March 3rd
Happy
Hinamatsuri for all the girls in the world!!! Hinamatsuri is a festival for
girls only. (Haha to boys!) For more information, see the entry on February 22nd.
Who
likes chocolate? Well, I went to a convenience store near our office during my
lunch break to get some dessert and I found something interesting! Here’s the
picture of it.
March 8th
Kyoto Higashiyama Hana
Touro 2006 is starting on March 11th and goes till 21st. About 2400 pathway lamps line the walking route that connects to the
Higashiyama foothills from Shoren-in in the north and continues through
Maruyama Park and Yasaka Shrine 4.6 kilometers into the south, ending at
Kiyomizu Temple Higashiyama is a retro-flavored area, and it is very popular
among tourists all year round. But, I recommend you to visit this event
and enjoy the fantastic scenery. The lamps at night create a magical atmosphere
throughout the area. There are so many nice little shops and restaurants
on you way, so you can rest your tired legs from a long walk. The air on
a spring evening might be a bit chilly but…it will refresh you up! Let’s
go!!!!!!!!!! (Risa)
March 9th
We had a beautiful day today here in Kyoto. The highest temperature was
12 degrees Celsius!!! It’s getting warmer and warmer and I am getting
happier and happier.
We
added 2 great ryokan on our website!!! Please check them out! One is [Yuzuya
Ryokan] in southeast area. This is a very hip ryokan these days. They were on
some TV shows and ever since then, it is getting really hard to make a booking
for Yuzuya…but we will try our best for you if you want to stay there!
The other one ryokan is [Kikokuso]. This ryokan has
a good reputation on their hospitality! Everyone who stayed there loves the
owner couple. For more information, please see their individual pages!!! They
both are really beautiful! (Junko)
March 10th
Cherry blossoms [Sakura] are called the symbol of Japanese culture, right?
They have been celebrated and composed in a lot of Waka poems for centuries.
There are soooooooo many varieties of Sakura trees in Japan, but our most
beloved one is Somei Yoshino which account for 90% of all species of Japanese
cherry blossoms. It is said that they bloom and fall (or we sometimes say
they scatter) within a week. We enjoy the beauty of the flowers, and feel
sorry for them to fall. We go to parks, temples and shrines with families
and friends to see cherry blossoms at the time. It is also a good chance
to get together and relax on a spring day. When is the best time to see
them? The forecast for cherry blossom flowering was announced by Japan
Meteorological Agency on March 1. According to the announcement, they start
to bloom in Kyoto on March 28. There are thousands of beautiful Sakura
spots in Kyoto…so don’t miss it! (RIsa)
March 13th
How was your weekend? We had a beautiful day in Kyoto on Saturday. It was
very warm, just like a spring day and I thought winter was truly over!
BUT of course it wasn’t that easy. It snowed today in the morning! This
is how Kyoto looked today….cold. (I know, all you can see is the brown
building across from us…but I needed the brown back ground to show you
the snow.)
March 14th
Do you want to try the thrilling boat trip? This is the 400th year this
boat trip has been taking place at the HozuRiver. This 16km trip which
lasts about two hours is an exciting ride through one of the most beautiful
scenic spots of Kyoto. As the boat dodges giant rocks and swirls through
rapids, no motor roads can be seen and no sign of town life, only the breaking
beauty of nature in pristine condition.
March 15th
As
I promised in the March 13th entry, I got information on an even!
Look
at the picture. Aren’t they cool?
March 16th
It’s raining really hard right now. I can’t even see the mountains through
the window in the office as I usually can. I hope the Plum blossoms are
hanging on their branches…
Here’s the news of the day. We added two new ryokan on our site. They
are called [Ishicho Syogikuen] and [Oyado Ishicho]. As you can probably
guess, they are sisiter ryokans, located in the central area, pretty close
to the Imperial Palace. They have lots of unique accommodation plans so
if you are interested in unique experiences, please check them out! (Junko)
March 20th
Did you have a lovely
weekend? We had gloomy winter days…it was snowing lightly on Sunday!
Junko and I went to Kyoto Higashiyama Hana Touro 2006 after work on Friday.
Although it was a bit chilly night, there were so many people on the streets.
The temples, shrines and even trees etc looked beautiful lit by lots of
lanterns. There were various types of lanterns (size, shape and color etc)
but we especially liked the bamboo lanterns placed in the tiny stream.
We thought the candlelight is much better than the artificial light I guess
the longstanding tradition perfectly fits for the Kyoto’s cityscape. The
photos show you how the Hana Touro event is like… Do you feel like coming
to Kyoto now????? (Risa)
March 22nd
We had a National Holiday yesterday in Japan. It was Spring Equinox Day.
It was supposed to be warm and sunny but it was pretty cloudy…wasn’t
much of a spring-like weather!
Here’s
a piece of information you might be interested in. Nijo-jo castle will be lit
up from March 24th till April 16th. I bet it will be really
beautiful especially when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. As it was
mentioned in March 10th entry, the cherry blossoms are expected to star
blooming March 28th this year. Please check out Nijo-jo official
website for the beautiful pictures of Sakura [cherry blossoms] and the castle
at night.
http://www.city.kyoto.jp/bunshi/nijojo/i2rightup2.html
They
are pretty amazing, eh? (Junko)
6pm ? 9pm (Monday ? Thursday) 6m - 9:30pm (Friday ? Sunday)
Notice:
If you go into the castle before 6pm, you will have to re-enter for the night
opening time, which means you have to pay the admission fee twice. Please be
careful unless you really want to see the castle day and night.
Admission
fee: 400 yen/adult. If you go there wearing KIMONO, the admission is free!
Note:
Some parts of the castle compound, such as Ninomaru Goten are closed at night.
If you have some particular parts you want to see, please e-mail us!
March 2nd
Hay fever season has finally started…I have heard you don’t have hay
fever in western countries. Is that right? If yes, lucky you!!!!!! Every
time we watch the weather forecast at this time of year, the reporter talks
about the pollen dispersal. Quite a lot of people suddenly developed hay
fever last spring because we had a quite warm winter. I did too…
According to the newspapers and magazines, the hay fever remedies are flying out of the drug stores/pharmacies like crazy. The pharmaceutical companies release the new drugs for hay fever every year + the sufferers try various kinds of ways to relieve the allergic symptoms as much as possible. The market is pretty big and potential, right? I haven’t seen any people wearing masks on streets, but we will see a throng of sufferers everywhere soon. I guess the sight is one of Japan institutions at this time…(Risa)
It’s “Naked KitKat”!!! They took the outside chocolate off KitKat!!! Can you believe that? I wonder Nestle is selling this all over the world or just Japan…Let us know. Was it good? Yes, of course! Just like KitKat…with a bit less chocolate. (Junko)
March 6th
How was your weekend? I had a busy but nice weekend.
St. Valentine’s Day in Japan is a day when women give boxes of chocolate
to men ? Read back the news on February 8. Do you know what March 14 is
for? We call the day [White Day]. While St. Valentine’s Day was an imported
event from western countries, White Day was purely a Japanese creation.
But, I have heard the White Day is celebrated in Korea and Taiwan, too.
On White Day, the men who received chocolate on St. Valentine’s Day return
the favour and give gifts to women. What’s the origin of White Day? There
are many theories, but I will tell you the most accepted one; a marshmallow maker started marketing to men that they should pay back the women who gave
them chocolate or other gifts with marshmallows. The day was originally
called [Marshmallow Day]. Soon after, chocolate companies started realizing
they could also capitalize on the day and marketing white chocolate. So,
people started to call the day White Day. Now, men give not only marshmallow
or white chocolate but also other gifts i.e. jewelry, bouquet flowers etc.
According to the survey by a department store in Tokyo, the gift which
makes women happiest is flowers with a greeting card. Wow…poor Japanese
men...they have to spend lots of money if they get boxes of chocolate on
St. Valentine’s Day. Do you still think they are lucky?????? (Risa)
March 7th
I had a great weekend too! We had a beautiful weather on the weekend! It
was warm and sunny both on Saturday and Sunday.
Anyway,
I want to thank my great friend, Emma for letting us know they don’t have Naked
KitKat in England and they wouldn’t sell too many of them even if they try
because it makes no sense to get rid of something really good…THE COATING
CHOCOLATE!!! Well, at least Naked KitKat seems to get some attention, right?
Since Emma wrote me the cute message, I read the
entry on the 5th again and that makes me depressed…I am not very
happy about my writing skill…At first, I was talking about Hinamatsuri and out
of the blue, I started talking about chocolate! Not so good…(Junko)
Well, although we are having crazy weather in the past few days, it will be nice and warm soon and Kyoto’s busy season will start pretty soon. There are lots of events lined up in the spring…starting with Hanatouro (see the entry on March 8th), there will be many events (big or small) going on here and there. We will try to write about as many events as possible and share as much information as possible with you. And because of the beautiful spring weather and the events, it will get very, very, very hard to make hotel/ryokan reservations. So, please DO NOT wait till the last minute and miss all the fun and great experiences in Kyoto. (Junko)
You will definitely enjoy this boat trip if you love nature. You will be so impressed by the prodigious works of nature. Imagine that you feel the spring wind and enjoy cherry blossoms from the boat…beautiful, isn’t it? I very much love the power of nature so I will try it shortly…(Risa)
The
event is called Seiryu-e. Seiryu means Blue Dragon. They carry a dragon and
walk in and around Kiyomizu temple wishing everyone peace. Why dragon? It’s
from the old myth. The name Kiyomizu [pure water] came from the water fall in
the compound. It is said that a dragon which is an avatar of Kannon [goddess of
mercy] comes down to the water fall for some quick drinks every night. The PURE
WATER must taste really good for the dragon to come down all the way from the
heaven (?) every night, eh? (Junko)
[The
event is on for 3 days, March 15th, 16th and 17th.
The parade starts at 2pm.]
March 24th
I will recommend you a nice and cosy restaurant in Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. It’s
pretty close to Demachiyanagi station of Keihan line. Its name is [FalafelGarden],
and they serve natural and healthy food. It is easy to imagine the specialty
of the restaurant, right? Yes, it is ‘falafel’ which is very popular
among vegetarians all over the world. There are lots of other vegetarian/vegan
dishes such as hummus, eggplant paste, and avocado pita sandwiches etc.
If you are a meat eater, don’t worry! There are chicken dishes for you.
Junko and I went to the restaurant and sat at the table in the garden.
I guess it’s a perfect idea to sit there and just relax on a spring/summer
day. There are a couple of tables outside and some more inside. When the
owner couple moved to Kyoto, they renovated the old Kyoto house (about
a 100-year-old house) for the restaurant. So, it still has retro flavour
everywhere. I am sure you have a relaxing time there!
* If you don’t have time to sit at the table, you
can take away the food. (Risa)
March 27th
You know what I miss
about living overseas? Well one of the lots of things I miss the big variety of
cereal! I love cereal breakfast but our choices are slim pickings here. But our
choices that are FAT pickings are…noodles…instant…in cups!! Even in a
convenience store, we have so many kinds of noodles! Although I hardly ever eat
them since I believe they are really bad for your health, isn’t it always nice
to have choices??? (Junko)
March 28th
What do I miss about living abroad? My answer is THICK-CUT potato chips.
I am not a big fan of junk food, but I occasionally feel like having some.
In that case, I always chose the thick-cut chips when I was in New Zealand.
I don’t know why but I probably like the crisp texture. We can hardly
find the hard and crisp chips here in Japan. Why don’t chip companies
develop new products and launch them? There are hundreds of chip makers
here, so I am sure some of them would like to…don’t you think they can
pump up the sales?
It was finally reported that the cherry blossoms in Kyoto started to bloom
yesterday. I was walking by Kiyamachi Street in the middle of town this
morning, and I noticed the cherry trees in bloom. I was talking about it
with my friend the other night. See? I did bet they would start to bloom
soon! (Risa)
March 28th
We are having a crazy weather today. It was snowing till a few hours ago!!! It’s almost April and snowing?! I just can’t believe it. We had lightning and hard rain yesterday too. I feel really sorry for the cherry blossoms that are trying to bloom right now. They need warm weather and no rain to look pretty. But here is a picture of cherry blossoms I took today. They are trying! Well, Risa’s buddy told her that we only talk about cherry blossoms here and it’s getting old but I care so much about them and can’t help it. Sorry for ignoring the
advice! The reason why I care about cherry blossoms so much is because there is a great equation about them in Japan. (Cherry Blossoms + Beer) = Parties…gotta love those flowers, huh? (Junko)
March 31st
It snowed again last night. I was outside freezing. I just don’t get the weather this year. It seems very springy outside today through the window but it actually is pretty chilly…I am not amazed with this weather at all!!!
Well, even though it’s colder than it should be, it doesn’t stop Kyoto
from being the sight-seeing mecca of Japan. There are lots of temples and
shrines having light-up events now and here’s one of them…well, actually
it’s not either a temple or a shrine.
It’s a tomb called “Shogun-zuka”. You can visit the tomb at night (5pm ? 9:30pm) from April 1st to the 16th. Yes, it is a sight-seeing spot but for locals, Shogun-zuka is more famous for its lookout. The view from the lookout is very pretty and it’s one of the famous dating spots. I bet many locals don’t even know there is a tomb there even though it IS called SHOGUN TOMB (Shogun-zuka). (Junko)
