embeds. At the end of the day we should be left with a backyard travel guidebook like no other.
Our man in Osaka is AJ McGuire, and, wow, does he have stories to tell.
Nightlife in Osaka will teach you what your Learn Japanese in 24 Hours tape couldn't. While there are enough foreigner bars to stay in an English-language bubble and still have a decent Saturday night (some of my friends have been doing this for years), it's a far better thing to let the drink drop those inhibitions and push you to trot out some phrasebook communication. You won't regret it.
A good starter while you're still lucid and timid is the cozy Gorkha Bazar, a Nepalese bar and grill that serves as a hangout for the multilingual and a more diverse crowd of gaijin than the usual crop of English teachers. Barman Diwarker Thapa speaks four languages, and the happy hour plate is the best value in town for pre-booze munchies. And it's convenient to the Tani-9 zone of love hotels so Gorkha might be your last stop of the night, too.
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by Judson
10/04/2007 at 11:06 AM
Tags: UFO-Travel-Map, Japan Travel, Osaka Travel Guide (all tags)
Jaunted embeds have schooled us on Osaka , Japan this week, however, our Osaka tour would not be complete without mentioning the area's myriad of love hotels, which sister site HotelChatter is currently covering like a wet blanket.
Hotel Loire is one such love hotel on the outskirts of Osaka and this hotel will get UFO travel buffs drooling. This hotel, on the outskirts of Osaka, boasts an alien abduction rumpus room where you can "rest" for ¥3900 ($34) or "stay" for ¥7600. After all, nothing turns travelers on like cold slab-like beds, fake knobs and breast padding, all in a faux UFO setting.
Our only suggestion? Hotel Loire should switch out the the movie currently playing on an infinite loop in the UFO room, Star Wars, and replace it with a more appropriate alien abduction video. May we suggest the video here?
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by markj
10/03/2007 at 1:00 PM
Tags: Embedded Travel Guides, Festivals, Japan Travel, Osaka Travel Guide, Osaka-Embed-Map (all tags)
Embedded Travel Guides: We are searching the world for folks who can take you on a field trip of their "backyard." When we find these folks, we then stealthy embed them into their local travel scene and ask them to be our eyes and ears out in the field.
We are expecting the same sort of grainy video, choppy sentences and snapshot photos that you are use to seeing from other sorts of embeds. At the end of the day we should be left with a backyard travel guidebook like no other.
Our man in Osaka is AJ McGuire, and, wow, does he have stories to tell.
With all the boozing that goes on, it's surprising that the average Osakan can remember what happened last night, let alone a few hundred years ago. But remember they do. The Osaka area has deep roots and recalls its rich history with literally hundreds of local festivals of all sizes and levels of revelry.
No matter what time of year it is, there's a festival going on somewhere in Kansai. An hour on the train and you can get your fix of seasonal festival fare (fried chicken or squid in the summer, doughy red bean-filled mochi in the winter) and max out your camera's memory card with parades, dances, decorations and offerings of incense, prayers, rice, sake and other choice treats. The sum effect is an opportunity for the community to come together, and whenever that happens, of course, there's always a bit of a party.
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by Judson
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