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Tags: New Year's Eve / Japan Travel / Traditions / → All Tags

Have A Scary New Year!

Have you been good this year? American kids get this question from a fat man in a red suit at the mall, but their counterparts in Oga, Japan are accountable to the Namahage demons who run rampant through the town on New Year's Eve.

The Namahage Festival welcomes in the demons--er, dancers dressed as demons in straw skirts with cooking knives and pails--who scare children into their houses. There, while the parents comfort their probably freaked out children, the demons are appeased with rice cakes and sake and bring good luck on the town. Oga's celebration is the most famous, but New Year's Eve Namahage celebrations take place all over Japan... if you dare.

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· Japan Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: rowdies_akiraman]

Tags: World's Worst Tourists / Japan Travel / Tourist Attractions / → All Tags

Over-Polite Japanese Fish Auctioneers Hit Back (Gently)

The Japanese truly are an overly polite people. Remember back in April, they decided to limit tourist access to Tokyo's famous Tsukiji Fish Markets? The new rules were that tourists had to show up before 6.15am and were meant to be confined to one designated spot during the big tuna auctions.

This obviously didn't work out. The poor fishmongers and tuna auctioneers have still had to put up with a blitzkrieg of camera flashes and tuna-touching tourists--not what you want if the tuna's headed to a classy sushi restaurant.

From December 15, tourists will be banned entirely from the early morning auctions, a decision that's probably quite fair. But the Japanese are still too polite to ban us forever, so it's just for a month--perhaps after that any tourists who've completed Fish Auction Etiquette 101 will be allowed back in.

Related Stories:
· Too Many Foreigners Forces Ban on Tourists [Mainichi Daily News]
· We've Annoyed the Tsukiji Fishmongers Too Long [Jaunted]
· Other Things To Do In Tokyo [Jaunted]

[Photo: esp22]

Tags: Japan Travel / Markets / Tourist Attractions / Videos / → All Tags

Sushi Travel: Tuna Sashimi Joins Economic Meltdown

Economic crisis, environmental crisis, there's bad news everywhere we turn and in Tokyo the bad news is smelly, too.

We're talking tuna. Tuna that once went for ¥20 million (US$200,000) for a 445-pound fish at the Tsukiji Fish Markets in Tokyo is going to have to get even more expensive, say the experts, or it'll simply run out because of over-fishing.

We're sensing conspiracy here. Remember that the management at Tsukiji have now strictly limited tourist access to the famous markets? Are the Japanese planning to keep all the tuna for themselves and just feed us the line that it's all been fished out?

Soon we'll only have YouTube videos like the one above of the Japanese fish market to sustain us.

Related Stories:
· Tuna's Just Too Cheap [Japan Times]
· We've Annoyed the Tsukiji Fishmongers Too Long [Jaunted]
· Tokyo Travel Guide [Jaunted]

Tags: Japan Travel / Cats / Animals / Public Transportation / Videos / → All Tags

Adorable Fall Travel: Public Transit Pet Pays Off

While at least one Brit is determined to give tourists a bad name in Tokyo, a city southwest of Osaka is drawing in the masses with the world's most adorable train attendant.

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Tags: Japan Travel / Wine Travel / Comic Books / → All Tags

Comic Book Driving Wine Sales in Asia

A comic book series in Japan is turning into the biggest deal in the wine industry there. As the story goes, the son of a deceased wine critic has to travel the globe, looking for great vino. (Seems much more pleasant than fighting The Joker!)

The mere mention of a bottling in the books can drive outrageous sales, says The Telegraph:

The comic is read by 500,000 Japanese each week and [its] sway over the wine market is spreading throughout Asia. Some wine importers say they have never seen such a powerful single influence on their business.

In Taiwan a single reference to a relatively obscure French terroir led to dozens of cases of the wine being sold within a few days.

Maybe it's getting bought up by those wine spas?

Related Stories:
· Character Drives up Wine Sales in Japan [Telegraph, via]
· Wine Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: PSFK]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Robert Downey Jr. / Japan Travel / Drinking Travel / → All Tags

Drinking Travel: Robert Downey Jr. Hammers One Out

Look, Ma, a robot! Robert Downey Jr. and a man wearing a robotic suit hammer open a barrel of sake to celebrate the premiere of "Iron Man" in Japan this weekend. We're just dying to try this at home.

Downey Jr. has had a blockbuster year between "Iron Man" and his critically acclaimed role in "Tropic Thunder."

He wrapped his movie "The Soloist" (by "Atonement" director Joe Wright) in Los Angeles this spring before the press blitz began but is rumored to be in casting for a new "Sherlock Holmes" movie, in which he would star as the deerstalkered one opposite Russell Crowe as Moriarty.

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[Photo: Socialite Life]

Tags: South Korea Travel / Japan Travel / → All Tags

Pacific Island Name Games: Takeshima or Dokdo?

What you call these Pacific isles depends on who you are: Named the Liancourt Rocks for a French whaler that was almost marooned there, they are currently the subject of a bitter border dispute between Japan and South Korea, so it matters whether you call them Takeshima (Bamboo Islands) or Dokdo (Solitary Island).

Japan unofficially assumed control of the islands during World War II, but it was only recently that natural gas deposits were discovered underneath the territory, making them potentially much more valuable.

Both countries' claims have inspired T-shirt slogans and ringtones, neither of which were available in previous border disputes--otherwise we might all be humming "54'40" or Fight!"

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· Who Owns These Islands? Map [Jaunted]
· Disputed Korean Rocks Bring Banking, Ring Tones [AP]

[Photo: nolisiso]

Tags: Japan Travel / Museums / Culture Travel / → All Tags

Too Expensive? Nara Governor Makes Museums Free

The ancient Japanese city of Nara, an hour east of Osaka, might be most famous to us for its map-eating deer, but being an ancient capital means it's also full of historical museums. And we have good news: Getting in to these museums is now going to be free for all foreign tourists.

It's really very simple: The governor of Nara says tourists have told him the entrance fees are too high, so he has decided that everyone who shows a foreign passport can get in for free.

This very friendly gesture starts from August 1 and includes four cultural, art and historical museums in Nara. We also think that the price of Japanese watermelons is too high, so perhaps the nice Nara governor could fix that for us too.

Related Stories:
· Travelers to Visit Nara Museums Free [eTravel]
· Japan: Hands Off the Melons [Jaunted]
· Japan Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: grumpyoldscotsman]

Tags: Japan Travel / Smoking / → All Tags

Crafty Kids in Japan Determined to Get Their Smokes

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.

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· Taspo [Official Site]
· Magazine Photos Fool Age-Verification Cameras [Pink Tenticle, via]
· Osaka Field Trip [Jaunted]
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[Photo: PT]

Tags: Japan Travel / Low Cost Carriers / LCCs / Skymark / → All Tags

Japan Travel: Local LCC Needs Pilots

We're big fans of small budget airlines, but we just discovered low cost Japanese carrier Skymark. It's based in Tokyo and flies a bunch of domestic routes and also heads over to South Korea.

Skymark has a full, colorful website for its Japanese customers, but for English-speakers it's a little bare and full of slightly quaint English and a few odd commands. For example, on the contact page where telephone numbers are given for reservations and information, the site demands "Please double-check the phone number before dialing." No wrong numbers, please!

This airline's been in a spot of bother recently because two pilots retired at the end of May. Somehow Skymark didn't anticipate a problem and thus, two pilots short, had to cancel 168 flights during June. Increasing demand for pilots as LCCs grow across Asia is apparently to blame, and nobody's sure if they've found more pilots for July or not.

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· Skymark [Official Site]
· Japan Budget Airline Short of Pilots [Reuters]
· Low Cost Carriers coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: woinary]

Tags: Art Galleries / Art / Museums / Japan Travel / → All Tags

Summer Museum Travel: What the Ancients Drank From

The Miho Museum in Shiga, Japan is one of those places that always comes along with adjective "renowned," and for good reason. It was funded by one of the richest women in Japan, Mihoko Koyama, and its collection of both Asian and Western antiques could be worth up to a billion dollars.

Right now it's closed because they're getting ready for their summer exhibition: Ancient Sacred Drinking Vessels. Yes, it's about what the people of old used to drink from. In fact, there are a lot of animal-shaped drinking vessels which sound more exciting than the very regular-shaped glass we drank our last beer out of.

Along with the exhibition there'll be stories and myths about what they were drinking (and possibly, how they cured their hangovers). It opens up on July 12 and should run to August 17. Even if you don't want to see how your ancestors drank, tag along to the Miho just for the scenery. We promise it's great.

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· Miho Museum [Official Site]
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[Photo: john_w]

Tags: Videos / Japan Travel / Restaurants / Fast Food / Nightlife / McDonald's / → All Tags

Naptime in Tokyo McDonald's

This Youtube video shows what happens at a McDonald's restaurant in the Akasaka, Tokyo after the bars close. The clip shows at least seven people sleeping off a night of heavy drinking in the booths at Mickey D's. Some of these sleepyheads were probably stranded when the Tokyo Metro closed down for the evening.

Miraculously, the staff doesn't seem to care that their restaurant is being used as a flophouse. This type of thing would never happen in the States. When we used to work at Starbucks in Manhattan, junkies and drunks would pass out in the bathrooms and we'd chase them out with mops. Guess foreign fast food joints are just a haven for assorted weirdness. For more proof, check out our clip of the dancing waiters at Pizza Hut in India.

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