Travel to Japan

Japan

Japan the "Land of the Rising Sun" is a country where the past meets the future. Japan has a traditional culture that stretches back millennia, yet has also adopted (and created) the latest modern fashions and trends. Japan is a country of contrasts with beautiful temples and gardens along with ultra modern and high tech cities. There is a surprise around every corner and you will never get bored in Japan. The Japanese are well known for their politeness and thrilled to have visitors to their country. They will be incredibly helpful to lost and bewildered foreigners and are always willing to lend a hand and help you out.

Holidays

The most important holiday in Japan is New Year (Oshougatsu), where much of the country shuts down from December 30 to January 3. In March/April, Japanese head out en masse for hanami or “flower viewing), a festival of outdoor picnics and drinking that is cleverly disguised as cherry blossom viewing and a great time of year to visit Japan. The longest holiday in Japan is Golden Week (April 27 to May 6), which is a collection of four public holidays within a week and a time where everybody goes on vacation both inside Japan and abroad. Trains, hotels and tourist places are extremely crowded during this period and prices are a lot higher than usual making this a bad time to travel in Japan. Summer time brings a spate of festivals including fireworks and obon.

Climate

The Japanese are very proud of their four distinct seasons with the best time of year for travel being either Spring or Autumn.

Spring is one of the best times of year to be in Japan with the warm temperatures but not hot and not too much rain. March-April brings the famous cherry blossoms and lots of fun and festivals.

Summer starts with the dreary rainy season in June and turns into a steambath with hot & humid conditions in July-August.

Autumn which starts in September is also an excellent time to be in Japan with cooler temperatures and the beautiful fall colours which can be seen in the mountains.

Winter is a great time to go skiing/snowboarding or hot spring hopping. There is usually heavy snow in the mountainess areas and cold winds and temperatures through out most of Japan.

Getting Around Japan

Japan has one of the world`s best transport systems, and getting around is usually a breeze with the train being the most popular method. I usually use www.hyperdia.com to look through transport schedules and prices. Japan`s railways are fast, efficient and cover most of the country.
The best option for visitors who plan to do a lot of travelling in Japan is the Japan Rail Pass, which allows unlimited travel on almost all JR trains, including the shinkansen, for a fixed period of 7, 14 or 21 days (excluding the Nozomi superexpress). This pass can only be purchased outside of Japan.

Eating in Japan

Japanese cuisine is renowned for its emphasis on fresh, seasonal ingredients with the key ingredients of most meals being rice, soup and a main dish. Seafood features heavily in Japanese cuisine. Travelling within Japan will lead you to discover the local specialities of each region. Japanese fast food restaurants offer decent quality at reasonable prices with Yoshinoya, Matsuya and Sukiya great for gyudon (beef bowl) and Coco Ichiban specializing in Japanese style curry rice dishes. American fast food restaurants are also very prevelant including McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Wendy`s.

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Famous Japanese Movies

There are lots of good Japanese movies that you could watch to improve your Japanese. I highly recommend some of the animated movies as the Japanese used is aimed at young children so therefore a lot easier to understand. Check out Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke (Japan`s number one movie until Titanic) all by Hayao Miyazaki, who is Japan`s most famous director. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea released recently is also a great movie and well worth watching. These movies are also great to watch if you want to see a good movie or are interested in Japanese movies or culture. They are also readily available in Emglish.
The Secrets Of Speaking Japanese Fluently

Famous Japanese Books and Novels

There are many great Japanese books and novels that are really interesting and give you a great insight into Japan and Japanese culture in general. Japan`s most famous author is Natsume Soseki. His books are read and have been read by Japanese with most people reading them during their school age. Soseki`s most famous novels are Botchan and I am a Cat. They are readily available in English and are great novels in their own right. I read them when I lived in Japan and studied Japanese and they gave me a good insight into Japanese culture and Japan. Other famous and popular Japanese stories include Momotaro "Peach Boy" and Kintaro "Golden Boy".

The Secrets Of Speaking Japanese Fluently

Otaku

Otaku is a Japanese term used to describe people with obsessive interests usually related to anime, manga or video games.

In modern Japanese slang, the term refers to a fan of any particular theme, topic or hobby. Common otaku include anime otaku (fan of anime), cosplay otaku and manga otaku (fans of comic books), pasokon otaku (computer geek), gemu otaku (video games), ota (fans of Japanese idols). The term can basically be used and applied to anything obsessive such as music, cooking, martial arts, etc.

Although the term otaku can have negative connections, in Japan otaku have started becoming cool and even describe themselves and the term proudly and accepting their position as fans. Otaku have even been portrayed positively in Japanese culture and movies such as “Densha Otoko” (Train Man), a love story about a geek and a beautiful woman who meet on a train have  made an interesting look into the otaku culture. Its popularity in Japan and positive portrayal of the main character who is an otaku has helped reduce negative stereotypes about otaku, and increased the acceptability of some otaku hobbies. In fact, the “Densha Otoko” story has enjoyed a compilation in novel form, several comic book adaptations, a movie, a theme song by a popular Japanese band and a TV series.

The former Prime Minister of Japan, Tara Aso has also claimed himself to be an otaku, using this subculture to promote Japan in foreign affairs.

A subset of otaku are the Akiba-kei, men who spend a lot of time in Akihabara in Tokyo and who are mainly obsessed about anime, idols and games.

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Japanese Breakfast

At the heart of most meals are three basic bowls: rice, soup and a main dish. A traditional breakfast will contain a bowl of steamed rice, miso soup and grilled fish. They will be accompanied by side dishes of rolled omelet (tamagoyaki), pickles (tsukemono), natto and salad. The typical traditional breakfast beverage is green tea. Japanese rice is made with white short grain Japanese rice, which has a consistency that differs from long-grain rice. The essential quality is its stickiness or glutinousness. This is usually sold in Western supermarkets as either short-grain rice or sushi rice. Western style breakfasts are also very popular now in Japan and these usually consist of toast, bacon or sausage, boiled or fried eggs and hash browns or chips. Breakfast cereals are also increasing in popularity.

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Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Easy Japanese Cooking Recipe Yakitori Chicken

This month`s Easy Japanese Cooking recipe is Japanese Yakitori Chicken

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins








Ingredients

• 1kg chicken thigh fillets, cut into 3cm pieces
• 8 green onions, cut into 3cm lengths
• ¾ cup dark soy sauce
• 6 tablespoons cooking saki
• 3 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• bamboo skewers
• steamed rice, to serve

Method

1. Soak skewers in cold water for 15 minutes. Drain.
2. Combine soy sauce, saki, mirin and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce has reduced and thickened slightly. Allow to cool completely.
3. Thread chicken and onions onto skewers. Place onto a plate. Brush with sauce.
4. Preheat grill on medium-high heat until hot. Grill skewers, basting with sauce, for 6 to 8 minutes or until cooked through. Serve with rice.

Easy To Follow Steps To Create Over 108 Top Japanese Recipes!

Japanese Sushi

Sushi is a Japanese dish consisting of cooked vinegared rice which is commonly topped with other ingredients, such as fish or other seafood, or put into rolls. Sliced raw fish by itself is called sashimi, as distinct from sushi. Fresh sushi or sashimi should have a clean, delicate, light taste and should have no fishy smell.

I recommend starting with something easy like makizushi and then working up to things like maguro (tuna), sake (salmon) and ebi (shrimp). I enjoy my sushi with a little wasabi and soy sauce and like to have some pickled ginger to cleanse the palate after each sushi.

Types of Sushi
The common ingredient across all the different kinds of sushi is sushi rice.

Nigirizushi (握り寿司)
Nigirizushi consists of a bed of sushi rice, usually with a bit of wasabi, and a topping draped over it. Toppings are typically fish such as salmon (sake), tuna (maguro) and prawns (ebi). Certain toppings are bound to the rice with a thin strip of nori, most commonly octopus (tako), eel (unagi), squid (ika) and sweet egg (tamago). This type of sushi is usually served in pairs.

Makizushi (巻寿司)
Makizushi is a rolled sushi made with the help of a bamboo mat, called a makisu. Makizushi is generally wrapped in nori, but can also be wrapped in a thin omelette, soy paper, or cucumber.

Inarizushi (稲荷寿司)
Inarizushi is a pouch of fried tofu filled with usually just sushi rice.

Western Style Sushi
The increasing popularity of sushi around the world has resulted in variations of sushi typically found in the West but rarely if at all in Japan. These creations are made to suit the Western palate and were fuelled by the invention of the California roll.
Ingredients

Sushi Rice
Sushi is made with white short grain Japanese rice, which has a consistency that differs from long-grain rice. The essential quality is its stickiness or glutinousness. This rice is mixed with a dressing of rice vinegar, sugar, salt and occasionally kombu and sake. It has to be cooled to room temperature before being used for a filling in sushi. Traditionally, the mixing is done with a hangiri, which is a round, flat-bottom wooden tub or barrel, and a wooden paddle (shamoji).

Nori
Nori is the black seaweed wrappers used in sushi. Nori is a type of algae, traditionally cultivated in the harbours of Japan. Today nori is farmed, processed, toasted, packaged and sold in standard size sheets.

Toppings and Fillings
Fish eaten raw must be fresher and of a higher quality than fish which is cooked. Professional sushi chefs are trained to recognise important attributes, including smell, colour, firmness, and freedom from parasites that may go undetected in commercial inspections.

Commonly used fish are tuna (maguro), yellowtail (hamachi), snapper (kurodai), mackerel (saba), and salmon (sake). The most valued sushi ingredient is toro, which is the fatty cut of the fish. Other seafood used include squid (ika), eel (anago and unagi), octopus (tako), shrimp (ebi), salmon roe (ikura), sea urchin (uni) and crab (kani).

Condiments
Sushi is commonly eaten with condiments. Sushi may be dipped in soy sauce and may be flavoured with wasabi. Gari, sweet pickled ginger is eaten with sushi to both cleanse the palate and aid in digestion. In Japan, Green Tea (ocha) is invariably served together with sushi.

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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet Nominated for 2010 Booker Prize

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet is the latest novel from David Mitchell. The story focuses around the central character of Jacob De Zoet. Young Jacob is a penniless Dutch clergyman`s son sent to Nagasaki in the final year of the 18th century. A member of the Dutch East India Company, he is supposed to make his fortune in six years so he can return to marry his beloved Anna back in Holland. The Dutch trade with the reclusive Edo-era Japanese on an island and are rarely allowed on the mainland. The practice of Christianity is banned; they are forbidden from learning Japanese and there are spies everywhere among servants and interpreters. Jacob is charged with uncovering corruption among the traders and soon falls out of favour with his boss and his peers. Nothing goes to plan. He falls for another woman, a Japanese midwife, who is sent to a mysterious shrine in the mountains.

This is a marvellously wrought novel, full of fully formed characters and the kind of detail that allows you to sink deep into its imaginary world. I was sorry when I fnished.

The novel has just been announced as one of the contenders for this years 2010 Man Booker Prize.