We hope 2006 will be a wonderful year for everyone…especially for those who read this news everyday…or often enough. (Junko)
January 5h
During the holidays, I saw lots of fireworks for the New Year’s Day in many different countries on TV. We don’t have fireworks for the New Year’s Day very often here but it is a big thing to go to Hatsumode on the first few days of the New Year in Japan. Hatsumode is the first visit to a shrine to pray for the first time of the year. Lots of people pray for the health and happiness of their family for the year. Students who are up to entrance exams for schools and colleges pray to pass the exams. Kyoto gets tons of people coming for Hatsumode as there are lots of big shrines here. I was one of them this year. Me and my family went to Yasaka shrine on the second of January. It was pretty crowded but wasn’t as bad as I thought. I think the first pray of the year has a good chance to come true. I bet many Japanese people feel the same way and that’s why we go to Hatsumode. If you never tried it, why don’t you try and see if it comes true!
January 6th
It’s been freezing cold for a couple days in Kyoto. I can’t believe we
have a lot of snowy days this year.
This is the first time I write the news here. I am a new staff introduced in the news on January 1st (Look at the photo of me!). I was born and brought up in Kyoto…which means I am quite familiar with the culture and the history etc. I am willing to help you have awesome experiences and get fantastic memories in Kyoto. Looking forward to meeting you all. Thanks. (Risa)
January 10th
A huge cold wave hit Japan this weekend again. According to the news, so
many people have been suffering from the inconveniences because of the
snow. We had a little snow in Kyoto on Saturday, too. I went shopping in
the snow. In Japan, a big shopping sale starts after New Year (You have
a Christmas shopping sale, right?). Most shops sell a so-called [FUKU(=fortune)BUKURO(bag)]
on the first day of the sale. We don’t know what is/are inside before
we open it. It is a bit scary, but lots of people look forward to buying
fukubukuro every year. It is one of the big events for them at the New
Year. Although there were less people than I expected on Saturday, the
shops were still crowded with girls especially. I did good shopping though.
(Risa)
January 11th
It was not too cold today for some reason…or maybe it’s only me who felt
that way. I can’t wait for the warm spring! If it takes any longer for
the spring to come, then this is what happens to people.
This picture was borrowed from one of the new ryokans on our site, Hanaikada. Thank you, Hanaikada-san! Yes, this is the news of the day. There are some new ryokans on our site now. Hanaikada, Rankyokan and Seryo. The first two are in Arashiyama (west) and Seryo is in Ohara (northeast). Please check them out. They are all
really nice and they all have great hot spring baths or ONSEN. I would love to stay in all of them. If you are frozen like the picture, these are the ryokans to stay!!! (Junko)
January 12th
As we often mention in our website, Kyoto is famous for traditional Japanese
food. One of them is [YUBA]. You might have never heard of the word…but
you know Tofu and tonyu (soymilk) don’t you? Yuba is made from tonyu (soymilk)
which is produced in the process of making tofu. A thin film-like substance
appears on the surface of tonyu (soymilk) as it boils. It is so-called
yuba. When I walked around our office today, I found a very old Yuba factory
(they sell the products there too). Kyoto City has certified it as a historic
building. They started the business in 1716…wow it is nearly 300 years
old! It is said that Yasunari Kawabata who got the Novel Prize in Literature
visited there and tasted the Yuba. There are thousands of ways of cooking
yuba i.e. tempura
and sashimi even. If you have a chance to try yuba, don’t miss it!!!!! - There are lots of good yuba restaurants in Kyoto, so please ask us if you are interested. (Risa)
January 13th
I am just curious about a small thing. Everytime I go to McDonald’s, I
wonder how different the menu is from the other countries’. When I visited
New Zealand a couple of years ago, I ate a Kiwi Burger. Do you guess what
it is like? It has New Zealanders’ favourite food - beetroot, fried egg,
a huge beef pate, tomato sauce and mayonnaise etc - between the buns. In
Japan, we also have unique
burgers on the menu at McDonald’s i.e. Teriyaki Burger and Shrimp Burger etc. One of our staff tried the shrimp burger for her lunch today. I will ask her if it was good. Do you have any unique burgers or side dishes on the menu in your country? If yes, let us know!!!!!!!!!! (Risa)
It was all right but not my favorite. (Junko)
January 16th
It’s been pretty warm since last Friday. I can’t wait that spring comes…I know cold winter is coming back soon. When I was out yesterday, I passed a flower shop. They were selling ume (Japanese apricot) sprays. It is said that the ume is the first tree to flower in spring. It’s not yet that we see the ume blossoms in full bloom here, but I hope it’s soon. (Risa)
It was very warm in Nara during the weekend too. I went to climb Wakakusa mountain in Nara park with my friends on Sunday. Wakakusa is more like a hill but if you take the back road, it takes over 1 hour to get to the top. Lots of tourists just take the front way, which is really easy and takes only 20min but I recommend the back way to the top and front way to come down. That way, you don’t have to pay the entrance fee either and you get to see both sides of the mountain (or the hill). Nara is only 50 min away from Kyoto and there are lots to see there too. If you have any questions about Nara, please ask me! (Junko)
January 17th
We received a question from one of our customers. They were wondering if
we can help them find a hotel in Osaka. We love to help our customers as
much as possible, and since we work really hard :) I think lots of requests
are possible. Well, of course there are some things we can’t help with
but please feel free to ask us! (Junko)
January 18th
We have been getting several link exchange offers. I haven’t been able
to reply to all of them but I will make some time soon to do that. We would
like more and more link exchanges with lots of web site, so if you are
interested, please contact us! Only good sites please…by good, I mean
no dirty stuff. Thank you very much! (Junko)
January 19th
Can anyone tell me how Gmail works??? We have been receiving many e-mails
from Gmail accounts but it doesn’t show any text on any of the e-mails.
I tried several times to reply to those e-mails but they never get delivered…So!!!
I decided to make my own Gmail account because you must be able to send
e-mails between Gmail accounts, right? Well, it wasn’t that easy. It seems
like Gmail is a mail system that belongs to Google. The tricky part is
that not anyone can make a mail account like Hotmail or Yahoo mail! Apparently,
you need an invitation code which was sent to you from your friend to open
up a mail account. I am very sad that Gmail is not very friendly to us…well,
if anyone could send us an invitation code that would be wonderful! In
the meantime, please use e-mail system other than Gmail so that we can
reply to you! Thank you!!! (Junko)
January 23th
Did you have a good weekend?
I went to an “ASHIYU” place with one of my friends
on Saturday. As it was the first time for us to go there, we chose the most
basic course, which is only 1,000 yen including sweets and tea ‘we can choose
our favourite kind from the list i.e. Japanese tea, Chinese tea and herbal tea
etc’. Soon after, we felt a beautiful smell from the back…it was ready! As you
see the photo, we soaked our feet and legs in the herbal water for 15 minutes
or so. The manager explained he mixed about 20 sorts of herbs in the water.
That helped us feel warm and so relaxed. I very much recommend you to try it
especially on a cold day! (Risa)
January 24th
Do you think of cherry blossoms when you imagine what Japan is like? Good imagination! Cherry blossoms in Japan (or I should say in Kyoto) are amazing. I know it’s a bit too soon to be talking about cherry blossoms but my point is that lots of ryokans and hotels in Kyoto are getting pretty full for the spring season now. It is not too late yet to make reservations BUT if you are planning to visit Kyoto in the spring, please make your move soon!!! By the way, it is still very cold here. It was snowing again today, for just a bit. I can’t wait for the nice, mellow, sleepy-in-a-good-way season. (Junko)
January 25th
The owner (…probably) of the Ashiyu place Risa was talking about on the 23rd entry gave us a feed back about out site. He suggested us to mention in our site that we should be careful when we use the word GEISHA. He suggests us to use the word GEIKO instead since Geiko people prefer to be called that way. We will ask the owner why they prefer that word and inform you when we know, but I just wanted to tell you that if you are very lucky and you see them on the street, please don’t shout “GEISHA!!!” It would be wonderful if you can say “Excuse me, Geiko-san. May I take your picture?” I bet you get to see a beautiful smile on their face!!! (Junko)
January 26th
Visiting the local market is one of the popular activities for tourists
to find out about a place. Kyoto's Nishiki market, about 400 meters long
and about two meters wide, has about 140 shops that sell everything i.e.
Kyoto vegetables, tofu, fish and Kyoto sweets etc. You will know what season
it is from what is being sold at the shops
while strolling through the market. The market is filled with local people to buy things for dinner on weekdays, and with tourists on weekends. We call the market (Kitchen of the Capital) and we have a saying, (There is no kind of food you can’t find at Nishiki). You can see the Kyoto’s lifestyle vividly from the aroma of the food, the sings of the shops, and the sounds/voices between the shopkeepers and customers even. Enjoy your shopping at Nishiki market! (Risa)
January 27th
We still get lots of gmails everyday and I still haven’t figured out how to read it. I think there is a big chance that most of them are junk mails but I always think “what if a few of them are inquiry mails…” Maybe someone needs our help, maybe they want to get some information on Kyoto…If you have written us and haven’t gotten any replies, that means we can’t read your mail, so please use different method of e-mailing!!!
What’s up with the Gmail thingy anyway if you can’t
read them! Someone please tell me!!! (Junko)
January 31st
I am going to Katsura Imperial Villa to post the information on our website
tomorrow. It is said that we can see the mixing of Japanese feature and
Western feature in the style of architecture. It is a rare thing compared
to the other buildings built around the same time. The villa is also famous
for the harmony between the architecture and the garden. This is the first
time for me to visit there even though I have lived in Kyoto for quite
a long time. I will definitely enjoy the visit and put the information
and photos on our website as soon as possible. One disappointing thing
is that it will rain tomorrow according to the weather report. I should
ask the goddess of the Sun for a sunny day???? (Risa)
January 30th
Did you have a lovely weekend? It was like a spring day in Kyoto yesterday.
The sky was high and absolutely beautiful. I went Kitayama in the north
of Kyoto city with my friend. Because Kitayama is located at the foot of
the mountains, the temperature is a bit lower than the downtown’s. We
sometimes see the mountains covered with snow. I will recommend you to
go to Kitayama if you want to get away from the bustle of the city and
relax. How about having a rest at a cafe/restaurant after you visit a botanical
garden???
My friend and I had
dinner at a Thai restaurant. All the dishes we ordered were delicious. As there
are so many fascinating dishes on the menu, we WILL go there again. (Risa)
