Hina Matsuri Doll’s Festival

Hina Matsuri (雛祭), or Girl’s Day, is a Japanese Doll Festival, which is celebrated on March 3rd in Japan. On this day, families with girls will display ornamental dolls in the hope of bringing their daughters a successful and happy life.

Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display the set of ornamental dolls called (雛人形 hina-ningyō) which represent the Emperor, Empress and other court attendants in traditional court dress of the Heian period in Japan. The dolls are usually displayed on a five or seven tired stand with the Emperor and Empress at the top. The next step contains three court ladies (sannin-kanjo), followed by five musicians (gonin-bayashi), two ministers (udaijin and sadaijin), and three servants ending the bottom row in a five-tiered display.


Families will generally start to display the dolls in February, usually in their living rooms and take them down immediately after the festival on March 3rd.

This picture is of the Hina Ningyo at my home in Japan.

Inaugural World Tea Farms Festival

The Inaugural World Tea Farms Festival is a must see event you should schedule in to your calendar for March. It’s a 2 Day Festival celebrating tea from around the world. There will be tea from 30 tea farms including tea from India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. The tea from Japan will feature tea from Wazuka, Shizuoka, Yame, Kyoto, Nara and many more.

The event will be held on Saturday March 10th – Sunday March 11th from 10am to 4pm.


Date / Time: Sat March 10th – Sun March 11th 2012 from 10am to 4pm
Location: Green Tea Wazuka, Kyoto
Address: 35 Hazama, Shirasu, Wazuka Town, Soraku, Kyoto, Japan
Price: Admission is FREE

Note: A shuttle bus to the event location will be available from JR Kamo Station

Click on the link below to download the PDF flyer with all the details of the event

Inaugural World Tea Farms Festival PDF Flyer

Japanese Song of the Week GIVE ME FIVE! by AKB48

This week’s Japanese Song of the week is GIVE ME FIVE! by AKB48, which has debuted at number 1 on the Japanese J-Pop Oricon charts.

Read more about AKB48

This is the group's 25th single and is very happy and upbeat. The 18 selected members for the single actually spent six months learning how to play their instruments, so they could perform it live.


Watch the music video for the single GIVE ME FIVE! by AKB48

S/mileage Hello! Project Wiki

Valentine’s Day in Japan

Valentine’s Day in Japan is very different from anywhere else in the world. Valentine’s Day is on February 14th but it is all about the chocolates in Japan. The tradition in Japan is for the girls to give chocolates to the boys. It is totally up to the girls to show who they like by presenting them with chocolate. The favour is returned to the girls on a special day called White Day, which is celebrated on March 14th.

Types of chocolate giving on Valentine’s Day


Giri-choco (義理チョコ) obligation chocolate given to male friends, work mates, family and bosses. Giri means ("obligation") in Japanese and choko, ("chocolate"). There is no romantic association with giri-choco and it is just chocolate that you have to give to people. These are usually brought from a store and can range in price from 500 yen to 1000 yen.

Honmei-choco (本命チョコ) – chocolates for that special one who you want to express your love to such as boyfriend, lover or husband. This type of chocolate is special, so it is usually handmade by the girls themselves or is a really expensive chocolate from a store, often presented together with a gift. You are very lucky if you can get honmei-choco on Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate is the most popular gift for Valentine’s Day in Japan and stores will be fully stocked with all sorts of chocolate days and weeks before the actual day. If you usually leave it to the last minute like me then you will have to join the long queues at the store and it is almost like the Boxing Day sales back home.

I hope you have a great Valentine’s Day in 2012 and receive lots of honmei-choco :)

This is my submission to the February 2012 J-Festa Valentine's Day in Japan

Japanese Song of the Week Kata Omoi Finally by SKE48

This week's Japanese Song of the Week is Kata Omoi Finally by SKE48, which has debuted at number 1 on the Japanese J-Pop Oricon charts. SKE48 are an all-female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. They debuted in October 2008 and perform in the newly built studio at Sunshine Sakae in Nagoya every Saturday. This is the groups 7th single. The song is very upbeat and happy and this is a live version of the song.


Watch the music video for the single Kata Omoi Finally by SKE48.