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Spiders in Japan 2007-10-15 10:36:00 ?????Spiders are big at this time of year in Japan. Fruit is falling from trees, which attracts a lot of insects as prey for Japan's arachnids to feed on.Hedges and trees may be festooned with the webs of spiders in the Japanese countryside or in urban gardens in this season.The spider pictured is the Argiope bruennichi (Scopoli 1772) known as the koganegumo in Japanese and can be identified by its yellow and gray markings.Most webs contain the larger female and two or three attendant male spiders awaiting a chance to mate with the queen.Here's a tasty morsel suspended from a spiders web inside a tunnel under cliffs in Shimane Prefecture.To learn more about Japanese spiders click here.Book a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionJapan Book Shop Amazon UKHappi CoatsTagsJapan Spider Nephila clavata ...

Japan This Week 10/14/07 2007-10-14 02:41:00 ?????Man starves to death after being denied welfare benefits.NY TimesArchitect Kisho Kurokawa dies suddenly.Japan TimesMan arrested after killing woman--who paid him to do so.GuardianThe adventures of Japanese bus guides.MainichiWould-be Prime Minister Taro Aso and the murky history of the Aso family business in WWII.Japan FocusLast Week's Japan NewsJapan Statistics92% of Japanese think newspapers are a "vital source of information."Source: Yomiuri Shimbun2,000 inmates moved into eastern Japan's first privately run prison on Saturday. The facility, which is located in Tochigi Prefecture, will introduce "brain-training drills" for elderly prisoners, and flower-arranging classes for mentally disturbed inmates. General inmates will receive vocational training.Source: Yomiuri ShimbunBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan Japan News Japan Statistics Prison Kisho Kurokawa ...

Japanese boys who look like bad kissers 2007-10-13 08:10:00 ?????????Watch this clip from the comedy program London Hearts featuring the opinions of 100 Japanese women, aged 20 to 40, regarding how good or bad the male panel members probably are as kissers.An eye-opening insight into the typical taste of Japanese women vis-a-vis their men.Uploaded to You Tube and subtitled in English by JapanVisitor.com.Book a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionJapan Book Shop Amazon UKHappi CoatsTagsJapan London Hearts TV comedy You Tube ...

Autumn Festivals 2007-10-09 01:36:00 ????With most of the rice harvested, rural villages now hold their harvest matsuri. In the Iwami area of Shimane, this involves all-night performances of Iwami Kagura. Village communities, young and old, gather to enjoy the music and spectacle and occasionally a glass or two of sake.AccessKawado is on the JR Sanko from Gotsu to Miyoshi.Book a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionJapan Book Shop Amazon UKHappi CoatsTagsJapan Tokyo Kyoto Nagoya Kyushu ...

Japan This Week 10/07/07 2007-10-07 02:37:00 ?????Japan has the cheapest and fastest online service in the world.NY TimesDivorce loans gaining in popularity.Yahoo NewsA different take on Japanese labor law.Japan FocusSumo stable boss dismissed over death of seventeen-year-old wrestler.Japan TimesTeachers and students partake of forbidden fruit.MainichiLast Week's Japan NewsJapan Statistics8.97 billion yen ($76.6 million) in welfare benefits were illegally received in 2006. This was a new record for fraud. It surpasses the 2005 mark by more than 1.8 billion yen.Source: Yomiuri ShimbunSince May, twenty-eight people have died in electrical appliance-related accidents. In the same period, 136 people were seriously injured by defective products.Source: Kyodo NewsBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan Japan News Japan Statistics Divorce Fraud ...

Fall in Kyoto 2007-10-06 02:07:00 ????Fall has finally arrived in Kyoto. After a blistering September, temperatures finally dipped following a downpour two weekends ago. Kyoto, which is known for its brutal steamy summers, endured a particularly long hot summer.In addition to cool evenings and the festival season, fall also brings a new crop of flowers.Close to the Keifuku rail line in western Kyoto, an explosion of color has replaced what was a dull brown patch of weeds only weeks ago.Behind these flowers, the trains run in front of the wall that separates the train tracks from a local elementary school. The mountains that ring Kyoto can be seen in the distance.Below left are perhaps the most common fall flower: cosmos. They grow like weeds, and can reach six or seven feet.In addition, the cooler fall air is scented with kinmokusei (osmanthus). This plant blossoms in October and truly gives off a smell like a perfume.Days are punctuated by deep blue skies, a cornucopia of color, and the scent of osmanthus. Fo ...

Book Review: Tokyo Encounter 2007-10-04 01:31:00 Tokyo Encounter, by Wendy YanagiharaLonely Planet has just published a Tokyo guide that isn’t for the backpacker. Tokyo Encounter, gives the young tourist with time and money to spend a concise, intelligent, colorful, and easily searchable bird’s eye view of the city in a glossy, pocket-sized 200 pages.Tokyo Encounter The first section of Tokyo Encounter has 16 “Highlights” - not-to-be-missed shopping and drinking spots, temples, parks and the like - followed by a very brief calendar of once-a-year things to be seen and done. The main body of the book, “Neighborhoods,” features ten Tokyo neighborhoods, handily color-coded, with a short overview, a map, and “See,” “Shop,” Eat,” “Drink,” and “Play” listings, each with a fifty-or-so word description: stylishly and thoughtfully written. Few pages are without an artful photograph, or an extra-info box.Following “Neighborhoods” are “Snapshots”: 16 little overviews of accommodation, anime and manga, archi ...

Japan Post 2007-10-02 23:57:00 ????Japanese Post Offices around the country unveiled a new look on Monday. The bright orange logo symbolizes a new start for one of the country's best-loved and efficient institutions.Japan Post, the huge public postal service corporation, was split up into four separate companies under a new holding company as the first stage in ex-Premier Koizumi's privatization plan. The four firms (Japan Post Service Co., Japan Post Network Co., Japan Post Bank Co. and Japan Post Insurance Co) are responsible for mail delivery, post office savings, insurance and over-the-counter services.Many small rural post offices have already been closed and commission rates for paying utilities have risen from a flat 30 yen fee to a sliding scale depending on the amount. Postal money order commissions have also gone up.Japan Post Bank, the new bank has taken over the 300 trillion yen assets of the world's largest financial institution. However this huge amount of savings may begin to dwindle as ful ...

Nagoya Friends Party - This Saturday 10/6 2007-10-01 18:06:00 Nagoya Friends is holding it's 44th party in Nagoya!PARTY ATDate: October 6th, 2007 (1st Saturday)Time: 18:15 - 21:15 (3 HOURS!!)Drinks will be served between 6:15pm-9:05pm.Place: Shooter's Bar (Pola Bldg, 2-9-26 Sakae, Naka-ku (very close to Fushimi Station)Fee: 3000 YenDress code: Anything (Casual, etc)Reservations: Not necessary but recommended and appreciated. Just show up to the party!Over 25,000 Yen worth of exciting prize giveaways each month!RESERVE HEREThere will be free food along with free drinks (beers, wine, cocktail drinks and juices). Our party is not a dinner party, but we will have light food & snacks. Quantities are limited, so please come early! Please free to come alone or bring your friends. EVERYBODY is welcome to join regardless of nationality/gender. Reservation is greatly appreciated. About 125-150+ people are expected to attend. Approximately 55% female and 45% male, 70% Japanese and 30% non-Japanese. Pictures from previous Nagoya Friends Parties.?? ...

Spare Me My Life! 2007-10-01 02:30:00 ????????????Words need never fail you in any situation - if you can just smile and move that (mostly naked) body!See how nubile Japanese girls in tight bright lycra learn in perfect rhythmic unison just enough English to:-let foreign robbers prey on them without losing their lives-show their willingness at the foreign office they're temping at-have lunch with the foreign girls without forking our more than they have to,and more.Make no sense? Watch the vid!As should be the case with a good educational video, this one will remain in your memory for a long, long time - or your money back!(This video was originally posted by the now sadly defunct Japan-fun.com)Book a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionJapan Book Shop Amazon UKHappi CoatsTagsJapan aerobics english education YouTube ...

Japan This Week 9/30/07 2007-09-30 07:46:00 ?????Japanese journalist shot dead by Burmese military.GuardianOkinawans protest textbook revisions on "suicides" during World War II.Japan TimesChina presses Japan on Taiwan.People's DailyFitness center flings on the rise.MainichiJapanese Cosplay now big in Taiwan.Yahoo NewsHaneda - Hongqiao Shanghai flights begin.Japan TimesLast Week's Japan NewsJapan StatisticsOnly 18.2% of Japanese workers are members of labor unions with the figure falling to 4.3% for part-time workers. This figure has declined from just over 35% in 1970.Source: Health, Labor and Welfare MinistryBook a hotel in Japan with BookingsJapanese FictionHappi CoatsTagsJapan Japan News Japan Statistics Burma Fitness ...

Momotaro Shrine 2007-09-28 22:09:00 ????????Japan has all sorts of quirky shrines: phallic shrines, fox shrines, even a shrine partially submerged in the sea.Another bizarre shrine to add to the list is the Momotaro Shrine in Inuyama. The Momotaro legend is popular with children and it's kids and their parents and grandparents who make up the majority of visitors to this rather shabby shrine.For those of you unfamiliar with the Momotaro fairy tale, there are a couple of versions.Momotaro is the "Peach Boy" ("momo" means peach) found inside a giant peach floating down the river by an old woman and is then adopted by her and her husband becoming their son sent from heaven.An earlier, racier version of the story has the old woman becoming rejuvenated back to being the sexy babe of her youth after eating part of a giant peach she finds floating in the river. Her husband is gobsmacked to discover this stunner when he returns home but he too, after eating part of the peach, is reinvigorated and the couple make ...

Lindsay Anne Hawker 2007-09-27 23:28:00 ????????????The father of murdered 22-year-old NOVA teacher Lindsay Anne Hawker has launched a fresh appeal for information regarding her suspected killer Tatsuya Ichihashi. Mr. Hawker, wearing a T-shirt with an image of Ichihashi below the word 'Murderer' handed out leaflets to passengers departing Heathrow Airport on flights to Japan.Six months have passed since Ms. Hawker's battered body was found in a bathtub of sand in Ichihashi's Ichikawa apartment, just outside Tokyo, and the 28-year-old suspect fled in his stocking feet from 9 police officers sent to question him.Mr Hawker suggested that the amount of information he has received from the Japanese police has begun to decrease in recent weeks. Police officers working on the murder case have told him they are searching amusement arcades, gay bars, internet cafes and public parks for Ichihashi.Details of the case are murky and rumours abound, Lindsay may have been drugged in the cafe where she arranged t ... Lindsay

Kurashiki Brothel: "Night Pecker" 2007-09-26 22:42:00 While in the Okayama town of Kurashiki to see a bit of culture--the town is best-known for its preserved historic area and museums (and a Danish theme park)--we also were fortunate to stumble past a wonderfully named brothel: the "Night Pecker."After a day at the Ohara Museum, strolling through the exquisitely preserved "Bikan Chiku" (loosely translated: beautiful area), and dining on some of the fish that the area is justly famous for, we stepped out of the izakaya and, lo and behold, saw Woody the Woodpecker seated atop a crescent moon.Woody was the theme character of the Night Pecker brothel. A passing drunk who noticed us staring at the sign told us "that bird must have escaped from Tivoli Park, and has been sitting up there with that dumb smile on his face ever since." At which he guffawed. "Service must be good, he's been there for months!" More laughter as he tottered down the street. The tout in front of Night Pecker ignored us and the drunk, scanning the street for customers. ...

Uraku-en Garden & Jo-an Teahouse 2007-09-26 07:11:00 ??????The Uraku-en strolling garden and the Jo-an teahouse inside the garden is a must-see sight in Inuyama. The garden is a short walk from Inuyama Castle in the grounds of the Meitetsu Inuyama Hotel.The Jo-an tea pavilion is a National Treasure and considered one of the finest teahouses in Japan. Jo-an was built in Kyoto in 1618 by Oda Urakusai, a younger brother of local Chubu area warlord Oda Nobunaga. The tea house was moved to Tokyo and Kanagawa before ending up in Inuyama in 1972.Urakusai was a noted teamaster who studied under Sen no Rikyu and started his own tea school in Kyoto. With Christian influence on the rise among both the aristocracy and common people in the early 17th century Urakusai became a closet Christian and there is a possible link between his adopted Christian name of "Joao" and the name of the teahouse Jo-an.Urakuen GardenInuyama, Gomonsaki 1Tel: 0568 61 4608Admission 1,000 yenMeitetsu Inuyama HotelTel: 0568 61 2211The nearest stations to Uraku-en ... Amp