Travel to Japan

Blue Sky

Blue Sky, the rotating restaurant atop the short (original but not so much.. I have seen one of these babies many years ago In Punta del Este, Uruguay in south america.) tower of the New Otani, serves up delicious Chinese food, buffet style. Delicacies include Peking duck, Szechwan and Cantonese fare. The restaurant revolves 360 degrees in the space of an hour, allowing you to enjoy the meal from every angle. The lunch buffet is JPY3,500 and the dinner buffet, JPY6,300. Booking is advisable at weekends. A comprehensive list of alcoholic drinks is available.

Nara

Nara is an ancient capital city in the Kansai region of Japan and was Japan's capital during the Nara Period from 710 to 784, so this city is still home to many important scenic and historical sites, preserving its main sights within the large Nara Park. You can enjoy a wide variety of temples and shrines, being the most important the Todaiji temple and Daibusu, one of the biggest Buddha statues in the world. You can also enjoy the Nara National Museum, the Deer-horn Cutting Ceremony, Mount Wakakusa Fire Festival and the Nara Toka-e light festival, with 7.500 candles illuminating the area surrounding the major temples.

Tsukiji

Tsukiji is a district of Chuo-ku in Tokyo, and the site of the Tsukiji fish market. It lies near the Sumida River, on the land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay during the Edo period in the 1700. The Tsukiji fish market it is said to be one of the best sushi destinations in the world, and the largest fish market of the world, this market handles over 2000 tons and 450 different types of sea food on a daily basis.

Kawasaki

Kawasaki is a largely industrial area and residential suburb between Tokyo and Yokohama. You can visit the Kawasaki Daishi, a large temple dedicated to the famed monk and scholar Kobo Daishi, which features an eight sided, five storied pagoda, is a textbook example of a Japanese temple. Another interesting but in a weird way, place to visit is the Wakamiya Hachiman-gū Shrine , it is a quiet Shinto shrine, pretty distinguishable from your average shrine for one "detail", it is one of Japan's few remaining fertility shrines, and the deity venerated here assumes the form of a meter-long iron phallus, known as Kanamara-sama.

Inokashira Park

Inokashira Park in Kichijōji, Tokyo, is is a large park with extensive walking paths surrounding a lake, filled with both cherry trees and maples and an excellent choice to go to see both cherry blossoms and fall colors. On weekends, the vendors gather along the paths to sell handmade crafts, and rental boats are available to paddle around the lake.

Hokkaido

Hokkaido is located in the northern end of Japan and it is its second largest island and prefecture. In the center of the island we can find several mountains and volcanic plateaus. This island is seismically active like the rest of Japan, and besides earthquakes we can find some volcanoes still active, like Mount Usu, Mount Komaga, Mount Tokachi, Mount Meakan and Mount Tarumae. This island sometimes is hit by Tsunamis originated from the earthquakes.

Okinawa

Home of the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, Naha, Okinawa Island is the biggest of the Ryukyu Islands. Thanks to the eroded limestone on the south part of the island, it has many caves, being Gyokusendo the most famous, and it is open to tourists. This island was under US control, after the American occupation in Japan, until 1972 when Japan gained control again. Besides the amazing cave formation and the coral reef on the northern part of the island, it is popular for being the set of the film "Karate Kid".

The Tea Ceremony

The Japanese tea ceremony is a traditional ritual influenced by Zen Buddhism, where powdered green tea, or matcha, is ceremonially prepared by a skilled practitioner and served to a small group of guests in a tranquil setting. A tea practitioner, must be familiar with the production and types of tea, with kimono, calligraphy, flower arranging, ceramics, incense and a wide range of other disciplines and traditional arts, in addition to his or her school's tea practices, making the study of the tea ceremony to take many years and often lasting a lifetime. Even to participate as a guest in a formal tea ceremony requires knowledge of the prescribed gestures and phrases expected of guests, the proper way to take tea and sweets, and general deportment in the tea room.

Sapporo

Sapporo is the 5th largest city in Japan in population and the 3rd in area, and is also the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture. Outside Japan, this city is primarily know for being the host for the 1972 Winter Olympics and for the Snow Festival, also known as yuki matsuri, an annual festival that draws more than 2 million tourists from around the world. Sapporo is also the home of the well known Sapporo Breweries, a company that makes Japanese beer.

Yokohama

It is the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture and Japan's largest incorporated city, located in the Kanto region of the main island of Honshū. Yokohama is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area. Centered on an inlet on the western side of Tokyo Bay, this city developed rapidly as Japan's prominent port city following the end of Japan's isolation in the late 19th Century, and is today one of its major port along with those of Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya, Hakata, Tokyo and Chiba. The city has a strong  local economic base, especially in the shipping, biotechnology, and semiconductor industries, reason enough for Nissan to move its headquarters to Yokohama from Chuo-ku, Tokyo, by 2010.