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Japan Exports Hello Kitty, Cars, And Now Fuel-Efficient Planes

We know that Japan is great at making robots and creating Hello Kitty hype, but now this technologically-advanced, sushi-loving nation is ready to make airplanes too.

Government-backed company Mitsubishi Regional Jet (known to the cool people simply as MRJ), which also has financial support from Toyota, started off last year when Japanese carrier (and anti-pee squad) ANA ordered 25 jets for delivery from 2014. But MRJ just got a much bigger boost, with a large order being placed by US carrier Trans States (which usually flies as United Express). They want 50 jets and an option for 50 more.

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Tags: Japan Travel / Trains / Train Travel / Travel Health / Travel Safety / → All Tags

Groping Epidemic On Tokyo Trains Has Us Watching Our Butt

On the whole, Japan is a dream for travelers; it's full of polite people who go out of their way to help tourists. But that can all come to an abrupt stop when you get on a train in Tokyo (or, to be fair, probably any big city). That's when the gropers appear, and we don't mean the fish.

Authorities are warning travelers—especially females—to watch out for subway passengers who feel the need to grope them. They say they're particularly concerned at the moment because many of the recently-nabbed gropers say they have been inspired by websites on groping. One recent offender said in his defense: "He had viewed a website that detailed how and when to grope people and wanted to confirm if the hints worked..." And he'd even traveled 60 miles out of his way to ride a train line the website listed as being "easy" for groping.

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Tags: Helicopters / Tokyo Travel / Travel News / Fashion Travel / NRT / Luxury Travel / → All Tags

The $10 Million Dollar Hermes Helicopter Will Fly The Tokyo Skies

While we realize that this isn't exactly the best week to bring up helicopter travel on account of "The Horror On The Hudson" this last weekend, still we can't deny the cool factor of this story out of Tokyo.

After l'Hélicoptère par Hermès, or the Hermes Helicopter, debuted in late 2007, we were wondering what billionaire's yacht would sport it first. Turns out it won't be the private playtoy of a person at all, since a Tokyo company has purchased the 'copter designed by the French fashion house, with intent to offer flights between the central district of Akasaka and Narita International Airport. Taking the Eurocopter EC 315 will cut the travel time by an hour, and eliminate dealing with any ground traffic.

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Feel-Bad Travel: 'The Cove' Makes Us Want to Apologize to Flipper

Did you ever go to an aquarium or amusement park as a kid and watch a dolphin show? Did you clap your hands and squeal with glee as the beautiful, smiling animals performed amazing feats of athleticism and intelligence? You did? Well you are an awful, awful person! That's because by supporting venues that use trained dolphins, you're contributing to the barbaric practice of dolphin harvesting that goes on in the coastal town of Taiji, Japan. According to a new documentary called The Cove, 23,000 dolphins are brutally slaughtered there every year in the search for a handful of dolphins that are deemed attractive enough to be trained for amusement parks and other entertainment experiences. The rest become mercury-tainted food.

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Today The World Remembers The Bombing Of Hiroshima

Sixty-four years ago today was the date that a little Japanese city by the name of Hiroshima entered the world's consciousness forever. It was on August 6, 1945 that the plane Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb, resulting in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare and over 140,000 deaths almost immediate deaths.

It also happens to be the 119th anniversary of the first death penalty executed by electric chair, so today isn't exactly the brightest of days.

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Giant Jellyfish Are Totally Crashing Sea of Japan's Party

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water ... giant jellyfish! Actually, to be more specific, they're named "Nomura's jellyfish" and this season, ocean currents are pushing them from Chinese waters into the Sea of Japan, where they prove fatal for expensive fishing nets.

Although the creatures can be up to 6' long and weigh up to 450 pounds (of jelly?), they aren't the malicious, stinging sort. No, they're simply the ruining-a-Japanese-town's-livelihood sort, which is what occurs when the beasts rip through pricey nets and ruin major catches, sending villages that rely on the fishing trade into an economical depression.

Past invasions of the Nomura's jellyfish have occurred in 2005 and 2007, so it looks like it's becoming a regular thing, especially since researchers posit that "overfishing, pollution or rising ocean temperatures may have depleted the kinds of fish that prey on Nomura's jellyfish in the polyp stage." So, who wants to do some scuba diving in the Sea of Japan with us?

Related Stories:
· Japanese fishermen brace for giant jellyfish [CNN]
· Killer Beaches: Jellyfish Hung Out To Dry, For Now [Jaunted]
· Killer Beaches Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: AFP/Getty]

Tags: Historical-Battles-Map / Wars / Historical Travel / Japan Travel / → All Tags

Re-Enacting History: Swordfighting And Samurais In Mt. Fuji's Shadow

Along with the tasty barbeques and popping fireworks of the middle of summer come the re-enactments of historical battles. To help you plan fun excursions to watch guns go off, we're listing our favorite battle re-enactment sites all this week. Any suggestions or questions? Let us know.

Back in the 16th century when warlords Shingen and Kenshin were fighting for territory around the area which is currently Nagano prefecture near Tokyo, a series of deadly battles took place at Kawanakajima, killing over 7,000 samurai by both sword and gun—or seppuku ritual suicide for the wounded.

These days, a battle is re-enacted every April with over 900 volunteer warriors dressed in armor and costumes of the period, but the battle grounds have moved further inland to Yamanashi prefecture. It's actually an area of popular natural spas, so bring your swimsuit and prepare for a weekend of relaxation and watching fake disembowelment.

To reach Yamanashi, take the JR Chuo Line train for 90 minutes from Shinjuku Station to Isawa Onsen Station. If you love historical re-enactments, sushi and long plane flights, this would be the battle for you.

Related Stories:
· Isawa Onsen [att-Japan]
· Historical Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Japan Today]

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Creepy Travel: Japan's Abandoned Hashima Island Now Open for Tourists

Abandoned towns are always fun to visit, and they're even more enticing if they've been off-limits for decades. Such is the case with Japan's Hashima Island, more commonly known as Battleship Island. This speck of an island about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki was once home to the densest population in the world, housing thousands of workers between 1887 and 1974 who harvested coal from the sea floor for the massive Mitsubishi company.

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The New Robotic Cooks From Japan Will Give You Haunting Nightmares

We've been pretty good about welcoming our new robotic overlords, up to and including thanking them for making travel-related customer service less of a nightmare. But there's something disquieting about a robot that can verbally take our order, independently interpret our request, and then cut up sushi rolls and serve them to us. Without getting into too many details, that something has to do with the words "fish" and "poison" and the phrase "robot revolution."

In any case, several cutting-edge lines of cooking robots debuted last week at the Tokyo International Food Machinery and Technology Expo last week. The one in the picture, a product of Japanese company Toyo Riki, can prepare and flip pancakes. Really neat! This next one, more of a serving robot, can pick up fruit without bruising it and serve delicate pastries. Insanely creepy!

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Tags: Theme Parks / Hello Kitty / Tokyo Travel / Tama District / Toys / Sanrio / → All Tags

Immerse Yourself In Weirdness at Tama's Hello Kitty Museum

Navigating Tokyo itself - a dizzying maze of twenty-three wards, each technically a city unto itself - is difficult enough. Now throw in the twenty-six additional cities that comprise Western Tokyo, the combination of rail and metro lines that service them, and the Japanese penchant for hiding all kinds of singular attractions in the most unlikely places. It's just unfair to expect tourists to know where to go or what to see.

The western Tama District contains one of the most quintessentially Japanese - which is to say, one of the most off-beat - attractions in all of Tokyo. At the back of the Tama Center, a sprawling shopping plaza plus hotel plus park, sits Sanrio Puroland. Otherwise known as the Hello Kitty Museum, this is a gigantic indoor theme park turned over to the characters from what might loosely be called the Hello Kitty universe.

It's like a Willy Wonka Factory of weirdness, filled with gigantic dolls and puppets all addressing you in high-pitched Japanese.

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On the Road Again: How to Reach Tokyo-Narita

Your flight has landed, you've claimed your luggage and now you're trying to get the hell out of the airport. To erase confusion and get your on your way, all week long at Jaunted we will be detailing the various ways to get to and from major airports, and what those modes cost, from cheapest to the big blowout entrance. Got any tips or an airport suggestion? Let us know.

Tokyo's Narita is a tricky airport in terms of airport transportation; there is no one single uber-fast way, and yet the 38-mile commute to the airport can cost an arm and a leg if you don't know what you're doing. Our best advice? Avoid taxis and town cars at all costs; read below to see why.

· Keisei Railway: When in doubt as to the cheapest mode of airport transportation, just follow the locals, and chances are they'll be hopping aboard a Keisei Limited Express, which is a normal commuter train making stops along the route from Narita into town. For a bit of an upgrade and a chance at a reserved seat, the Keisei railway also runs the slightly more expensive Skyliner to Keisei Ueno station.
Total cost: 1000 on the Limited to 2000 on the Skyliner ($10 to $20) per person, each way
Total time: 75 minutes, 60 minutes

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In Japan, Come For The Baseball Game, Stay For The Toilets

Baseball is one of the best spectator sports in the world. The cheer of the crowd, the crack of the bat, the hot dogs, and even the public restrooms make the whole experience that much better. Well, maybe not the restroom part, unless you are lucky enough to take in a game at the Seibu Dome just outside of Tokyo.

It all started a couple of years ago when the Boston Red Sox seduced star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka away from the Seibu Lions. Through MLB’s agreement with the professional league in Japan, US teams had a precious few days to make an offer on Matsuzaka through something known as the posting system. Basically, the Red Sox won this type of auction, and paid about $50 million through the nose for the rights to the popular pitcher. As a result, the Lions were swimming in an udon soup of hot new cash.

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